Do people who live in hot climates choose the same scents as those who live in cool clim-ates? Think of a cool Swedish blonde and a sultry Mexican beauty. Do they react emot-ionally to the same scents? Does skin colour make a difference in our choices? Does a woman with dark skin who lives in Canada make the same choice as the woman with dark skin who lives near the equator? It seems that all of these factors influence our personal choices - even without our realizing it. And those who develop and market perfumes clue in to the impact of race and culture on their sales.

culture matters
We all are raised within a specific culture and this is refl ected in all of our choices, whether it's the type of books we read, the sporting events we watch (or don't watch) on tele-vision and the type of social events we enjoy.

It should come as no surprise that this spills over into the perfume we wear. And make no mistake: the purveyors of scents know who they're talking to when they advertise their product.

who likes what
Those who live in hot countries tend to like heavier scents. An example would be Givenchy's Ultramarine, which is a favourite of black women who live in southern climates.

On the other hand, Asian women prefer very light scents, which reflects a culture in which it is bad manners to attract attention to yourself. Scent must be very subtle.

European women tend to buy different scents than North American women - even North American women of European descent.

North Americans with a European background gravitate to somewhat sporty scents. These never do well in Europe, where the preference is for more complex scents, which are typical of scents developed in France.

universal appeal
There is only one basic scent that seems to appeal to everyone. Vanilla. Nobody knows why, but it's a basic smell that always gets a positive response.

The final link in what we choose is how a perfume reacts on our skin.

A perfume you admire on someone else may not deliver the same scent when it touches your skin.

The answer, when we make our personal choice, is to admit that our initial reaction will be based on our ethnic background and the final step will be its reaction to our skin.

It's all trial and error. So if a bride is shopping for a new scent for her wedding day, she should start early so she can test two or three perfumes. She can narrow her choices, how-ever, by acknowledging her ethnic background. That's step number one.


PERFUMES LEFT TO RIGHT: ALWAYS BY AVON, PLEASURES BY ESTE LAUDER, INSOLENCE BY GUERLAIN, HYPNOSE BY LANCOME