There are perfumes that quietly get you compliments and others that suddenly interrupt a conversation. On the one hand there are perfumes that after a few seconds of polite interest people no longer notice any more and on the other hand there are perfumes that as soon as you move suddenly create interest in people.
Not all perfumes that grab attention are the loudest or the most outrageous. There are many perfumes that are simply different from most of the perfumes that are currently on the market. In other words, they smell different from most of the perfumes that most people are wearing on a daily basis. Most commercial perfumes today are comprised of a sweet top-note, a sharp amboxyn or other amber-like dry-down, and a harsh, astringent fresh-middle-note that provides a ‘sillage’ or projection that lasts for hours. This is the smell of modern perfum perfumery, and it is a smell that is generally quite dull and uninteresting. Many perfumes that grab attention are those that smell different from this.
It is also especially noticeable during warmer weather, when the way a fragrance moves through the air is completely changed by heat. While some perfumes expand in a harsh and unnatural way through the air, others spread naturally as they release different layers of scent over time. It is a very subtle quality, but those perfumes that develop over time rather than immediately revealing their entire composition have a magnetic quality that draws people to them.
Gibeon Eau de Parfum
Gibeon is an absolute enigma, and this is precisely what piques so many people’s interest. From the off, this fragrance comes across as polished and very mineral in character but one never quite gets the full gist of it. Slowly but surely as it warms to one’s body heat, more smooth woody notes and silky textures reveal themselves amongst the brightly metallic facets which at first are so very to the fore. And once more it’s always on the move – a great aural illusion.
The scent of Gibeon is not something which immediately identifies itself to those around you. At first, people are struck by the fragrance on your skin and are intrigued by it but, as they sniff and try to identify it, they soon realize that it is not something that they can place. This is particularly the case when wearing Gibeon outdoors as the warm air continually changes the scent as it moves with you and off of your skin. As a result, the fragrance has a very ‘alive’ quality that many modern perfumes lack.
It’s not too loud or too aggressive and thus prompts many questions, as most perfumes are so very similar these days and therefore usually smell the same after a while. This scent is expensive, it’s got texture, it’s very atmospheric, and it’s totally different from most of the perfumes on the market – and, more importantly, it’s not too difficult to wear. Most perfumes fail at this, but this one succeeds in a big way.
Fiero Eau de Parfum
Fiero understands something many new fresh fragrances don’t. To be remembered by a fragrance’ s brightness alone is not enough. The fragrance must have character and development in the freshness. That’s where Fiero really excels.
The citrus and aromatic notes have been cleverly woven into a very fresh and energy-filled fragrance, perfect for the warmer days of summer, yet it is far from being a sporty fragrance, avoiding any notes of synthetic plastics or ‘fresh’ cleaning products. Instead, as the heat develops throughout the day, you will continue to pick up on the odd fragment of citrus, herbs, and woods that have been left in its wake as you move about, due to the fragrances’ natural development as you go about your day.
Wearing Fiero on a hot summer day is a very interesting experience. The scent develops in such a way that each new phase of it surprises you. Because of its changeability and constant development the scent keeps revealing itself in new facets when you move around. This means that the fragrance gets to be discovered by your nose in many different situations (in different temperatures, when there is a breeze, when you are close to it and so on) and that it never stays the same.
Umbra Oud Concentré
Umbra Oud elicits an entirely different sort of reaction than the rest of the fragrances presented here. The vast majority of perfumes draw attention in a number of different ways through their ‘freshness’ – in other words, their ‘liveliness’ – while this Oud draws people to it in terms of depth and atmosphere. Of course, it is not ‘deep’ in the sense that many other Oud perfumes are excessively heavy and in need of softening, but rather it is smooth, contemporary Oud with depth, which becomes warm and softer as the darker notes are slowly softened by skin’s natural warmth.
There is mystery in this scent. But this is not a very ‘olfactive’ kind of mystery. In fact, Umbra Oud changes texture and develops as it lingers on the skin throughout the day. So, depending on the level of warmth on the skin and the surrounding air’s humidity and proximity to the wearer, you will catch different facets of the scent here. Sometimes it is warm and resinous, other times you will pick up on smoother woods and soft shadowy notes beneath the surface.
The brain is driven to complete the picture when it cannot immediately identify a smell. It’s fascinating because people are naturally curious and drawn to anything which they cannot immediately comprehend. Yet, the fragrance is very sophisticated and can be worn on a regular basis. It’s not easy to create a fragrance which exudes intrigue and creates strong curiosity and at the same time is also very sophisticated and very wearable.
The most memorable scents are the ones you cannot get out of your head. And sometimes that is because the scent has not revealed itself to you completely. But that does not mean it was not wearable.
Tilia Eau de Parfum
Attention is not created by intensity. Often, the most memorable perfumes are those that develop quietly and effortlessly in the skin, revealing a lush, warm floral after a while. Such is the case with Tilia. The scent has a delicate and polished quality that after a while becomes luminous and almost ethereal.
The scent takes on a soft, glowing quality during warm afternoons and seems to become one with the warmth of the body. It does not sit atop the skin as a separate entity from the perfume, rather it develops in tandem with the movement of the body, through fabric and in harmony with heat.
And that naturalness induces a completely different kind of emotional response to the perfume as opposed to the typical loud and strong fragrances.
Comfortable yet distinctive. This balance is perhaps the most difficult to achieve in perfumery. The large amount of light fragrances which disappear into nothingness as soon as one has applied them, and the more powerful fragrances which quickly lose their elegance and subtlety in their attempt to make a statement, are proof enough of this.
That this perfume is so understated and yet so memorable is why it is such an amazing scent to wear and to have others smell on you.
Why Certain Fragrances Trigger Curiosity Instantly
Most questions about a scent come from something out of the ordinary, something that one hasn’t expected, not necessarily something loud. A new texture. A better transition between different materials. A fragrance that breathes life into a fragrance that one usually spritzes on in a perfume bottle and that on the skin of another human being smells completely different than on one’s own skin.
But the aspect of a fragrance that really matters is how it moves, or changes as it is affected by heat, by clothing, by humidity, and by the consumer’s very own skin and body chemistry. It is perfumes that evolve naturally, and continue to reveal new facets of their scent long after the first spritz has been applied, that garner the most attention. Ultimately, it is these fragrances that inspire questions about what it is that makes them so so different and so special.
This is what the four fragrances understand so well: they leave a trail of new impressions after the first spray has already disappeared, and that is what sparks people’s curiosity to finally ask the question.