The Power of Perfume

“Perfume,” says expert perfumer Sophia Grojsman, “is a promise in a bottle.” That promise might be reflected in a perfume’s name: Joy or Pleasure, for example. Millions of dollars are spent on the marketing of a perfume so that customers connect a fragrance to luxury, attraction, or a certain attitude. Fragrances can have power over our thoughts and emotions. Scientists believe memory and smell are closely connected in our brains, and that certain aromas have the power to call up deep memories. Perfume makers are especially aware of this and use scents that touch us deeply. In the perfume world, an essence is a material with its own special aroma. Some are natural, and often derived from flowers and plants. Others are synthetic1 copies of rare or difficult-to-obtain essences. Perfume authority Harry Frémont says a good fragrance “is a balance between naturals and synthetics.

Naturals give richness and roundness; synthetics, backbone and sparkle.” Hundreds of new perfumes are put on the market every year. Of these, few become successful. It’s a risky business. A company introducing a new scent can easily run through a budget of 20 million dollars. Profits, however, can be very high. One successful fragrance, CK One from designer Calvin Klein, made 250 million dollars in its first year.

Image and Marketing In a Paris perfume store—a building of shining stone, metal, and glass—famous perfumes are displayed and guarded like the works of art in the nearby Louvre Museum.2 Salespeople are dressed smartly in black, and each type of perfume is sold in a distinctively shaped bottle. In perfume sales, the emphasis is on presentation at least as much as on the product. So, naturally, France’s main competitor in the global perfume market is the United States, where image is all-important. Celebrity-branded scents fill the market, each preceded by advertisements and TV appearances designed to create hype.3 Even sports celebrities— like baseball star Derek Jeter—are creating their own fragrance brands. It is easy to be confused about which perfume to buy.

Perfumer Annie Buzantian offers this advice: You really can’t get an idea whether a perfume works or not until you wear it. “It’s like the difference between a dress on the hanger and a dress on your body,” says Buzantian. Though Frémont adds, “Your first impression is often the right one.” 1 If a material is synthetic, it is made by humans.