Discover your color palette and your style type.

Should You Match Your Style Type to Your Perfume?

4/9/2018

We interpret scents in the same way we interpret colors and lines. Some scents smell masculine, and some smell feminine; some are mysterious, some are delicate, some are earthy, some are cheerful, some are intimidating, some are sexy.

If you want to, it's possible for you to apply these principles toward the goal of smelling like you look.

As an Ethereal Natural, I love the delicate, earthy scents that harmonize with the delicate and earthy aspects of my beauty. I'm currently lusting for After the Flood by Apoteker: "The scent of soil, water, and the delicate stirrings of undergrowth in spring..." Doean't that sound gorgeous? Notes of soil, mushroom, and water lily -- delicate and earthy, for sure!

But what if I want to smell playful? Or girlish? Or sexy? None of those words really describe my beauty; am I committing some sort of "style crime" if the way I smell doesn't harmonize with my visual presentation?

I think the question of how closely to match a fragrance to a style ID is a pretty personal one.

If you're absolutely in love with your style ID, you might naturally want to recreate that impression in your fragrance.

But if you dream of being someone else, perfume might be a way for you to play with that fantasy.

Even though I'm an Ethereal Natural, I'm also drawn to pure Ethereal fragrances, and Ethereal Ingenue fragrances too.

I'd love to own Kenzoki White Lotus and Jardin des Nymphes, both of which I know are more delicate than I am -- aquatic and green floral notes without any weighty, earthy notes to balance them out.

But why shouldn't I play dress-up with my scents? If I want to pretend to be a pure spirit of the air, I'm going to do it, gol darn it. :-)

* * *

Classique by Jean Paul Gaultier is one of my favorite fragrances of all time.

It has a ton of sweetness , which is Ingenue, and a ton of sexiness, which is Romantic: orange blossom, plum, ylang,-ylang, tuberose. It also has quite a bit of Classic, because of the orchid and sandalwood (and vanilla too), and Dramatic as a fourth-place essence, via the sharp qualities brought in by star anise, ginger, and cinnamon. So, a great fragrance for a Romantic Ingenue or a Romantic-Classic-Ingenue, especially one with a tiny dash of Dramatic.

RC, the Sexy Sophisticate, and RCI, the Prim Princess, are pretty far from me. I'm Ethereal Natural; I'm the Dryad.

Yet I love love love this sexy, sweet, sophisticated fragrance.

I mean, why shouldn't I experiment with other personae through my fragrance, if I feel like it?

A special night alone with the man I'm crazy about could a good time to bring out my inner Sexy Sophisticate, right? It seems like a good excuse to wear this fragrance that I've loved since college.

* * *

People are often influenced by scent at an unconscious level. Maybe a person can use this fact to say more about oneself than mere physical appearance might reveal.

Maybe I have an unpleasant confrontation coming up, and I need to be intimidating. A pure Dramatic fragrance, while conflicting with my physical appearance, might send the message that I am not to be trifled with.

Formula 1 Steel by Walter Wolf would be a good choice for this. Strong metallic notes; that's a threatening message if ever there was one.

Or perhaps I could choose a scent that's me, but with an intimidating edge that's missing from my appearance: so, Ethereal-Dramatic-Natural. Intimidating Earth Goddess, I could say.

La Curie by Larrea would be perfect: ozone, leather, and vetiver mean it's abstract and earthy, but with some sharpness and aggression too.

If I'm meeting my boss's boss for the first time, I'm going to want to dress like the most professional version of Dryad that I can present, because looking like myself signals confidence.

At the same time, I could choose a fragrance that's pure Classic, to send the subliminal message, "I am reliable. I have it under control. You can count on me."

Madam President by Clash would be great for this purpose: you don't get more traditional than iris, cedar, and patchouli. (And the name is perfect, isn't it?)

You might consider playing with fragrances as a way to manifest elements of your personality that aren't obvious from your appearance. Have you done this already? Do you prefer to smell like you look? I'm curious to hear your experiences with this.

