COCO Chanel once said: “A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”
She may have been exaggerating the point, but Chanel wasn’t too far from the truth.

Do you know of any successful woman who smells like yesterday’s dirty socks?
I don’t. But I do know of one or two not-so-successful ones who seem oblivious to their offensive body odour.

Till today, I can distinctly remember the rancid smell that used to follow an ex-colleague around everywhere she went.

In the beginning, I had assumed that the terrible odour came from her dustbin.
It didn’t take long for me to realise that the dustbin couldn’t have followed us out of the office.

Indeed, she didn’t last long in the job.

Besides career suicide, emitting maladorous pong can also kill relationships.

I have a friend who dumped her boyfriend of two years after many failed attempts to cure him of his manly emanations. These even included resorting to expensive Botox jabs that didn’t work.

To many, her actions may seem harsh and callous but she justified pragmatically: “How can this relationship grow when I spend half the time holding my breath when I’m with him?”

Thankfully, most of us are spared from this embarrassing problem.

But that doesn’t mean we all come out smelling like roses.

While most of us are concerned with how we look, we often take for granted how we smell.

Less importance is placed in selecting the right scent than choosing that right dress or suit.

But one thing worse than not investing in a perfume is investing in a cheap perfume.

Most tightwads who buy cheap perfumes don’t realise that we can smell their poor quality scents a mile away.

Cheap colognes and perfumes are largely made up of alcohol and artificial fragrance. The mark of a cheap scent is in the potent, heavy and unchanging quality of the smell – much like a typical room vaporiser.

Expensive perfumes, on the other hand, are made of natural ingredients, infusions and oils that are more suitable to our body chemistry. The scent evolves throughout the day and is distinctly more complex than their cheap counterparts.

I’ve learnt from a very young age that some things can’t be compromised and using a good fragrance is one of them.

Scent, like taste, lingers long after the person has left the room and the conversation is forgotten.

It creates an impression and evokes buried memories.

Just like how we wouldn’t want to leave a negative impression on others, we wouldn’t want to be remembered for the wrong, smelly reasons, would we?

For the uninitiated, here’s a heads-up on how to start smelling right and my pick of the hottest scents out there.

TIPS

1 Start with knowing what’s your budget. Be realistic, though. With fragrances, you pay for what you get. So if you can only afford the cheapest brands in the market, you are probably better off investing in scented powder.

2 Don’t be afraid to try a variety of perfumes to find the one that suits you best. What may smell great on your best friend may not do wonders for you. Remember that our body chemicals are all built differently.

3 If you want variety and budget’s a concern, miniatures are always a good buy.

Favourite scents