What perfumes make you happy?
Which ones make you sad?
Are there any calming scents for you?
Anything infuriating?
Do you think perfume has the power to change the course of a day through their mood altering properties?
My Answers:
I believe in the powers of perfume to influence me and my mood. This is the resource I use to determine what perfume to wear, if I let my subconcious decide and grab what it compells me to grab I am always fine and happy with my choice.
Warning: Blog related testing of non-mood conforming fragrances can lead to major crankiness. 😉
My happy fragrance is Orange Sanguine by Atelier Cologne. Its major orange overdose leaves me no choice but to smile.
In a sad or contemplative mood my fragrance of choice is L’Heure Bleue, it takes the edge of and adds a little light and warmth to the blues.
To calm me in situations where I am angry or overwhelmed, I most often reach for incense perfumes, Andy Tauer’s Incense Extreme wrestles successfully even with extremely pressured situations.
And are there perfumes that manage to be infuriating by themselves?
Oh yes, there are such perfumes too. Lately I encountered Delrae Panache, L’Artisan Traversee du Bosphore, By Kilian Back to Black, Serge Lutens Louve. Do you see a pattern here? I shoud stay away from too much sugar, I seem to be a fragrance diabetic. 🙂
I can’t wait to hear about your mood-altering drugs perfumes!
Olfactoria's Travels 
I like to use calming perfumes.
I find Ineke’s Balmy Days and Sundays, and Aroma M Violet very soothing.
Others are joyous for me, like Aftelier Wildflowers and their fir essence.
Beautiful melancholy – Aftelier Cepes and Tuberose, Dubrana’s Balsamo della Mecca, and SL Chergui
Alertness: L’Artisan’s Timbuktu, Dzonghkha, and SL’s Fille en Aiguilles
Dreaminess: roses, like Paestum Rose, Tauer’s Maroc Pour Elle.
Every perfume is its own mood.
Hi Lucy!
I like your categories! Every perfumes is its own mood – very true!
Tea Rose and SSS Voile de Violette always make me happy. It’s like getting flowers and a box of candy. Rossy de Palma has a similar effect.
Lately I’ve been wearing Incense Rose on plane trips as it feels calming/centering.
When I’m sad or in a bad mood I usually reach for something with a gourmand angle. Tobacco scents also do the trick (Although I’ve never smoked! Really!)
Gourmands in a sad mood are a very good idea! Iris Ganache is my favorite gourmand at the moment.
I hear a lot of god things about SSS!
Chanel’s Coco might seem to be a typical 80s corporate scent but it has different associations for me, happy ones. I wore it in the rain one summer day when it had not rained for weeks. And I wore it on holiday in the mountains once in summer when it matched perfectly with the cool air. Makes me happy! (I love those 80s ads too, they are so whimsical and always make me smile.)
Hello annemarie!
That is the beauty of perfumes, they attach to our personal memories and associations and make it possible to re-experience happiness (or any other emotion) again in a whiff! Coco is a great perfume to have as a happy scent! 🙂
Every parfum is mood changing for me – I think that’s the reason I love them.
L’Artisan’s Dzonghka is my mediative one.
Fruity ones are cheery : Jo Malone’s Grapefruit, or Nectarine Blossom & Honey. Dzing! makes me lough !
Lutens’ Gris Clair, or Clair de Musc make my head clear and direct
Great choices, Lady Jane! Dzing! makes me laugh too! I could use a little today. 🙂
I’d say : come over then ! But I’m at Salzkammergut right now…
🙂
Happy makes me Happy. Sad: I have not tried any that makes me feel sad but melancholic yes, Je Reviens by Worth.
Infuriated: wow… I have no idea:-)
I absolutely believe that perfume can change our mood through the day. Of course, the notes have a power by themselves.
It is a good thing we have the power of perfume at our disposal, to improve or enhance a particular mood.
l’heure bleu makes me happier and soothes when I am sad
Hi Rose, glad to hear from you!
L’Heure Bleue is really an amazing mood manipulator! 🙂
OK, after reading your post and everyone’s comments I definitely need more mood enhancing perfumes. Citrus is a mood lifter so that first spray of Diorella works for me but I really need an orange scent- that Aftelier sounds lovely. Kyoto will bring me calm when I get hold of some and Shalimar or a gourmand such as Aomassai bring me comfort. Anything with a prominant violet or almond note is infruiating because those notes hate me. Bitter greens like Bandit and Jolie Madame scare me!
