In its own quiet way, a signature scent announces to the world who you are. My mother’s signature scent is Ralph Lauren Blue Perfume.  Everything she owns smells of the fragrance- smells of her. It’s an inextricable part of her identity.

At some point, I decided I needed a signature scent. I wanted to feel that I knew exactly who I was, and a scent that was decidedly mine seemed representative of that.

I know next to nothing about fragrances. My biggest challenge, outside of not having a finely attuned sense of smell, was that I didn’t have mastery of language to describe scents with. I thought that I was looking for something spicy or oriental, but nothing seemed to be my scent- whatever that meant.

I spent a lot of time wandering lost at fragrance counters in department stores. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a Bon Parfumeur display at Bloomingdales that I realized I’d been unknowingly searching for a warm scent.

Bon Parfumeur is a Parisian company with 18 fragrances designed to be mixed and matched.  The fragrances are numbered from 001 to 902, with minimalistic labels color coded by fragrance families. They are intended to be worn interchangeably- a scent for every mood.

A Discovery kit of all 18 fragrances costs 45$.  In the event that none of the scents are quite right for you, the scents can be layered. Even if none of the scents work for you, the Discovery kit can help you develop a lexicon to describe what you are looking for.

My signature scent is 901.  The flavors they list on the bottle are almond, nutmeg, and patchouli. The Bon Parfumeur site gives examples of moments that they envision the scent belonging in.

“901 Moments

A bath for two.
Well-being, softness and more.

Morning coffee.
With a stranger.
Moment of madness or love at first sight?“

To find your signature scent, start by trying the Discovery kit on Bon Perfumeur’s website.