30 Comments

Miranda

4/9/2018 03:19:05 pm

I adore this interpretation. Most of my scents are earthy or clean tea scents, but I definitely pick my perfume oils based on what personality traits I feel are prevalent that day or what impression I want to make. Spending time with men I'm interested in calls for different scents than women I'm interested in (berry scents with grounding elements vs. feminine fougeres). Strong and intimidating calls for oakmoss, white rose, and tobacco.
I'm on a restricted medical diet, so sometimes I use foody scents to curb cravings. Sorry not sorry if everyone around me is suddenly craving blueberry pie.

I didn't think of it as adding elements that are missing from my appearance, but I definitely am with the oakmoss and fougeres. I'm a tiny femme bi ENI who loves strength training and can out-aggro men twice my size (I was in basic training juuust long enough to pick up the female drill sergeant voice and it is marvelously effective in some situations; also, Mom voice). At one point, I expressed those aspects of my personality with extremely short hair, tank tops, and jeans. At a different point in my life, I henna'd my sandy hair deep red and wore sharp strong makeup. Neither felt right. The combination of Soft Summer ENI appearance (errr, wardrobe in transition) plus the ability to adjust my impression by the scents I wear is deeply satisfying without feeling the need to overcompensate for my appearance by being either overly placating or overly abrupt.

Caren

4/11/2018 01:40:09 am

Hey Miranda, what are the fragrances you like? And I do relate to your story, even though (today) I am DNR (oops, not do not resuscitate, but dramatic natural romantic, ha) but also 60 yr old bi widow who is working on my deadlift and will maybe date(eek!) again. cheers! fwiw, these days I am in love with Sarah Jessica Parker's Stash and Rhianna's Rogue. Even though my signature for years was Jessica McClintock. could not be more surprised. cheers!

Tanja

4/9/2018 04:00:00 pm

I enjoy your posts about fragrances a lot!

4/10/2018 12:26:24 am

Rachel, I am loving this post and seeing your reasoning about fragrance. Miranda, I love your comments and how you've found a style home while staying true to your personality & goals. Cravings for blueberry pie cracks me up! You both inspire me.

And all this thought about fragrance is so interesting. I've usually just aimed to smell good - or not smell bad, at least. This idea of using scent as expression is vastly appealing to me.

Rachel, thank you again so much for the fragrance guide. As I've read through it, I've realized I've never actually smelled "my" style ID in a scent. ED is so super niche, I've never encountered it. And I've only ever worn scents that are way more traditional and/or girly than myself: grandma's vintage White Shoulders, a gift of Love's Baby Soft, Raplh Lauren's Romance, lately Black Opium, straight up vanilla body oil (wow, just writing that out - none of that fits me). It smells like nice memories, but it's not my style at all! I would never, ever dress to match those smells (well, maybe that epic flowing dress from the Romance campaign. That was why I bought the perfume in the first place.)

All that is to say, I've definitely done the wearing scents that don't match mem thing. I'm looking forward to trying something a bit more like my clothing looks. I have 2 delicate+intimidating scents on order -- I'm especially intrigued by Wet Pavement London. Trading my love of English garden or tea shop smells for the scent of wet asphalt. We'll see how this goes!

4/10/2018 04:04:24 am

Thanks, W. I enjoy your comments also (but my phone doesn't always play nice with the reply function).

I'm still struggling some with my style ID and how to implement it, but it's coming together. Some of my plans got torpedoed today when my sister suggested I put my photo up against the clothes I had already decided to buy or make, and about my beautiful waterfall patterns with Natural softened triangle shapes, my face said "You want a ruffle there. A flowing, S-shaped ruffle, and it doesn't have to *technically* be a ruffle because it doesn't have to be gathered, but definitely a rounded edge that gives the impression of...you're going to hate this...a ruffle."
So now I'm sulking while I look up patterns with ruffles.

