The Scent Of Love

While the perfume industry would like us to believe that a fragrance is a love potion to entice your object of affection, is it really the case? APARRNA GUPTA delves into the soft, sensual and tumultuous universe of romantic fragrances.

Isn't it true that some scents, if they remind you of your love, can make you smile through the day? Similarly, it’s not uncommon that a mere whiff of some perfumes can twist your stomach in knots bringing back memories of lost love and ugly breakups. This is the power of a scent. It makes you time-travel.

“The sense of smell is the most powerful in triggering emotions and memory recall,” states Rajiv Sheth, perfumer and creative director, All Good Scents. Research proves that people can remember smells with 65% accuracy after a year, while visual recall is about 50% after three months. “Unlike the parts of the brain that process sound and images, the olfactory bulb has direct connections with the amygdala and hippocampus, which are strongly associated in emotion and memory,” he adds, explaining how even unconsciously the brain is always linking emotions to a particular smell.

Are there scents that smell like love?

It is a sort of urban legend that you are just one scent away from the love of your life. Voluptuous roses, tender tuberose, dewy lilies and a dash of musk, all on a bed of softwoods and sensual vanilla— shaken and stirred in a perfumer’s cauldron! Does this sound like a love potion? Well, it will work if the flowers remind him of the comfort and happy childhood memories of playing in the garden. If the smell of roses on a woman reminds the man of the flowers at his Grandma’s funeral, you could well imagine their impact.

While there is no one formula that spells love, there are definitive indicators, which most perfumers, believe should be associated with happy memories for the wearer first and then those around them. Your love scent is one which transports you into a unique cocoon of warmth and comfort. Their role as a weapon of attraction or seduction is secondary.