Scents & Sensibility

Kanika Goswami checks out the latest in fragrances ruling the market today

It’s a four-inch bottle made of platinum and 24-carat gold, encrusted with rubies and diamonds, encased in a metal box with a gold studded key. There are only 173 such bottles and two of its patrons are Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson. It is therefore not surprising that ‘Parfum VI’ does not come cheap at 47,500 pound sterling. Perfumes can be a costly business, especially with celebrities ranging from Jennifer Lopez to Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan endorsing them. But costly or not, it is popular and incidents like Marilyn Monroe’s remark in the ’60s that she slept in nothing but Chanel No 5 has only added some spice into the mania.

People choose perfumes for a number of reasons — the brand, the beauty of packaging, etc but the foremost reason is the scent itself. Most perfume houses go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the confidentiality of their formulas. Most perfumes therefore have an aura of mystery around them.

Advertising campaigns often allude to products as being woody, fresh, confident – abstractions no one can put their finger on, except that they give the right sound bytes.

India is today a big perfume market and while perfume oils have been in use for thousands of years, it was Noor Jehan who put her stamp on sweetly scented oil baths, giving it royal approval. Of course our heat and dust has added to our demand and the glamour quotient cannot be underplayed either. The advent of flashy retail stores that house many perfume brands in their classy, air conditioned luxury, has provided that much needed fillip to the business. With some noticeable exceptions, almost all the brands have set up marketing operations in select outlets, mostly in the metros. Just a few years ago, it was only obliging friends and relatives who brought back the ‘phoren’ brands. But come 1992 and the first imported perfume brand made its way into Benzer, Mumbai – it was Drakkar Noir. This was a stepping stone despite the fact that the grey market in Mumbai, Delhi and of course, Chennai’s Burma Bazaar had been selling a lot of these brands for a long time, usually smuggled.

An interesting fact to note is that nearly 60 per cent of the perfume market in India is hogged by women. As for men, their education started probably in the post Old Spice era after the ’80s. This just followed the dark ages where Old Spice meant ‘After Shave’ in the male grooming terminology. As far as men are concerned, preferences are outright, younger men prefer sporty, trendy fragrances like maybe, a Ferrari and a Polo (by Ralph Lauren). The more matured men prefer musk, spicy, woody versions, designed to turn heads. But for men, by all accounts, what matters most is the BRAND. An important observation is that the brand has to be ‘imported’, an Indian brand, however good, is just not good enough, which is the reason why brands like Copper sold but for special occasions, the imported brands still occupied the pride of place on the dresser.

The perfumes we buy usually can be divided into - For Me and For Gifting, in terms of intention. Another dividing factor is the season influence. For summers, floral and citrus based perfumes sell most while men almost always prefer musk. Winters can tolerate more heady oil fragrances, heavier and lingering. In general, a perfume has a life span of five years. There are some never-say-die fragrances like L’air Du Temps but even that has to be reinvented in terms of packaging. The fact that almost 60 per cent of the market is for gift buying, makes it more imperative for brands to keep reinventing themselves. The all-time classics are Chanel, Hugo Boss, Polo, Armani, CK1 etc but the faster moving ones are still the Azzaro, Burberry and Escada, Shiseido, Ferrari and of course, Nina Ricci. Most brands are toady available in stores like Parfums Boutique, Makeup Forever, Shopper’s Stop, Pyramid, Westside, Lifestyle and Globus all over the country. The market starts with close to Rs 2,000 and goes on to about Rs 5,000 and the choice in between is usually determined by who you want to buy it for. For the 2003 season, the style is Floral and the favoured perfumes are Davidoff’s Cool Water and Christian Dior’s J’adore which is flying off the shelves. The immortal Dune has also been launched in a new avtaar, slightly costlier but not very different from its earlier fragrant self. Dior’s latest launch, Dior Addict has been received very well in India and its piece guarantees exclusivity.

For the season lasting till the onset of winter, light perfumes will sell, the brands being Opium, Acqua Di’Gio by Armani and Estee Lauder’s White Linen Breeze.

The favourites this season are also the evergreen Calvin Klein 1 Unisex, a clean, refreshing light scent, and CK Escape (for men), which embodies a fresh, adventurous charm. CK Eternity (for men) which won the world’s best perfume award for 1989, is very popular worldwide. CK Eternity (for women) also has as many takers.

Chrome Azzaro is another all time favourite and moves very fast in larger retail outlets. Its ability to retain the fragrance right through the day makes it a summer favourite. The brand Azzaro also boasts of a long variety of bath line for men. The Azzaro woman is also a spirited person, the fragrance she exudes is Eau Belle, which is citrus in nature.

Azura for Women comes in a beautiful orange glowing bottle with a floral and musky perfume. The bottle is a beauty with two bubbles in lively orange. Pure Vivetier, sold in green cubical bottles, offers a sensual fragrance, while the Pure Lavender is woody, elegant and subtly masculine.

The house of Christian Lacroix sells Bazar, sensual fragrances for both men and women. The women’s perfume is housed in round, soft looking bottles and the men’s in square bottles.

Escada Sentiment for men, launched a short while ago, is a great idea as a gift of love. Escada’s Sport range is another heady fragrance with a universally appealing musky base.

For those with a preference for the seductive touch of musk, there is another choice, Burberry Touch, and for women with a yen for the floral, the range gets larger with Burberry Touch for women.

The House of Nina Ricci is known for women’s fragrances but have recently launched the Memoire D’Homme (Memories of a Man).

Salvador Dali perfumes, manufactured in France, come in bottles shaped like voluptuous women, pouting lips and sensual noses, something different, as the name would suggest. The fastest moving for men is Laguna and for women, it is Dali Flor in a bottle shaped like one of Dali’s paintings, a woman with a head of roses, and smelling of fresh fruits.

One of America’s favourite brands is Elizabeth Arden. The best known perfumes are the sophisticated Fifth Avenue, symbolising the energy of New York’s famous Fifth Avenue. The Red Door is Oriental in its base note. Sunflower is a fresh, floral, uplifting and refreshing fragrance.

For India, the newest range is the Spiced Green Tea that begins your day with a floral citrus fragrance and then settles into warm Oakmoss and musk, that lingering scent.

Shiseido, the brand, moves well in India because it has a good range for skin care, specially for ladies. For women they have the Zen range and for men, Shiseido has Basala.

For people interested in flaunting their wild side, Ferrari has some very interesting names. Though basically for men, Ferrari can be worn by women too. The three names usually available at the counters are Red Ferrari, Black Ferrari and Ferrari Number One. Black is the fastest moving.

Davidoff is one of the best selling brands in India during the summer and monsoon months. Their range is designed to meet the requirements of dry, hot and humid, muggy climate, which about sums up India for eight months of the year. Not surprisingly, Davidoff’s Cool Water (for both men and women) has got a great response here. For the upper end of the market, one can always splurge on Dolce & Gabbana’s EDT. It is very feminine, floral and stays for the entire day.

But, to be in a league of your own, you have to buy POISON, the fragrance that evokes all the fantasies of elegance and exclusivity, of style and glamour…but, be warned, it comes with a whopping price tag.