4/10/2018 11:26:12 am

Ha! Oh, best of luck on finding a ruffle that appeals to you. I assume this is a gentle ruffle, not an Elizabethan collar, yes?

I hear you on the changing-over-wardrobe struggle. I was raised preppy-style, so all this ethereal-dramatic stuff just makes me do a double-take. I *like* it. And it works far better than sweetness and light and the Hamptons. Still, I find myself continually trying on natural things just in case. I tried on a bunch of flowing EN boho dresses the other day. So pretty! Such hope! My hubby was with me - just raised his eyebrows. Looks so good on the rack - on me, sadly no.

I think the idea of a photo is a great one. I finally got a good read on the style ID calculator when I used one of the new motion google photos - like a tiny clip of movie. In motion, my face looks rather different than still (where it always seems to change). Suddenly, the drama was very apparent. My smile softens my features, but in smiling-while-speaking, the intensity was far more apparent. Certain clothes were just 'nope' and others looked right.

It's interesting you're making some clothes rather than buying. I'm definitely heading that direction myself. I certainly realized I need to learn how to properly tailor my clothes. ED requires a very luxe look. And since I afford couture, I'm plotting a capsule wardrobe of interchangable pieces in medium-weight solids to fake maxi-dresses & jumpsuits and such. Intimidating as heck, as I've only ever sewn cosplay & costumes. But it's all costume, really, right? Eesh, best of luck to you and wish me luck as well. :)

4/10/2018 11:28:34 am

I meant to say, I *can't* afford couture.

Omg, like really, who could? My new style muse Tilda Swinton? Not me, that's for sure. :D

4/11/2018 01:34:29 am

if you want a soft rufflesque feature, try a circular ruffle and not a gathered ruffle. Hope it googles okay as I cannot describe it adequately. essentially it is different in that the flowiness comes from placing a curved piece on to a straight edge, and then you get the flowiness of the bias. No gathers! No awkward straight edges all bunched up! good luck!

4/11/2018 07:59:00 pm

Caren -
That's a nice soft ruffle, thanks!

W. -
Making stuff is the only way this project isn't driving me (too) crazy. I'm a complete perfectionist and stores are horribly overwhelming to me. I knit, so a lot of my layers are going to be flowy shrugs and shawl jackets; my main winter accessories are hats, mitts, and half-circle shawls (which I always wear wrapped like...a ruffle...); and I interpret the detail of Ethereal as "lace or delicate cables."
I wish I could make friends with my sewing machine. I used to sew when I was a kid, but I've forgotten how.
For basics (tank tops, yoga pants, etc), I am getting dyeables from Dharma Trading Company. I found a dye calculator that I *hope* will work in figuring out the dye formula of colors from my palette (and my ex's Dark Winter palette and my daughter's Soft Autumn palette), though you can bet I'm working with a restricted number of colors so this doesn't take years.
The rest of what I'm planning comes from Etsy. I have a capsule-based wardrobe planned too because while I love supporting small businesses and knowing that I'm paying for the materials and work (rather than a name), I'm still on a small budget.
I am so jealous of my sister. She lives by decent thrift stores and is composing great ENR outfits out of $1 bags of clothes.

I hear you about clothing issues from childhood. My family's "uniform" was massively oversized t-shirts and jeans. That was it unless you were going to church or a wedding or something. I typed my sister as 50/50 Dramatic Natural, didn't tell her or that I'd typed myself as ENI, and asked her to type us both also. She typed me as...50/50 Dramatic Natural.
We put it down to childhood issues because going feature by feature, I am definitely ENI and she is definitely ENR.

And whew, sorry for the novel! I wish there was a forum for this.

And yes, good luck to you too!

4/13/2018 11:23:02 am

I enjoy the novel! Though yes, I feel a bit bad sometimes using Rachel's comment section as edging toward forum-ness (sorry Rachel!)

