Perfumes for the elite!
Selective perfumes are distributed in strictly bounded quantity and only in specialized shops. Internet markets do not prefer to connect with niche perfumes: unnoticeable pots with unknown names are not in demand with their clientage.
Though, perfumers, who work with selectives, do not want to make their brands popular. Vice versa, their aim is exclusiveness, which is by definition cannot be massive. That is why their niche perfumes is not advertised: it is known about with the help of rumors from special people, which makes the perfumes even more elite.
Instead of loud marketing companies with the Hollywood star participation selective makers draw the customer’s attention with the help of beautiful legends about the brand development or the idea of regular aroma origin.
Though, exclusiveness – is not the only strong side of our niche perfume. Selectives strike with their variety. There are four types of similar aromas. Maybe, the most popular trend is vintage. These perfumes carry us in the far old times back to rich perfume traditions. Maybe, in the context of modern traditions they smell very old fashion, though they these charm and chic, which modern day novelties cant sound off. The second type are the nominal perfumes, named for their creators and covered with legends. The third type is epatage scents, especially popular between youngsters. Strawberry shake, vanilla ice or shoe cream – are typical representatives of this category. Many specialists do not admit these aromas perfumes: these are rather original jokes or the way to draw attention. Which cant be said about the last type – constructor. With the help of this selective type anybody can solo mix a inimitable bouquet from several monoscents. And these can be as natural aromas like new-mown grass, as classical oiles like sandal, rose or jasmine.
The majority of selective brands originate from France, famous for its rich perfume traditions.
These aromas generally stand out by special exquisiteness and complex composition. French brands are mostly requested by sophisticated connoisseurs and fragrances collectors. Those who are being acquainted with niche perfumes specialists recommend to glance at English aromas: they stand out by originality but are simpler to understand. American selectives are famous for non-parfume scents: instead offlowers or fruits they smell like fresh newspapers or bookshelves.
Furthermore, USA perfumes have specially disrupted classical aroma pyramid: it consists of high notes only. But in Arabian countries where niche perfume is enormously popular such experiments are not valued.Local aromas are mostly deeper and more sweet, and the technology of their production is highly secured: the composition is not revealed in fragrance annotations even. But in contrast to European analogues, East phials are decorated rather catchy, even with use of gold and gems.
How does your individuality smell?
“There will be changes!” – state the leading perfumers of the world, denying the habitual division of fragrances into male and female and summer/winter types. Today individuality is on the top of fashion, and this means, traditional perfumes will be soon replaced by the so-called selective fragrances. Will there be any extravagant people, that would like to smell like wet asphalt or like their granny’s cherry pie?
Fragrances not for everyone – these words can be used to characterize the products of selective or niche perfumery, that is gaining popularity all over the world. This type of perfumery can be considered as a protest against fragrance-making being business rather than art. And, really, the times, when it took perfumers years to create a new masterpiece, are gone. Today the lines of popular fragrances change every season, and synthetic components have almost supplanted natural ones. This all leads to most of the perfumes being practically identical for the professionals. For niche perfumery this is nonsense. What is more, the producers of selective fragrances insist, they do not sell fragrances – they sell memories. How else an you call the smell of the garden after rain, fresh French bakery or an electric bulb, that are typical examples of the selectives.
The use of natural components is the main feature of niche perfumery. Essences, oils and natural aphrodisiacs turn selectives in something more than simply perfume. This is aromatherapy for gourmets. The secret is, that natural aromatic substances influence not only our nose, but also our brain. Depending on their aim, they can cause arousal or complete relaxation. This is also due to the fact, that any natural substance is far more complicated, than an artificial one, it stays longer on the skin and shows different sides in every person.
Unusual aromas are another pleasant quality of the selectives. Concentrated, heavy and sometimes even shocking scents, like the scent like resin or wet asphalt make a lot of people detest niche perfumery, but no one can say its not popular. It is up to the point for those, who want to be extravagant and distinguished from the crowd of standard perfume – wearers. That is why niche perfumery is in high demand between the people of creative professions.
Though, according to the producers, shocking is not the main aim of these scents. Certain series of the selectives have pleasant and nostalgic scents, like the scents of sweet pies, cocoa, hay or ice-cream. This fragrances cannot be found in average perfume shops!
Love from the first…smell? Part I.
Many of us believe in love from the first sight, but not many people know, there is actually love from the first…smell! Although the ancient people considered it to be more reliable and stronger, than any other love. In the Russian language there was even a word combination “to smell together”, meaning finding a proper partner.
When we meet an unknown person, we try to remember and analyze his smell – of course subconsciously – and our brain finally gives us a command – “yes, this is a good person” or “no, I don’t like him”. Our eyes can only fix outside features, but smelling gives us a more detailed description of a person’s inner world. Several chemical laboratories have proved, that it is possible to find the one, you’ll love forever, with the help of smell. It occurs, that in a man’s nose there is a small device, something like “the second nose”. It is a small skin bad with the diameter of 3-4 mm, located deep in the nostril. Unlike the “first” nose, that reacts on all the scents, this device shows its reaction only to sexual attractants – pheromones, that produce our “sexual” scent. But for our “first” nose pheromones do not have any smell – except the smell of sex!
When our “second nose” smells pheromones, it gives an impulse to nerves, and then – to the brain, that analyses the smell and produces the result. If the result is positive, we say to ourselves “This is true love!”
Of course, such a research had to be supported experimentally. For example, in one airport scientists have spayed a female attractant on a chair. And men, led by their “second” noses, nearly rushed to this chair, though a lot of other spare chairs were available!
A related experiment was also held with the help of a male pheromone. The clothes of a plain, average man was sprayed on with a male attractant. When he and the group of handsome man went into the streets, women tended to ignore the attractive men and turned their attention to the boring, but sexually-smelling man.
A guide for noses is created in Japan!
An unusual web-site was created in the internet by the members of a Japanese Perfume-Lovers’ Club (Nioi-bu). Not only does the new service provide the visitors with detailed descriptions of various scents, it also gives the exact coordinates of smelling objects on the world map.
The club opened in December 2008 and today includes about 200 active members. According to the creators of the project, their task is to give the internet the only thing it lacked before that – the sense of smell.
Though the web-site exists only in its Japanese version, there is no doubt, that this fruitful idea will find wide support in other countries.
There are many services in the net, that are dedicated to historical places, places of interest and sights, marked on the map. However, this site is absolutely unique. Those, who love fresh and simple scents, will learn from it, where to find fresh linen odorant, the scents of greenery or fresh soap. Gourmets will learn all about the smells of exotic dishes. And extreme-lovers, will find the smells of dung, old woman or dirty socks.
Some descriptions are not only concrete, but at the same time very poetic, like, for example, “the smell of verbena soap near a nunnery in Paris”. Some offer very complicated cocktails, like “incense, fresh greenery, mud and wild dogs” – a perfume description of the capital of Thailand. Today the portal contains 160 coordinates of different smells, starting from the smell of “rice, boiling in a pot” and ending with “long-time worn socks”. For example, in a Japanese town of Fujisava one can easily find the scent of manure, and in the place called Kamakura it is easy to meet cats with the worst mouth smell.
The projects works on the principles of openness – anyone can join it, in case he wants. A newly found scent is included into the database and marked with a flag on Google Maps. Today there are more than 160 scents marked in this way, and their amount is growing steadily.