5 fragrance questions you’ve always wanted to ask

I must admit, out of everything in the world to do with beauty, perfume is definitely my Achilles heel. I don’t know a whole lot about it and my reasoning for the ones I wear are simply because I think they smell nice and the bottle isn’t half bad either. I know… I’m an embarrassment to all fragrance fanatics everywhere. Thankfully Dom De Vetta the founder and creator of Shay & Blue is much more knowledgeable on the topic and was able to answer all the questions that I myself and every other perfume rookie are dying to know.

bh: What are your best tips for finding a new fragrance?

Dom: There are literally thousands of perfumes out there. The thing you must do is sniff out a few fragrance houses you might not have heard of before and try them. All the small, unknown boutique perfume companies (and there are many of us) have a unique identity, a ‘house’ style. You will quickly find one whose house-style you really like, meaning you like the fragrance ‘point-of-view’ of the person who created them. Shay & Blue has a uniquely rich yet modern signature, and we seem to have generated quite a lot of interest from people who are tired of smelling like everyone else.

bh: Which fragrances do you predict will be big in winter?

Dom: There’s something magical about autumn and winter. Crisp, cooler days, romantic mists and fruit ripening. It’s a poetic time of year and it is truly a pleasure to wrap up in a well-lined coat, and smell the scents in the air at the turn of the seasons – berries, frosty evergreen leaves and the smell of firewood. Sniffing seasonality in the air is a true delight if you love smells and perfumes. This winter it’s all about comforting scents that envelop you. Some good examples are amber rose, a warm and comforting note and also atropa belladonna, rich and delicious with autumnal cassis berries.

bh: Is there a scent out there that is most likely to suit all tastes?

Dom: Shay & Blue’s Blood Oranges (stockist: David Jones, $60, 30mL) is particularly appealing, for both men and women, because it’s incredibly refreshing but also has a lot of depth with leather, musk and charred woods.

bh: Which ingredients should people look for in a fragrance if they want it to be particularly long-lasting?

Dom: If you want a fragrance to be long-lasting you need to seek out the perfume houses that spend the time and money using real flowers, fruit and spices – many scents use cheap synthetics which just don’t do the job as well – so you need to look for fragrances that contain lots of high quality natural ingredients.

bh: Which kind of fragrances are the best kind to gift?

Dom: It’s difficult to gift someone with a fragrance because it is so personal. The best thing to do is to gift a scented candle, ideally made with all natural wax for quality – then, if they like the scent of the candle, they can always go and try the fragrance version for themselves.

Do you enjoy trying and collecting different perfumes? What fragrance will you be wearing in the coming winter?