Best of luck as you knit and so forth! That sounds like quite the project!

Rosetta

4/11/2018 03:40:21 am

Hmm, I usually choose fragrances based on simply which ones I like, not according to my style ID...! ;) Thinking of style ID doesn't even enter the picture. And this is how most people do it, I guess. But I tend to be attracted to sensual, foody, fruity scents, like coconut, vanilla, chocolate, musk... I'm a R-E-I-N.

Rachel

4/11/2018 06:06:33 pm

Those sound like very RNI smell combinations!

4/15/2018 06:20:29 am

Ah, that's interesting! So it seems my E element is missing from those, though ;) (I'm sure it's included in some of my favourite perfumes though, but I have so many of them :))

Lena

4/13/2018 02:03:30 am

Can anyone type Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper?

4/13/2018 02:16:02 am

It would be nice if Rachel could give her impressions too...

4/16/2018 01:00:03 pm

Hi!

It's much harder for me to determine a style type than a color season based just on a few minutes' consideration -- I really need to spend an hour or two. But I will say that the few times I saw her show, I suspected she might have some Natural and some Ethereal, because I saw her in a delicate, loose-fitting top with a messy braid and I thought she looked amazing. :-)

Megan

4/15/2018 04:05:37 pm

Hm I instantly thought a dramatic blend because of her bone structure... she's often smiling in pictures, and seems to look right when she's smiling, so maybe dramatic, natural and... she probably has a feminine essence, so romantic? Not sure, that's a tricky one!

Victoria

4/15/2018 06:00:04 pm

She's been typed as Dramatic Natural/YangN/Flamboyant Natural on other sites/boards...

Rebecca

4/13/2018 02:32:24 am

I was thinking of buying a fragrance guide. I haven't worn any for years, and hoped that a guide would help narrow choices. (I'm quite ignorant about perfumes.) However, this article makes me want *all the guides*!

Do the individual style guides classify the scents as leaning one way or another (within that style?)

4/13/2018 11:21:01 am

(Rachel is really the one who would know, but an observation from the several guides I have - I got a bunch as I was trying to figure my ID out):

The guides give an overview of what overall type of scent to aim for (ex: "Green Chypres with woody or musky accords"), recommends specific notes to try and notes to avoid, and lists some individual perfumes that might work for you. << There's usually a nice range there - affordable (read, drugstore cheap) to quite niche & expensive.

One thing I've noticed is the blending of scents varies significantly from guide to guide. So, say, ozonic notes -- this showed up on my ED guide, but not on the EDC guide. I can conclude it's a dramatic scent (storms), and I would guess that it's also a rather ethereal scent (sky/rain)? But evidently the addition of classic negates the ozonic recommendation - it's not on the EDC 'avoid' list, but it's no longer in the recommended list of notes either.

So I'm now curious -- it would be interesting to get the individual element guide (an E guide, a D guide, AND a ED guide to compare?) but I found that the observations about the overlaps and *why* the overlaps worked ("your ID calls for a blend of X scent and Y scent, but without the notes of Z that usually are found in these blends) -- to be the really interesting bit.

Anyhow, they're really interesting info! I've had fun with them.

4/13/2018 11:39:22 am

So, one of my style ID scents showed up - Wet Pavement London - and... so this is interesting.

I put it on, and was like... okay... I... huh... whaaa? I don't know about London (I recall a much stronger stormy scent. Also the Tube is just nasty, so thankfully it doesn't smell like that.) But yes, it is storms and asphalt. In a bottle. At first I was just... Okay, this does NOT smell like perfume, this is a bust. But then hubby came home and was like, 'Oh, yeah. I like that. That's great!' which made me do a double-take, because generally he hates perfume. Almost every type I've ever tried makes him nauseous. I said, 'But it's so...strange' and he said, 'But it's nice, right? You've always wanted a signature scent, right?' and I was like... yes, but I wanted to find something totally unique and special that was like absolutely everyone else and didn't stand out at all.

