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"Can a perfume make you fall in love? Can it turn an ordinary womana into a mysterious creature? Three writers explore the invisible and transporting power of a simple liquid with an exotic French pedigree.\\n\\n\\n\\n### The Blue Hour\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nGeorge is my grandmother's cousin. This is what I first knew about him: One afternoon in the 1950s, he showed up at her home in Los Angeles \\\"unannounced, wearing a full-length mink coat and using the F word.\\\" My grandmother didn't intend the report to be endearing, but even though I had never met him, I have loved George ever since. Enough that, several years after her death, I am on my way to Paris to spend a long weekend with an octogenarian I have never met.\\n\\n\\n\\nThe excuse for the visit is research. I'm writing a book about my grandmother's life, which began in Shanghai, where George grew up. I've brought a tape recorder to capture his memories of that city in the 1910s and '20s.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Darling!\\\" he cries when he opens the door. He holds my face in his hands\u2014 \\\"Aren't you splendid! I had no idea I had such a lovely cousin!\\\"\u2014and kisses me on my forehead and on both cheeks. \\\"Foie gras?\\\" he asks. \\\"I made it myself.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Thank you,\\\" I say to him, relieved to see George is preparing coffee as well. I have taken the red-eye, it's not yet nine in the morning, and I'm not sure I'm equal to toast spread with duck liver.\\n\\n\\n\\nGeorge sets my filled cup on the table and points to the centerpiece: a crystal punch bowl heaped with a mountain of sugar, from which bristle a dozen or more spoons. The blue of the table matches that of the walls, painted with a trompe l'oeil mural of a crumbling temple set against an Aegean sky. He beams when he sees me looking at it. \\\"Heavenly, isn't it?\\\" he asks.\\n\\n\\n\\nI pull out my tape recorder and notebook, and George frowns. He doesn't want to talk about the past. Not now. \\\"Darling!\\\" he says, reaching across the table for my hand. \\\"There's something I must show you. The most fantastically, exquisitely beautiful dress. And now I know for whom it was made.\\\" I protest; he makes a face. \\\"How can you refuse me a little pleasure in my dotage?\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\nSo here we are, laden with shopping bags, strolling up the Champs-Elys\u2014es. \\\"Take your time choosing,\\\" he says outside the glass doors to La Maison Guerlain. As we've walked, he has tried to edify me: Most fragrances are execrable; some are tolerable; the very few without flaw are made by Guerlain.\\n\\n\\n\\nOnce we are inside the parfumerie, George settles into a chair as I am attended by a saleswoman who dips one white paper wand after another into ornate Art Deco-styled bottles and wafts them under my nose.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Mitsouko,\\\" I say, reeling.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Absolutely not!\\\" George beckons to the woman to bring the sample, which he smells solely for my benefit, as he knows every perfume in this store. \\\"Not until you are much, much older.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Apres l'Ondee?\\\" I ask. \\\"Too sweet,\\\" I answer myself.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Did you try Jicky?\\\" Again he summons the woman, who comes back with her white paper wands. He shakes his head. \\\"Not really you, is it? Too insouciant.\\\" He leans forward, smiles. \\\"I know,\\\" he says. \\\"L'Heure Bleue.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\nHe asks for the bottle and anoints my wrist himself, stopping me before I can rub it against the other. \\\"No, sweetest. Never do that. It destroys the top notes.\\\" We inhale the sample, passing my wrist back and forth.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"You understand the name?\\\" George asks me. \\\"The hour when the sun has set, but the stars have yet to appear.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Dusk,\\\" I say. He shakes his head.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"No, darling. The Blue Hour.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\nGeorge lays his hand on my cheek. \\\"Not every dusk is blue.