Perfume and addiction? We can all be subject to it… Some people can’t do without certain smells, others spray them on their wrists to sniff them. And let’s not forget the generations of schoolchildren who fell in love with the famous pot of Cleopatra glue with its almond-like smell…
Addiction: Perfume and selfish pleasure
We all have a kind of dependence on smells that plunge us into a deeper state, like soft drugs that we use to escape, to get high. Gourmand, aromatic… everyone finds their own way in a slight addiction: the irresistible desire to plunge one’s nose into it or just the need to get one’s fix.
The drug, between perfume and addiction. Resins, herbs, synthetic powders that are sniffed or smoked… they also give off a sweet scent of transgression, modifying our state of consciousness. These clandestine perfumes produce more or less illegal addictions in our brain, with more or less dubious scents.
But for perfume, the addiction is not adjustable. We would not use perfume to seduce, but to satisfy a navel-gazing, introverted pleasure, an intimate relationship with our perfume.
Addiction: Perfume and travel
It doesn’t matter if our perfume disturbs. What counts is the ecstasy associated with it. Some formulas are bewitching without us knowing why. But then, behind the addiction, would the perfume hide the nostalgia of happy days?
Perfume has the power to make us travel back in time: it evokes olfactory reminiscences, both conscious and unconscious.
The cerebral mechanism triggered by smelling a scent is a door to engraved, deeply buried memories. This evocative power is based on a fairly simple mechanism. The limbic system, the area of the brain that processes odours, is directly linked to the area that stores memories and triggers emotions.
Perfumery knows this process well enough to play with our emotions. Evocative scents are combined with new accords, the familiar is mixed with the unknown, the pleasure of being surprised with the happiness of comfort. Without wanting it, we find ourselves propelled on a journey to our pasts, our experiences, thus bringing back sensations associated with snippets of our lives. Time is regained in a way…
Addiction: Perfume and subjectivity
We all wish to relive moments of pleasure linked to the tender moments of our youth. Thus, milky, vanilla, almond and gourmand notes are reputed to be more comforting because they often remind us of childhoods spent cuddled with a milk bottle, of the first sweet foods put in our mouth.
But scents reflect moments in our lives. If vanilla is associated with a terrible moment in your life, then you will hate it because its comforting soul will turn into a destructive weapon. This is the subjectivity of our addictions.
If several perfumes play on this sensitive cord by exploiting the thread of addiction, this one can take another form, like the olfactory transcription of illicit substances. A fragrance that evokes the sweet smell of cannabis, for example, is still very popular because it reflects an addiction. However, some people will be afraid, as in the Orient, of being sniffed by police dogs, for fear of ending up behind bars for a narcotic misunderstanding!
Addiction to Sillages Paris
At Sillages, we love to play with addiction in our perfumes. But there’s nothing illegal about it, apart from the desire to spray yourself on the neck again!
By allowing you to start with your favorite tastes and ingredients, our Sillages take you on a journey through time, bring back buried memories, and above all, offer you an infinite burst of “reviens-y”!
Sébastien Plan’s Sillage #26 reflects the sweet, almondy smell of the Cleopatra glue we used to sniff in our youth at school.
Alex Lee creates a crazy, regressive clay accord, which rocked our first moments of manual creation, with Sillage #21.
Amélie Jacquin’s Sillage #385 features a rather indescribable smell of new, accompanied by a soft almondy caress, like our notebook protectors or new shoes!
Nisrine Grillié’s Sillage #345 evokes a gourmand smell of fruit paste and sour candy that used to stick to our teeth and that we loved so much!
And for a no-regrets addiction, all our perfumes are exchangeable and refundable, with free delivery and returns.
Our experts are available by chat or phone to help you find your formula online. You can also book a free appointment in our private workshops in Paris, to explore our fragrance addictions!
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