A Link Between What We Smell And How We Perceive Things

While some experts spend time researching claims and conducting studies to brush off claims of whether a perfume or how a person smells affects the way he or she perceives that person, it is an age-old fact that there’s a direct link between smell and our emotions, and our emotions linking to our perception.

As you walk into a crowded restaurant, do you find yourself caught up in a scent of someone who has just walked past you, stop and try to catch a glimpse of that someone? Do you find yourself walking by perfume counters and reminisce about a scent that an ex-boyfriend used to wear whenever he was with you? Does a perfume that your father wears make you think of him? If you’ve said ‘yes’ to any of the above, then it’s a confirmed fact that there’s a direct link between what we smell and our memories and our perception.

While it’s true that the perfume and cosmetic industry sees that there is a need to continually invent new ways to capture the intended market, most perfume companies are merely basing their ‘claims’ on proven facts of aromatherapy.

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Most spas and massage centers smell of lavender because lavender is said to soothe nerves and calm a person down. When a person steps into a room smelling of lavender, the mental and nervous system of that person will automatically react to the scent by becoming more relaxed and ready for a round of pampering.

We do not need chemistry or proof that it works because we have all felt that way before. So, the contention smell having a direct role to play in how people perceive and react is not baseless.

Studies reveal in Columbia University revealed that the smell of rose, lavender and vanilla is reminiscent of being old, comfortable and homely. The concept of using scents that people usually link to youth, excitement and fun will, generally speaking, make others think that the person is young and fun.

In a lot of ways, for the consumers, it’s less science and more about the effectiveness of aromatherapy. If you had a perfume in your drawer that could turn back the hands of time by eight years, wouldn’t you wear it?

Getting The Foundation Right For Aging Skin

As we age, we have to work at looking youthful and attractive…this is a fact of life. Even if one is blessed with the most radiant and youthful-looking skin known to mankind, there will be problems when it comes to looking red-carpet-worthy. And that’s where make-up and skincare comes in.

Because the condition of our skin deteriorates with age, it gets trickier when we want to try on different looks or copy a celebrity’s latest makeup style. The most common problem for aging skin is finding the right foundation; we want the ‘barely there’ look. The problem can multiply many folds when one is over forty years of age because with the wrong foundation, it tends to amplify the wrinkles and dark spots.


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To counter the problem, I will usually suggest going for sheer powder foundation instead of using liquid foundation. Sheer powder foundation will simply lift the years off your face but just make sure you use the right hue. Mix the colors and use combinations if that works for you. Apply a light layer of moisturizer over your skin before applying the powder foundation – that’s a makeup artist’s trick. To make the foundation look natural over a prolonged period of time, let the moisturizer set before applying the powder foundation.

The concealer’s job is to hide bad spots on parts of your skin…for teenagers and young adults, it’s usually acne and scars. For older women, we tend to have uneven skin color and age spots. The application of foundation should be even over your face and neck. A picture of you with your face four or five times lighter than your neck should be a good reminder.

Aging skin is also rather sensitive, so it becomes quite tricky trying to look young and natural while battling with sensitive skin. When you have sensitive skin, apart from moisture, your skin also needs (badly) to breathe through all the foundation. If your skin is thin and sensitive, apply the foundation sparingly. Apply the powder foundation lightly over your skin with a brush.

I know the makeup don’t stay on as long when the layer of foundation is thin but for the sake of your skin, wouldn’t you compromise with a few extra trips to the Ladies for touch up?

Delaying Development Of Crow’s Feet

The moment a woman hits her thirties, she can be found checking out development of crow’s feet at the outer edges of her eyes on a daily basis. She will do anything and everything within her power to apply creams, masks and creams to prevent the development of crow’s feet.

It’s been said the first wrinkle to ever appear on a woman’s face is crow’s feet. However, it’s not a sign of getting old. Seriously, crow’s feet are indications of how hard and fast you’ve lived your life. It’s a sign of unhealthy lifestyle too.

Bad habits will give you crow’s feet which explains why some older woman (without surgical intervention) don’t get crow’s feet and it’s got nothing to do with whether one has big or small eyes. It’s got to do with external factors like how much sleep you’re getting, are you smoking too much or are you exposing your skin to too much sunlight.

