New research has revealed that while perfumes are sold on their ability to drive desire, a massive 71% of people have said they wouldn’t date someone if they didn’t like their perfume.
When asked what puts people off a particular smell in a prospective partner, the most popular answer was because their mother, father or mother-in-law or teacher used to wear the same scent. Because it reminds them of an ex boyfriend or girlfriend was the next top reason. Not liking the celebrity associated with the fragrance also came in the top five.
Scents voted least attractive include Old Spice, Avon Crystal Aura, Look by Vera Wang, Lily Of The Valley by Yardley and Cartier Santos.
And while 47% of women and 29% of men have received compliments on their smell – eau dear – 33% said they have been told their perfume smelt bad!
As well as discovering the nation’s put-off perfumes, the survey of 2,000 people by perfumedirect.com has also revealed the fragrances Brits have voted as ones with the most pulling power.
Men’s scents voted as ones with the most sex appeal are Dior Sauvage, Creed Aventus, Paco Rabanne Invictus; Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme and Hugo Boss Bottled.
For women, wearing Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Chloe Nomade, Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf, YSL Black opium and Marc Jacobs Daisy is a way to lure a lover.
“The perfume industry spends millions of pounds every year in advertising to promise us that their perfumes promise ‘sex appeal’ and ‘magnetism’,” says www.perfumedirect.com’s Jonny Webber, “so we decided to find out if this really is the case; with some surprising results.
“It seems as much as perfumes and aftershaves can ‘turn someone on’ – with more than 54% of people claiming that a good smell makes someone more attractive, almost three quarters of people saying that a person’s choice of scent put them off dating them.”
