Ladies who smell good: how do you do it?

[RubiksCubes]

About 5% of people smell amazing! And they know they do! If this is you, how do you do it?

Soap, lotion, perfume all in the same scent. But honestly, you’re wearing too much if they’re getting more than a whiff.

Good personal hygiene, clothes made of natural fibres, and a high quality scent on wrists and neck.

I don’t know if I do smell good, but I try very hard to smell nice as I’m very sensitive to smell and hate bad odours around me. Shower daily, sometimes twice daily. Tops washed after 1 wear and always use fabric conditioner and dry outside unless it’s deep winter. Deodorant twice a day, perfume top up time I go to the toilet. It gets expensive but I love fragrance.

Full body and hair wash every day, cotton or other natural fibre clothes, clothes dried outside. I am sensitive to odours so don't use much fabric conditioner, or strong detergent. I do like perfume, but wear lighter scents like the Hermes Jardin series, I also put a tiny spray on my hair.

Daily showers, always clean clothes washed with non-bio washing pods and white comfort fabric softener, Chanel chance perfume, Wild deodorant. To be honest, I get the most compliments when I’ve taken some of my daughters Sol de Janeiro spray 😂.

I cannot stand smelling other people’s perfume 🤢

Someone at my gym uses all these elements in the Clarins range. The changing room smells amazing when she’s been in there!

OP, do you mean smell clean or smell of perfume or have no ‘smell’?

Not sure I understand, so may ways to interpret this and what you mean by “amazing”

Cleanliness and nice products.

Me too. I prefer people not to smell.

Can’t stand ‘product’ smells on men or women.

Clean body and hair, clean clothes and a light spritz of perfume.

Clean hair is a massive factor. Full soaking bath at least once a week alongside regular showers. Body lotion applied immediately after showering/bath. Aluminium free deodorant before you go to bed and when you get up. Clean teeth. Using mints after drinking coffee or tea (both of which smell really strongly on people's breath) if you can't brush your teeth. Clean clothes (fabric really holds smells).

I shower and wash my hair every day. Clean hair is the easiest way to smell nice. I use body lotion and a tiny bit of fragrance, but not very much. The key is they, and my shampoo, and any other scented products I use, whilst not from the same range are all in the same fragrance group, so all citrus smells, meaning they blend well together.

Yes, I meant more “what perfume are you all wearing?”

Only use a clean smelling washing powder (no fabric conditioner). Ditto unperfumed soap for me (no shower gel) and antiperspirant. I dont think it's helpful to have too many scents overlapping and competing.

I wear the same perfume every day. Applied only in the morning, it has time to disperse before I meet anyone, so hopefully not overpowering. Just enough so that if youre stood next to me, you'd notice.

I had someone stop me in a shop last week to say I smelled amazing. It was my hair. I use a coconut spray lotion to tame my frizz!. It's called Coco loco, from boots. I've had lots of comments come to think of it.

Love coconut smell

I have loads of expensive perfumes but the one that gets me the most compliments, multiple a day, is Zara Red Temptation Winter - £24

One of my work colleagues commented on how good I smell. I was a little taken aback but she said it was because I had an underlying fresh smell with the smell of my perfume on top.
When I work I wear scrubs type uniform always freshly laundered at an high temperature and shower before work. No fancy toiletries just Pears Green or blue soap. A neutral deodorant and a quick squirt of perfume.

I don’t use any body sprays or layer my perfume. I think it’s more down to less is more. Lots of layered products probably overload the nose. Removing underlying stale smells, clothes that have been worn several times or in smoky environment often dominate. Also washing clothes on a higher temperature is better for removing odour. My DS had scabies last year so we were forced to wash everything at 60 degrees, the difference was very noticeable and to prevent reinfection of the household I’ve continued to wash at a higher temperature.

I also use a lot of fragrance free products due to allergies so I don’t have too many conflicting smells. It’s easy to get carried away.

Choice of perfume is important, what smells lovely on someone else can smell of cat pee on yourself. Just because it’s the latest craze doesn’t mean you should use it. My DSis and I use a lot of the same perfumes because we have very similar body chemistry. When choosing a new one we often test it on each other. My DN raved about a perfume I was wearing only to realise she used it as well but since you often can’t smell a perfume that suits you on yourself you don’t always realise how it smells she hadn’t realised how nice it was.

A good few sprays of Soapy fragrances (that happen to be aldehydes: knock off Chanel no.5) and reasoble hygiene for me.

Nailed it. And don’t use horrible fabric conditioner, or worse yet, those unstoppable things.

I wear Penhaligons Duchess Rose and often get compliments. It’s v expensive but I have it as a present and a bottle lasts not quite a year!

I knew what you meant OP! You have to find what reacts best with your own skin. The best way to do this is to try no more than 3 fragrances at a time or you're nose will become confused. Don't rub it in or you will bruise the fragrance and mix the notes which are the layers, usually 3-top, middle and base.
Wait for 10 minutes to see how it reacts also later, you will be able to tell how long it lasts on you. Fragrances are usually divided by colour (not always). Pinks are usually floral, blue/green are fresh, dark are usually evening/stronger fragrances.
A fragrance that can smell great on one person can smell awful on another. Also an eau de toilete and a perfume will sometimes differ in smell. The former won't be as strong as the perfume version also. Oh also it helps if you can layer by using the same body lotion as the fragrance or just spritz twice over. If you can no longer smell a fragrance that you've been using a while then you've become nosebleed and need to change your scent.
Fragrance is so expensive now. Sometimes isf you're lucky you can find cheap body sprays that suit you. I've found that So Vanilla body spray is mega cheap but people always comment on it.
Hope that helps.

OMG yes! I can't stand it when someone walks past in a cloud of fabric conditioner, especially children-that can't be good for their skin.

General rule of thumb with fragrance if you spray it on and the smell follows you around all day it probably doesn’t suit you. If it appears to disappear after 10mins and it’s a quality fragrance then it probably suits you.

I hate florals so tend to go for the citrusy or orientals. I love Marc Jacobs Perfect, although it is supposed to be a floral it’s not rose or violet based. It actually has a hit of rhubarb which I love, it’s acidic and fresh but with a slight sweetness.

My all time favourite is Coco Chanel, it’s not for the faint hearted but if you can carry it off men love it. I’ve been stood on the touchline in mid winter watching my DS play rugby and had grown men tell me how good I smell.

I love Diors Eau Sauvage ( men’s ) and bought some for DS. He loved it but wanted something different because everyone was using it. I think it’s become a little like Aramis was in the early 1980s. I loved the smell and would walk through Rackhams in Birmingham ( now long gone) on my way home as a student just to have a smell of it.

I tried Chanels Les Exclusifs Biege perfume recently. It was lovely. Interestingly the reviews are divided but that just suggests it doesn’t suit everyone.

There are thousands of fragrances available you just have to find the one that triggers the response.

I’d guess the 5% of us who smell nice are the ones who shop for perfume at Floris or Penhaligon’s. The sort of scent you buy in the supermarket is essentially air freshener and rubbing alcohol; it’s made as cheaply as possible, and designed only to stand out from the hundreds of very similar ones on the same shelves. The high alcohol content means it evaporates quickly, and the cheap synthetics smell like a glade plug-ins and/or pick and mix sweets.

FWIW, my choice for this summer is Floris Bergamotto di Positano. They even do shower gel to match.