Smells Divine: A Perfumer’s Guide To Finding Your Signature Scent 

Refresh your fragrance wardrobe with new spring fragrances inspired by new faces.

How To Find Your Signature Fragrance This Spring

STEP 1: Unlock Your Subconscious

“Everyone starts life developing a unique and individual olfactive platform,” explains Marzano. “As we learn to understand and link smells to objects and memories, it influences whether we’re drawn to or repelled by certain smells.” Think of loved ones, travel memories and cherished belongings to harness your nostalgia.

Sisley’s new Les Eaux Rêvées (‘The Dream Waters’) collection plays into the transportive and nostalgic powers of fragrance. The collection – like our dreams – is designed to take you into another world, a place that only lives in your imagination. From the citrus-filled garden of L’Eau Rêvée d’Hubert to the daring spiced nature of L’Eau Rêvée d’Aria, there’s a scent to capture your wildest dreams.

STEP 2: Play The Field

If you’re truly starting from scratch, Marzano’s advice is to experiment with the three fragrance families: fresh, floral and woody. First up, a light, citrus scent such as Millésime Impérial by Creed has universal appeal. “With its aquatic, iris and sandalwood signature, it’s a great every day, any-occasion fragrance for any gender,” explains Marzano.

For an unexpected floral, Marzano likes Matiere Premiere Radical Rose. “An evocative blend of rose, saffron and incense elevate this classic floral note to a distinctively sensual, head-turning and confidence-boosting fragrance.” 

For his own signature scent, Marzano turns to Town & Country by Clive Christian owing to its distinctive, woody fragrance. With clary sage, grey amber and sandalwood, it’s a warming scent that “takes me on a journey to the hallowed streets of London and the English countryside,” he shares.

STEP 3: Invest In The Best

As you draw closer to finding The One, Marzano suggests committing to an Eau de Parfum. The difference? Eau de toilettes are light and refreshing, while Eau de Parfums are traditionally formulated with 15-20 per cent oil concentration for day-to-night longevity and versatility. “With life becoming faster and time seeming to slide through our fingers, a one-stop option of EDP is best,” says Marzano.

Scents and Sensibility

Refillable fragrances are on the rise. Leading the charge is noted French perfumer Kilian, whose entire collection of scents are designed as objets d’art, able to be refilled and admired for generations. 

Guerlain’s nature-inspired Aqua Allegoria collection and Giorgio Armani’s My Way are both ripe for refilling, too. Meanwhile, in an innovative step forward, Gucci is also reimagining the future of scent. Gucci’s The Alchemist’s Garden Where My Heart Beats is the first of the house’s fragrances to be crafted with alcohol made from 100 per cent recycled carbon emissions. By capturing, recycling and purifying carbon from industrial emissions, the perfume reduces water consumption – leaving behind a violet leaf, peony and white musk accord, and more of the planet’s precious resources.