Scent that scare us – I forgot that category! 😉 I am totally with you on Bandit, very scary!
You must try Orange Sanguine (it is by Atelier Cologne not Aftelier Perfumes, many confuse these two). It is the most gorgeous citrus scent ever. By now it has even surpassed Bigarade Concentree in my favors, because it is more exuberant and carefree.
Thanks B, I got Orange Sanguine muddled with Candide because of the Aftelier/Atelier thing and because they’re both happy scents, but probably need to try both anyway. Oh and very glad I’m not the only one with a fear of Bandit!
Both are worth trying, definitely. 🙂
Oh, boy…perfumes by mood…This is a current list, mind, had you asked a few years ago, the answers would likely be very different!
For happy: It would be, bar none, Fleurs d’Oranger, Orange Star or anything centered on orange +/- orange blossom. Immediately, my mood shifts to bouncy!
For sad: First, by Van Cleef & Arpel, simply because my mother is (literally, at her own behest) buried with it. To this day, my sister and I can’t sniff it without tears.
For melancholy in a good way: Bois de Violette, La Myrrhe. Sometimes, moody can be a good thing!
For balance and centering: Balmain Ivoire and Jacomo Silences. I wear these often when I need to focus on something that demands a lot of mental concentration.
For contemplation and serenity: Incense Extrème, Balsamo della Mecca, Encens et Lavande, and Chêne. These are the ones I wear when I need invisible armor.
Infuriating…Well, for some strange reason, chypres seem to bring out my inner b**** – or beast, if you prefer! 😉 – so when I need to show teeth, nothing does it better than Ms. Frigidaire, Chanel no. 19 parfum. There’s another contender, but that’s my next review! 😉
I love your choices! I will try Silences next time when I need to concentrate.
Recently I’ve found out that what I look for in a perfume is tenderness.
Some of my perfumes conjures that, and some others not.
There are 3 or 4 that make me feel specially ‘tender’, each one in its own way:
With Après l’Ondée, which is innocent as a child’s skin & yet as awesome baroque lolita-teenager (Coppola’s Marie Antoinette loveliness and pastel colors comes to my mind): naïve, delicate, almost fragile, a faint voice… and at the same time so perfectly rounded. I use it very often, mainly when I’m at home, it’s such a truly comforting scent to me. I know people usually talk about its melancholy… but to me it’s the scent of feeling safe (and balanced) at home.
With Fleurs d’Oranger by Serge Lutens I feel almost a child… and with LouLou by Cacharel.
Then, with L’Heure Bleue: All I can say about it is that it’s such a spectacular thing that you are literally waiting something magical happens. Reminds me of some Tim Burton’s, I’ve always felt fascinated with everything related to his world (and fairy tales in general): the stories are a complex combination of humour and tragedy, being a colorful palette. I think every feeling has a color and L’HB has all of them. Sometimes is the red of anger/passion, sometimes is the orange of happiness, sometimes is colored in the shades of purple of the loneliness, sometimes in the blue of sadness… So wearing it, I feel moody more than ‘tender’.
So I’ve had a variety of choices for ‘tenderness’— from the marzipanesque/almondy/heliotropes to oriental/floral/creamy/vanillas…
When I want to feel sexy, pretty or seductive, I go for floral-narcotic things, or a Chypre style… So, I choose FM’s Le Parfum de Thèrese, Van Cleef&Arpels’ First, Nicolai’s Odalisque, Lauder’s Beautiful (yes, I love it!) or Private collection Tuberose-Gardenia. Then, a perfume that makes me feel TENDER and SEXY mixed toghether at once, is Une fleur de Cassie.
I generally don’t like strong/undeniable woody accords on my skin… I don’t like in the drydown, either. An exception is Feminité du Bois by Serge Lutens, because it’s a lovely strange creature, but it’s very unusual on me to fall in love with such a kind of scent …
Woody accords simply don’t suit me, they make me feel bored, and even in masculine scents I prefer animalic/musky notes than roots/woods.
Great choices, GeM!
The most tender perfume I know is Mona di Orio Musc, it is truly soft and lovely and also has your beloved heliotrope note.
I love your comparison of L’Heure Bleue and Tim Burton – genius!
I love your review of Mona di Orio Musc!!! I desperately needed it since your suggestion! 😉
I hope you find a sample! 🙂