What if you could influence the way people subconsciously perceive something —or someone — without saying or showing anything? Turns out, you can. Pulling it off isn’t a magic spell, but it will turn you into a wizard — a scent wizard. The sense of smell is a powerful sensory tool that can render essential information to the brain almost instantly. Harnessing the power of scent can open the door to another dimension of identity, expression, and connection.
Emotion, memory, and smell have strong links because of how close the areas of the brain that control memory and scent are to one another. This means that different aromas can evoke different responses in people. Many companies are aware of this, which is why some even have trademark fragrances that they use to create distinction for their brand. Singapore Airlines, for example, uses their unique fragrance called Batik Flora to enhance their customers’ experience by recreating the feel of their warm welcome in a scent. Lush is another great example of a brand with a distinct smell; its aroma invites people to come inside. Scent creates a strong impression by tapping straight into your mood through your nose and communicating a message.
You can create a scent identity based on the aromatic notes you choose in any scented product of your preference. There are different aroma families, each associated with different qualities. Every fragrance has top notes, which are the ones you will pick up first. They also have heart notes that lie at the core of a fragrance and give it its “true” scent, and base notes that serve as the anchor to the fragrance, lingering long after direct contact with the smell ends. Now for the exciting part, here’s each fragrance family and their qualities:
- Fruity: This family of lively, playful, rich, and exotic notes is distinguished for its refreshing and colourful character. Everything from red berries to tropical fruits, this category is a popular pick for top fragrance notes, like apple, peach, strawberry, melon, mango, and many more.
- Green: Crisp, noble, sharp, and light, the family of greens bring the power of nature and life with it. You’ll find notes like lemongrass, verbena, aloe, bamboo, and succulent in this category.
- Ozonic: This family is named after the scents that linger in the air, like sea breeze, clean linen, mountain mist, and stormy wind. These notes convey cleanness, relaxation, transparency, and pureness.
- Citrus:This family of notes has a bright and energetic character, perfect for conveying originality and spark, while promoting alertness and concentration. Popular citrus notes include lemon, verbena, orange peel, passion fruit, and bergamot.
- Floral: Elegant, timeless, delicate, luminous. The floral family is big in perfumery because of the many notes it has to offer, some of which are gardenia, blossoms, roses, jasmines, lavenders, and lilacs, to name a few.
- Aromatic: This family represents the many notes you often encounter in nature, specifically in trees and herbs. They are fresh, centred, uplifting, and balanced. This is where you’ll find notes like eucalyptus, black tea, sage, mint, and pine.
- Amber: Complex, warm, resinous, and exotic, the amber family are closely related to the woody family, with the distinction of being juicier and more fragrant. Staples of amber notes include myrrh, embers, santal, and copal.
- Woody: This family is distinguished for its longevity and full-bodied notes that will last long after the fragrance is used. They are usually smooth, deep, sensual, and elegant in quality with notes like patchouli, oak, cedar, palo santo, and sandalwood.
- Gourmand: This family is all about sweetness and cheerfulness, whose notes are caramel-like, milky, comforting, and soft. If you’re a fan of hazelnut, butter, chocolate, and sweet vanilla notes, this is your go-to!
- Spicy: They are rich, intense, hot, and sharp, which can help to add a crisp and strong layer that tingles the nose. You’ll find notes like ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and pink pepper here.
If you identify with certain qualities, you can look at notes to reflect and use them regularly to accentuate your presence and identity. Say for example you consider yourself a calm, easy-going, and cheerful person with a charismatic twist — going for a fragrance with ozonic notes at its heart and citrusy, fruity top notes sounds like a perfect match! Personally, I always gravitate to notes like patchouli, oak, and black tea, often accompanied by sage, eucalyptus, or lavender, which I feel speaks to my character accurately. If you consciously pick the fragrances you use, people are likely to associate you with those notes and their qualities subconsciously. Also, next time you encounter a new fragrance, you can challenge yourself to identify its different layers, and what message it’s trying to tell you. You’ll find that there is a whole world of personality hiding within each scent!