Which... hey. That's the problem right? (points to it) that's the problem. Can't be yourself if you're not doing your own thing.

So yeah. This ED scent is like... I don't know how to describe it. Like... clean? Synthetic? But not nasty. Not cleaning solution. Just... Not a scent I can place or name easily. City streets and fresh tar and rain? It smells like travel. Not like the rumpled, gross, everyone's been in this airplane for 8 hours smell, but it honestly smells like the feeling I get when it's the morning of a trip and you get up all excited to get moving. Like, an outdoors sort of smell - but not nature-y. Sort of citylike? But not lots of bodies or the odors of the streets. Just...sky and... I don't know. It's just so not how I think of perfume. But it's growing on me.

4/13/2018 11:17:05 pm

W. That sounds fantastic! One of my BPAL perfume oils commemorating the recent solar eclipse is called Oil and Pitch (from an old practice of using a mixture of same to safely view the eclipse). I put it on and it smells like hot tar, and it is somehow delicious. I thought people would be weirded out by it, but I have gotten many compliments. I love unusual scents.
It doesn't fit the feel of the Ingenue colors I have picked so I may not wear it often going forward - matching color feel is essential for me, far more than style ID. I'm not even sure how you'd classify it. It has a good bit of dark amber and orange as well, so maybe Dramatic Romantic?

4/15/2018 06:24:56 am

Ah, glad someone mentioned BPAL perfume oils, I love their scents! :) (And all similar "niche" perfume oil companies.) They're just quite hard to come by & expensive to buy for us here in Europe.

Emmy

4/14/2018 06:19:25 am

I've loved reading the post and comments, such beautiful writing. Does anybody know what ID Jo Malone's Lime Basil and Mandarin might be? It's fairly light and summery, with an amber wood base note. I would be very grateful for any ideas xx

4/15/2018 08:44:33 pm

Emmy, I believe the citrus lime and madarine notes are gamine. They're crisp, clean, youthful, a touch androgynous. In a previous post, Cliniques Happy is a gamine blend. And a lot of youthful men's scents have citrus in them. Basil, I don't know. Aren't the foody scents romantic? But that one might be more natural. Pretty sure amber is natural. Okay, and that's the end of what I know. But I'm thinking that sounds like a gamine blend.

4/16/2018 11:04:59 am

Basil is surely not Romantic, IMO, probably Natural - otherwise agree with W. :)

4/23/2018 03:04:40 am

Would anyone know if Escada's Marine Groove perfume has any Ethereal element in it? It's described as "a fresh and fruity scent, perfect for summer. Enticing notes of sweet peony, heady jasmine, and exotic passion fruit are followed by a hint of white musk." To me it smells much fresher (and thus more Ethereal?) than most scents I use; my current go-to is Escada's Taj Sunset, perfect for me (I'm R-E-I with some N) :)

4/25/2018 04:08:29 pm

Hi! I would call Marine Groove RNI or REN . Strongly R, for sure. (Interestingly, I decided that before reading the rest of your comment. So apparently you've picked a good one. :-) )

Robin

4/30/2019 02:51:17 am

Recommendation for a Soft Autumn fragrance
L’Occitane Terra de Lumière
(Lavender Honey)

Ella

1/2/2020 05:57:42 am

After buying my type's fragrance guide and sampling a few of the perfumes on the list, I've come to realise that my taste in perfumes is totally at odds with my style type. I'm a NCG who loves Alien, Black Opium and Hypnotic Poison and when I tried the more unisex NCG perfumes, they just weren't my jam. I'm missing that sweetness and warmth that I assume is coming from Ingenue and Romantic notes. It's also super hard to find perfumes that don't include floral, spicy or fruity notes. It's a shame because I liked the idea of matching perfume to style type. Maybe my tastes will change, but for now I'm going to keep wearing my Romantic scents.

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Should You Match Your Style Type to Your Perfume?

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