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The bad news is that it’s impossible to completely stop the development of wrinkles. Simple acts like smiling, laughing and other facial expressions contribute to the development of crow’s feet. Sooner or later, as long as you are alive, wrinkles will appear. The good news is that you’re in control of when it appears and how much of it appears.

It is a proven fact that smokers have more wrinkles around the eyes than non-smokers so, consider this an incentive for quitting the unhealthy habit. Staying away from the computer is also something you could do…but I understand how hard it is when you say that it comes with the job. Take frequent breaks away from the computer if you can. And if you find it difficult to do that, simply rest your eyes, wear prescription glasses or avoid squinting too hard whenever you have difficulty reading from the computer screen.

Drinking lots of water or soup will help hydrate the skin so, drink plenty of water. Not only will your eyes thank you but your whole physical body will thank you as well. Moisturize the skin around your eyes with the right kind of nutrients helps. Vitamin C and glycolic acid helps development of collagen and new skin cells.

Protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun by wearing sunscreen whenever you’re out for a prolonged period of time. Although there is no way to completely eliminate the development of wrinkles, by eating, drinking and living healthily, you CAN reduce and delay the development of wrinkles.

Which Note Is Important Note In A Bottle Of Perfume

Walk up to a fragrance counter and ask the sales person to give a sample. She will then proceed to squirt some onto a piece of paper. My question would be this…do you instantly give the piece of paper a whiff or do you wait a while before smelling it? What is the best way to test a bottle of fragrance out? The best way to test a bottle of perfume would be to spray or dab a little bit of the perfume onto a small part of your skin, not on a piece of paper!

The initial impression
What perfume experts call the top notes is the scent that does not linger around long enough for anyone else to smell half an hour later. The top note of a fragrance is often what you initially smell and it’s usually tangy, rough and pretty strong. They evaporate very quickly and is what sticks to your mind and skin for the first few minutes. However, as quickly as they disappear, it is what will linger on in your mind for a while after wearing it. It seems that top notes are so important that perfume makers and wearers should take note of them before purchasing a bottle of perfume.

Good body
The middle notes and the base notes are the most important ones – together, they form what most of us will call the body of the scent. Once the top notes are gone, the middle notes will emerge and mingle with your skin. They’re usually milder but very full, rounded but mellow at the same time.

And then we have the base note which is the remnants of the chemistry between your natural scent, the middle note and the base notes. The base notes are the ones that linger on the whole day on your body because they are made of components that don’t evaporate so quickly. Similar to the middle notes, the base notes are usually very rich and flavorful.

The final matchmaking process
After all of that, the scent will linger on on your skin, does not evaporate and form a new kind of smell. How it all turns out depends very much on how well your natural scent is working with the base notes. This is not to say that the fragrance will smell completely different. No, it will retain the main characteristics of the fragrance but one fragrance will often smell quite differently from one person to the other.

It also depends on the person you is doing the smelling, of course.

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The History Of Perfume

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Have you ever wondered how perfume was discovered and who were the ones who discovered that you could extract scent from living things and put it into a bottle? Well, if you wondered, here are some quick answers.

For one, the word perfume is a Latin word 'per fumum' (not parfum, as one would have assumed, unfortunately) and it seems that the history of perfume goes way back to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Romans and Persians were big on using and making perfume too; the Indians, however, had their own way of making perfume...burning incense. Unsurprisingly, the first person to ever 'discover' perfume is a woman named Tapputi from Mesopotamia. From one nation to another, it passed on until it came to the hands of Europeans who learned it from the Hungarians - the Europeans has been introduced to what we commonly known as 'modern perfume' today. It contains essential oil and alcohol solution and first bottled late 1300's. The Europeans then called it 'Hungary Water'....I know, how apt.

France then took on the new discovery full force because they know NOW that scent can bottled up and used.

