Floral, fruity or fougère? Follow your nose around Bangalore

Quite often in a busy thoroughfare, you’ll find yourself being pleasantly surprised by a lingering fragrance of someone who has just passed by. Head-turner for sure, the pleasant whiff leaves you pondering over the brand, making you long for the same. Needless to say, good body odour is as much the mark of a macho man as that of an enigmatic woman.

The kind of perfume that you wear truly defines your personality. In fact, it’s a kind of subliminal message that you send across. It is precisely because of this that fragrances make for good gift items as well. There is nobody who doesn’t like to be delightfully surprised by an aroma that is in sync with her persona.

Fragrances typically come under these following categories:

· Floral- fruity, green, amber, woody, and citrus

· Oriental- citrus, spicy, amber, floriental, and gourmand

· Chypre (sheepra)- fruity, floral, animal

· Citrus

· Fougère (foozh-air)

· Green

Perfume is a multi-dollar industry and raking in the moolah are scores of high-end brands. In the city, Parcos in the Leela Palace Hotel is the only exclusive-perfume shop, which literally overwhelms you with choices. Major departmental stores and shopping malls, such as, Shoppers Stop, Bangalore Central, Lifestyle, Westside and Landmark too have separate counters where you get some of the choicest products.

As Jean de Boufflers, the French statesman and writer, once said “Pleasure is the flower that passes, remembrance, the lasting perfume.” Only this time, be the one who stumps people as she passes by.