Nestling on the neck and breathing in your beloved’s scent, keeping each other’s shirt on or smelling the sheets when your better half leaves the bed… These are gestures that we all adopt unconsciously but which prove that smell has an important place in our attachment to our partner and in our love relationships. The perfume sublimates the natural aromas of the skin to become a real asset of seduction. If we still doubt the effectiveness of love filters, what about the aphrodisiac power of fragrances? Is there really such a thing as an erotic perfume and notes capable of firing the libido? Between mysteries, fantasies and marketing, we reveal the secrets of enticing scents.
Perfume of romance or body alchemy?
Love at the first smell
Smells have a strong emotional and erotic charge. No matter our condition or social status. As proof, Napoleon asked his dear not to wash when she came back from her walks in the forest. If there is no such thing as the perfume of love, in a love relationship the scent has a special place. During the seduction phase, the bodies come closer together and little by little each one enters the “scenting” zone of the other. This intimate place from which our olfactory sensors analyze our partner’s perfume. Does this fragrance captivate you? Undeniably something is happening between the skin and the perfume chemistry. An alchemy that takes action directly in our erotic communication system to make the other one even more attractive.
This is one of the reasons that will give the individual the desire to get closer, this time to go and smell what is hidden behind the fragrance. The smell will then become a source of pleasure, or it will provoke a form of disgust. Beyond the perfume of the coveted being, the smell of the body and the breath will be the sine qua non conditions of a love at the first sight, or not.
Under the skin, and in the brain!
You certainly still remember the scent of your first love and smelling its perfume still tickles your nose a little. As if you finally fell in love with a scent. The culprit? Again and again our olfactory memory! After the sight that will determine a physical attraction, it is our sense of smell that will come into play. Smell penetrates our limbic system, the seat of our emotion and pleasure, but also the center of our fundamental impulses, especially the sexual instinct. Thus, all smells will be memorized. They will send pleasant or unpleasant signals to our brain, associated with a particular person.
Erotic perfume: the secret weapon in the game of seduction
Repressed fantasies
If the erotic nature of perfume is now becoming a new sales pitch, these words would have been repressed by morality in other times. Since its appearance in antiquity, perfume has been used for therapeutic and hygienic purposes. The Church sees in the profane use of perfume a symbol of the frivolity of the pagans. Plato blamed the scents for their decadence and labeled it for women offering their bodies, while Aristotle reproached it for its too direct links with our emotions. In 1778, the English Parliament passed a law to allow a man to cancel his marriage if he could prove that he had been bewitched by his wife’s perfume. In the 19th century, before patchouli invaded all noses, the woody scent of this tropical plant was mostly adopted by courtesans.
Uninhibited notes
The beginning of the 20th century will mark the use of perfume as a real asset of seduction. But it was not until the end of the 60s and sexual liberation that perfumers began to look into sulfurous notes. Opulent oriental accords were seducing more and more women and men, who wanted to assert their power of attraction. Amber compositions, gourmand fragrances and animal notes will put an end to centuries of olfactory censorship. Yet, this creative impetus was curbed in the early 90s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Erotic perfumes with animal notes gave way to “cleaner” juices with no sexual character. For several years now, Noses have been reconnecting with the codes of fantasy by creating much more daring fragrances.
What does erotic perfume smell like?
Wake up the animal inside you!
To link a fragrance to sensuality and sexuality, you have to look for carnal ingredients. Those smells that evoke to our nose the smell of skin, of animality. Some compositions can become erotic thanks to the discreet presence of animal notes. We think in particular of musk and civet, reproduced today thanks to synthesis. Yet in their raw state, these ingredients give off a smell that is far from being pleasant. Musk naturally possesses a scent of urine, blood and sweat. The civet, before being transformed, gives off a faecal scent… Do not frown, these ingredients are diluted to be present in small quantities and only reveal their sensuality. Moreover, they are accompanied by other notes to sublimate their intimate and irresistible side.
At Carrément Belle, musk has been inspiring and tickling us. In the eau de parfum musc, the animal note reveals itself this time fruity and refreshing thanks to the addition of melon and raspberry. Two discreet and wild scents whose wakes will release like a caress on the skin.
X-rated molecules
Along with animal notes there are other erotic components that are hidden in your perfumes. The miraculous molecule that will make the chosen one succumbs is not yet on the market. But perfumers already have notes with enticing virtues. We have already told you about indole and scatole here, scents with hints of excrement that, when used subtly, evoke orange blossom or jasmine. Another molecule in the palette of the Nose is the aldron, reminiscent of a lion’s cage and perspiration. Its structure is said to be similar to that of certain sex hormones. The pyridine is also known to be close to the smell of semen. These materials remind our senses of the smells that emanate from our body between moisture and sensuality.
Erotic perfume: a marketing argument?
American actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s scented candle with the evocative name “This smells like my vagina” is taking off on the net. A few years ago, niche perfumery brands tried to create juices with the scent of body secretions. Sex is a marketing argument that has worked since advertising has existed, and in all sectors of activity. So why not in perfumery? The image of the body is extremely present, and the muses reveal themselves in all sensuality. While sex sells, the fact remains that fragrance and seduction are still strongly linked to our emotions. And olfactory innovations in this area continue to fascinate fragrance designers.
Do you see perfume as a seductive asset? Which scents evoke sensuality the most for you?
Discover the fragrances mentioned in the article
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