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n### Secret Joy\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nBy Susan Cheever\\n\\n\\n\\nIt took a beautiful woman to show me that beauty can be invisible. Once, at a New York Public Library gala, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was welcoming guests in the wood-paneled hall. I stood to the side and watched as the former First Lady drew in the bearded, tuxedoed writers, who leaned in to hear her whispery, feminine voice. Once they were close enough to inhale the cloud of Joy that always enveloped her, they appeared to become intoxicated by an extravagant brew of dozens of roses and thousands of jasmine flowers. Those men became supplicants in evening clothes. Their eyes seemed to roll up in their heads, and then they staggered away, forgetting all about metaphor and imagery. I was a young woman in a sexy black lace dress, but Mrs. Onassis, a slender figure wearing demure blue and white, was the center of romantic attention that night. Even my own husband followed behind her like a dog on a leash. Other people thought her glamour was based on wealth, power, and elegance. I knew better; I had divined her secret weapon. The next day, I went shopping for perfume.\\n\\n\\n\\nMrs. Onassis was a beautiful woman, but women who are not gorgeous can be more enchanting than conventional beauties. Why is a woman with irregular features, an old-fashioned, zaftig body, or deep wrinkles sometimes more beautiful than someone who appears to look perfect? These are the things we see; however, the more powerful components of attractiveness are invisible. Attraction can come from a certain kind of wit, an ability to listen very well, or a way of moving that telegraphs a kind of adventurous, erotic lightness. But the real source of attraction, especially romantic attraction, may actually be in what we smell. Scent goes straight to the mysterious limbic system of the brain that borders the cortex and is linked with the characteristics of memory and desire. A buttoned-up woman who wears the right perfume can make those with short skirts and visible cleavage seem more desperate than sexy. Perfume, the poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman writes, is \\\"packaged memory.\\\" An ex-lover's Herm\u00E8s Equipage hanging in the air can bring back passion with the force of a storm.\\n\\n\\n\\nFortunately, Mrs. Onassis's secret potion is available to everyone. For many years, I too wore Joy, until I discovered a different perfume, which, on me, seemed to transform me into the First Lady of my own world. No matter what I was wearing, I was the girl who smelled like spring.\\n\\n\\n\\nWith Diorissimo on my pulse points, I am always wandering through a pasture of wildflowers in the warm sun. One or two spritzes of my fragrance, and it's as if some genie on my dressing table had waved a magic wand. The heady mixture of lily of the valley, bergamot, and amaryllis takes over even before I put on my shoes in the morning. As I step out onto the pavement, the winter wind feels balmy and fragrant. That gala at the library happened long ago, but I have been wearing perfume ever since.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n### The Great Hunt\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nBy Erin McGraw\\n\\n\\n\\nI am ten years old, on a bus tour of Europe with my parents and my teenage brother. My father is trying to grow a goatee. My brother is trying to get bartenders to serve him beer. And my mother is hauling me through every city we stop in, looking for a specific perfume.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"Quadrille, by Balenciaga, not available in America.\\\" I have memorized the phrase, although I don't know what a quadrille is and certainly have never heard of the great dress designer. My mother is on the hunt, towing me\u2014yellow vinyl miniskirt, white headband\u2014across boulevards and cobblestone streets in Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Venice.\\n\\n\\n\\nGradually, I understand that this quest is about much more than perfume, even though my mother does love beautiful fragrances and never walks out of the house without leaving behind a shadow self of tuberose and civet. She is seeking a fragrance that is not available in America, and every European perfumer who shrugs in apology only increases her ardent hunger.\\n\\n\\n\\nMy mother hits pay dirt in Gibraltar, and doesn't even leave the hot boutique before opening the box, pulling out the bottle, and tapping the stopper on her wrists and elbows. \\\"Can I have some?\\\" I ask her. \\\"No,\\\" she says. \\\"This is for grown-ups.\\\" Later, when I sneak a sniff from the bottle, the fragrance makes my eyes water.\\n\\n\\n\\nOn her, though, the scent is as lustrous as velvet. Leathery at the base, it is rich with cinnamon, lemon, and, oddly, peach. Its complicated, adult fragrance makes me think of sumptuous things\u2014food, brocade, boots as soft as butter. In the days of Jean Nate, no one else's mother wears Quadrille by Balenciaga, and I am outrageously proud. \\\"Not available in America,\\\" I say to anyone who will listen to me.\\n\\n\\n\\nForty years later: My father is very ill and will die soon, although my mother and I don't know that yet. She is home around the clock, worn out with worry. I fret stupidly about how to help her\u2014a manicure? One excellent meal?