The fragrance factor
MANILA, Philippines - “You smell like a winery,” the boyfriend said one night when we met up. “Oh, that’s just my perfume,” I replied. Which was true — the limited edition, artsy collab fragrance I had spritzed on was called “Whiskey Caramelise,” and it did permeate the skin like a warmed-up dollop of whisky. Scents are a very personal thing, and they stoke the olfactory nerves in very intense ways, calling up unbidden memories and fragments of emotions. Shopping for a scent must be a personalized experience as well, not one where salespersons attack you with strips of paper soaked in the latest product.
The Art of Scent store in the Vegas-in-progess Resorts World is the first luxury stand-alone perfumery in the country and a place where one can find their solace in scent. With rounded walls lined with shiny potions from the top luxury brands, you are free to explore each bottle, pick it up, weigh it in hand, uncap the top and inhale the mist. The best test, of course, is to let it linger on your skin, because we all react differently. The store categorizes its perfumes around the industry-standard fragrance wheel, and at the center there is a display of the four themes: fresh, floral, oriental and woody.
Uncommon scents: The Art of Scent is at the ground floor of Resorts World, Newport City. Sniffing L’eau d’Issey and Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, “fresh” scents, brought back my youth, when I wore those very fragrances, still not woman nor cloying enough to delve into the heady and seductive aromas of something my mother might wear. The floral tray featured Bulgari Omnia Green Jade and Bulgari Pour Femme, as well as the still-popular Davidoff Coolwater for Women, which made me think of the ’90s. The oriental tray had Escada Desire Me and Calvin Klein Euphoria, which I instantly recognized as my friend Ines’ scent (meanwhile, everything Gucci was clearly my friend Sophie). The woody tray had mostly men’s perfumes like Burberry The Beat and Bulgari Blu, and this is perhaps the more interesting tray to sniff, since each bottle could possibly remind you of a man once in your life.
The attendant, aptly named Rose, pointed me to scents similar to my whisky concoction, which she adjudged to be orientalish. Her job is not to impose or market the latest product, but to help you find the individual fragrance you resonate with. Despite that, however, she says many customers still go for their favorite labels. With that in mind, Gucci Guilty is the top-seller. One could stay in the store for hours, nose trailing after evanescence, but when you find the right scent for you, let that be your own mark and mystery.
