Scent-sing stress

I’m sure at one time or another you’ve had a friend or family member tell you, “you seem stressed” but has anyone ever told you, “you smell stressed”?

In the same way that diet, certain medications and individual skin type can affect the way a perfume smells on us, stress can shape the way a perfume reacts with our body chemistry. In fact, stress is one of the key triggers that can change our body’s chemical system.

Stress causes anxiety, which in turn speeds up your heart rate and leads to increased body heat, which will change your body chemistry and result in your perfume smelling differently.

So how do you ensure you don’t go from smelling ravishing to smelling rotten? The answer is to vigorously test a potential new perfume.

My tips for testing your fragrance fancies

Trial one fragrance at a time and don’t make an on-the-spot decision as it’s the long-term imprint that really counts. Initially a perfume may smell beautifully fresh, but give it an hour or two to develop and react with your body chemistry and it may turn foul.

Always apply perfume to your pulse points (such as wrists and underneath your ear lobes) as these points of the body give off the most heat and will therefore give a truer representation of how the perfume will smell on you.

Applying the same fragrance on a different day is also a great way to ensure that your body’s chemical changes don’t result in an unpleasant pong!

Picking the perfect perfume can be a lengthy process but if you want to find the right scent for you it’s well worth it.

Choosing the right fragrance is not just about a personal preference for a particular scent, it’s about your body chemistry too. This is the reason why you may love the smell of a perfume on a friend but hate it on yourself. It’s the rationale that explains why a perfume smelled great on you when you were younger but yukky on you now that you’re, well…less youthful!

What factors determine your choice of perfume?