\u2014until the brainstorm comes. Tracking down Quadrille online takes hours, but like my mother in Europe, I am on the hunt, and finally find a bottle in Switzerland. When it arrives I bring it to her, and after she pulls the box from its wrapping paper, there is a long silence. I say, \\\"I hope you like it.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\nShe fights a little to open the old-fashioned faceted bottle, dabs it on her wrist, then holds it out to me. \\\"I wanted this to be my scent.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n\\\"It was!\\\" I say.\\n\\n\\n\\nMy mother smiles. \\\"You're right,\\\" she says. \\\"It was. Now come over here.\\\" She puts it on my wrist, and the complicated fragrance of bright spice and leather rises to hold us.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n### Top Ten List\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWhile we have lots of visual cues for the word \\\"romantic\\\" (roses, hearts, anything red), it's harder to pinpoint what makes a scent fit the bill. So we asked those with trained noses. According to perfumers, such a fragrance contains lush flowers; powdery notes; comforting, sweet aromas like vanilla and amber; and/or warm balsam elements. Below, our list of the ten most romantic fragrances.\\n\\n 1\\\\. Nina Ricci L'Air du Temps\\n\\nTop perfumers and Allure editors alike love this spicy-floral blend of carnation, gardenia, and jasmine. The winged bottle is a romantic icon, and even the name\u2014\\\"the mood of the moment\\\"\u2014is dreamy.\\n\\n 2\\\\. Este\u00E9 Lauder Beautiful \\n\\n With a mixture of rose, tuberose, jasmine, sandalwood, and amber, this fragrance hits every classic romantic note.\\n\\n 3\\\\. Lanc\u00F4me Tresor\\n\\nThis gets off to a fresh start with apricot blossom, rose, muguet, and lilac, then heats up with iris, sandalwood, amber, and musk.\\n\\n 4\\\\. Chanel Cristalle\\n\\n With Sicilian lemon, honeysuckle, hyacinth, and vetiver, this is a clean, green take on romantic.\\n\\n 5\\\\. Fracas by Robert Piguet\\n\\n Tuberose is known for being the sexiest floral noteand this is arguably the most beloved tuberose fragrance of all time. Unlike certain others of its ilk, it smells soft, not overpowering.\\n\\n 6\\\\. Joy by Jean Patou\\n\\n For every bottle, the company uses a whopping 10,600 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses.\\n\\n 7\\\\. Narciso Rodriguez for Her \\n\\nThe Egyptian musk coursing through the top, middle, and bottom notes makes this scent warm and sensual.\\n\\n 8\\\\. Chlo\u00E9 \\n\\nThis peony, lychee, freesia, and magnolia cocktail is sweet but delicate.\\n\\n 9\\\\. Le Labo Rose 31 \\n\\nThis peony, lychee, freesia, and magnolia cocktail is sweet but delicate.\\n\\n 10\\\\. S-Perfume 100% Love by Sophia Grojsman \\n\\nThe potent mix of chocolate and flowers in this scent is like the traditional Valentine's Day gifts rolled into one. It also has a note that the company will only describe as \\\"the pulpy erotic part of a secret red fruit.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n### Best-sellers\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nEvery Valentine's Day, men hurry to the perfume counter in hopes of finding a love potion for their paramour. They usually reach for the classics, judging from last February's top sellers.\\n\\n Chanel Coco Mademoiselle\\n\\nCreated in 2001 by perfumer Jacques Polge, who was instructed to make a fragrance that Coco herself would have worn, this sweet oriental blend is only the second Chanel fragrance to bear the nickname of the company's founder.\\n\\n Ralph Lauren Romance\\n\\nA year after this light, clean-smelling floral debuted in 1998, it won Star of the Year from the Fragrance Foundation\u2014 and since then, at least one bottle has sold every minute. \\\"Every time I hear the name it feels great,\\\" Ralph Lauren once said. \\\"What makes this strong is that it's universal.\\\"\\n\\n Dolce &amp; Gabbana Light Blue\\n\\nThis fresh, citrusy elixir of Sicilian cedar, Granny Smith apple, bamboo, and white rose has been one of the top ten fragrances in the U.S. since 2006 (it came out in 2001). \\\"It's a modern vision of sexiness,\\\" said perfumer Olivier Cresp, who created the scent.\\n\\n Este\u00E9 Lauder Beautiful\\n\\nDesigned in 1985 as a wedding day perfume, Beautiful \\\"easily makes every woman feel that she is the most attractive in the world,\\\" Este\u00E9 Lauder once said. A perfumer from a competing company told us that this blend of more than 1,000 flowers is \\\"very romantic\\\"\u2014and then made us promise not to name him.\\n\\n Donna Karan Cashmere Mist\\n\\nSoft and a little spicy, this mix of Moroccan jasmine, lily of the valley, sandalwood, and amber originally scented the designer's bath and body collection, which launched in 1992\\\\. Women loved it so much that they begged the company to make it a fragrance on its own\u2014which, in 1994, it did."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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