We curate our closets with garments we love, with prints that speak to us, and silhouettes that show off our best assets. Our wardrobes are an extension of our personalities, and outfits reflective of our moods, like wearable playlists to accompany our day. The same can be said for fragrance, bringing into question our loyalty to one signature scent, and tempting us to stray. Wouldn’t a rotating roster of scents, worn by whim, better capture our fluctuating frames of mind? Beauty companies are catching on, and responding with multi-scent libraries and fragrance collections.
Take, for example, fashion designer Derek Lam’s first foray into scent: the 10 Crosby collection. Instead of launching one standalone fragrance, the designer released 10 scents straight out of the gate for his diffusion line 10 Crosby; each one inspired by a unique moment or event that took place outside the designer’s office window at the famed address. The collection offers everything from fresh florals to deep musks, and all points in between.
Similarly, Jolie Fleur, the new trio of scents from Tory Burch, was inspired by the colours and flowers in the New York-based designer’s garden: rose, lily of the valley, and tuberose. Each fragrance represents a different facet of the designer’s individual style: Jolie Fleur Rose is described as feminine and romantic; Jolie Fleur Verte (lily of the valley) channels an easygoing, tomboy vibe; and Jolie Fleur Bleue (tuberose) is elegant and understated.
Luxury fragrance company Pinrose is bringing scent personalities to the fore with its online scent concierge experience. Through “scent mapping,” users are asked a series of questions based on everything from colour and music preferences, to places they’d like to visit. From there, a profile is created and three unique scent recommendations are pulled from Pinrose’s archive of 13 master perfumer concoctions. “The goal is to create a scent playlist,” says Christine Luby, co-founder of San Francisco-based company. A sense of play also pervades the scent creation process; rather than receiving a wordy creative brief or notes that must be included, the perfumers (stars in their own right, such as David Apel of Tom Ford Black Orchid fame, Harry Fremont, and Ilias Ermenidis) are offered visual cues as palettes to inspire them. “The idea of the signature scent is confining,” says fellow co-founder says Erika Shumate. “Women want to play and they like to experiment. Why should their experience with fragrance be any different?”
Prada, Les Infusions, Amande; Giorgio Armani, Acqua di Gioia Sun; Tory Burch, Jolie Fleur Verte.