The first official and commercial form of perfume came in the 16th century worked on by two French, Catherine de' Medici and Rene le Florentin and they did it via the most secretive manner possible - a secret underground passageway! There was turning back now....during the Renaissance period, perfume was only worn by the rich and famous. No peasant can ever afford to wear perfume. From then on, the French and some other European nations grew their raw materials on their own. Aromatic flowers and plants were grown in order to fuel the ever-growing demand for perfume.

There is a link between perfume-making and aromatherapy and both are related because they make use of the natural scent of flowers and plants to motivate, inspire, calm, relax, attract and cause a stir in society. The scent emitting from a bottle of perfume can be so powerful that it, literally, makes people feel attractive and young all over again.

Perfume is, indeed, an incredible bottle of magic.

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Men’s Natural Scent Has Been Over-Rated

It seems that we have been giving the sex hormone in men a little bit too much credit for doing too little. It has been said that the attractiveness of a man lies in how he smells and that females are particularly attracted to the scent of pheromones….which is essentially their natural odor when they sweat. Studies upon studies has been done to confirm the fact that the scent of male sweat is a powerful magnet to women but there are misinterpretations in that because of mere over-simplification of the results.

The truth of the matter is when a man sweats, the male pheromone called androstenone is produced. Fresh androstenone is attractive to women because some perceive it to be the ‘macho’ smell of men who are active and on the move. Over a period of time, the smell of the sweat mingles in with oxygen – and it becomes unpleasant. Really….

The effect of the smell a man sweat is short-lived too so a shower is highly recommended after a good game of soccer; do not head straight out for a dinner date with the girl of your dreams after a good sweat-out session in the gym thinking that she’s going to be turned on.

Most of the studies done on the male natural scent’s attractive pull towards women are rather inconclusive. A man wearing a fragrance with pheromone-base in a crowded party would have to fight with the scent of other males wearing other types of perfume. Since the natural scent of a male is very subtle, the pull of the scent in a crowded party scene is questionable. The natural man scent can only take effect when the man is on a close one-on-one encounter – and needless to say, the man would have to use other means to reach that stage of intimacy with the woman.

On another note, there are studies done that shows that men who wear other types on ‘unnatural’ fragrances on a daily basis does improve their mood, personality and increase their confidence level. If done consistently, it can even help with stress, depression, anger management, confusion, headaches and fatigue. When one is happy with life and is confident about one’s ability, one would naturally become more attractive to the opposite sex.

So, in conclusion, men’s natural scent has been over-rated. Men DO need help from a good bottle of fragrance that mingles well with their natural odor that helps attract the opposite sex.

To Stay Young, You Need To Be Healthy FIRST

Nearly everyone that I’ve ever asked said that they wanted to look younger when given the option of staying healthy and staying young. When you’re young, the worry about health would never have cropped up in the first place, I agree with that but as we age and we realize that it’s impossible to stay young forever. And the irony is that in order to stay young, we need to stay HEALTHY first.

We form habits, some of the unhealthy, as we live and grow older. Your habits will affect your health and in tidal wave, affects the way you look. Smoking is not only a dangerous habit but it also speeds up the aging process. More than four-hundred-and-forty-thousand people die due to direct and indirect affect of smoking. While drinking alcohol is permissible and some say it’s good for the body but the rule of moderation should not be broken. Drinking too much alcohol can cause problems to your liver, throat and digestive system. Men should drink no more than 2 drinks per day while women should have 1 per day and that would be just fine.

Eating a proper meal on a regular basis will not only keep your body in fine shape but it will make you look fantastic as well. It charges the body up for major cleanups within your physical system so that there’s enough resources for your body to reproduce cells….which leads to a more beautiful you. If you’re thin, work out a better diet with a nutritionist if you have to. If you’re overweight, exercise and eat healthy small bite-sized meals throughout the day to fight hunger pangs.

It’s one thing to want to look awesome during summer time but it’s quite another to overdo the sunbathing and use of unnatural tanning booths! Overdoing it is not only dangerous but it may open up doors to unwanted wrinkles which is, as we all know, irreversible with the exception of extensive surgery.

On top of making your blood pressure shoot through the roof, stress is also the cause depression and other disorders. Keep it at bay to keep your cholesterol and blood pressure in check.