ValentinaChirico.com is all about beauty and – of course – beauty is made of an incredible array of colours and perfumes. But to crack on these subjects, you may need some guides:
- a colour guide to exploring the chromatic spectrum, as well as to finding corresponding names and the best colour combinations
- a perfume guide to understanding olfactive families and perfume descriptions provided by brands and websites, as well as to find what makes your scented product peculiar and your signature fragrance
We are surrounded by colours and perfumes daily, endless shades and notes… how to render these sensory elements in words?
Indeed, one of the hardest parts of being a beauty editor is describing a particular nuance of eyeshadow, for example. In the role of a sales advisor, I found quite soon that depicting the alchemy of olfactory notes or suggesting the right perfume are challenging tasks. Daily life does not spare us some troubles too! That’s true when it comes to choosing a perfectly matched combination for an outfit…
Colour wheel & guide
Are ‘Cardinal’ and ‘Carmine’ the same shade of red? Is that eyeshadow midnight blue or navy blue? The truth is, no one will see the same colour the same way you do, and colours look different under different lighting too.
Sometimes simplifications – like ‘light’, ‘medium’ and ‘dark’ (shade of X) – or visual links with familiar objects offer understandable descriptions. Some associations are so iconic, nowadays they’re part of our dictionary: Tiffany blue looks like and is a Tiffany blue! Our devices do not make colour identification straightforward: mobile and laptop displays, with their light settings, alter our perception of colours considerably. One day, a wise man pointed out how my hard work in documenting nail polishes with many pictures was quite pointless. He opened my eyes!
Archaeologists use Munsell to describe shades of soil and sediments, the same way fashion designers and artists employ Pantone. The early blog ‘Valens… per voi’ used Zanichelli colour atlas for reviewing purposes; for ease of use, ValentinaChirico.com refers to Wikipedia lists, its easy-to-browse chromatic grids and coding. A helpful tool for any web designer.
The most used grids on this website are those for the shades of RED, PINK & MAGENTA, VIOLET, and BLUE.
Colours come from our perceptions and reflections of light rays; this chromatic spectrum can be rationalised into a chart. The colour wheel shows primary and secondary colours, complementary colours and their relations. In its simplicity, the colour wheel suggests you…
- the best combination of hues for design projects, outfits and makeup looks: achievable by choosing colours placed respectively at 120° on this wheel
- the best concealer to neutralise any skin imperfection: the opposite shade to that of the hated blemish (i.e. a green concealer camouflages redness and red spots)
This chart also illustrates the nature of colours: warm or cold. Consider this distinction: colours have psychological effects on our feelings and sensations. Warm colours tend to stimulate our senses; remind us of happy things, and convey a pleasant wellness sensation inspired by the sun and its warm rays. While cool shades may either relax or cool us too much by reminding us of the sea and everything cold like the snow.
Fragrance wheel & guide
Back to the world of scent, which was my MA topic…
A significant issue I faced during my sales career was describing fragrances – mainly Eau de Parfum (EdP) and Eau de Toilet (EdT) – to find the best match for my clients. Explaining a perfume is difficult due to the complexity of the product itself (i.e. its chemistry and combination of notes), its volatile and evolving nature, and the individual perception.
Olfactory notes can be placed into a wheel similarly to colours. Of the many versions, I was used to Michael Edward’s fragrance wheel during my career in the industry. As the market mints new perfumes with fanciful sensory combinations and descriptions, and as the study on smell perception evolves, Edwards constantly develops his chart. Michael Edward’s wheel sees 5 olfactory groups, and its latest version (2010) experienced some changes in the relations between these grouping. To accompany the wheel, here is a short explanation:
Michael Edwards’ wheel consists of 5 wedges; each one representing one of the olfactory families. On its turn, each wedge splits into sub-categories. These ramifications allow us to narrow the fragrance personality, as well as find its peculiar ‘nuance’. The 5 families and their sub-groups are:
- Floral –> Floral – Soft Floral – Floral Oriental
- Oriental –> Soft Oriental – Oriental – Woody Oriental
- Woody –> Woods – Mossy Woods – Dry Woods
- Fresh –> Citrus – Fruity – Green – Water (Aquatic, Oceanic or Ozonic)
- Fougère – also known as Aromatics – experienced a particular treatment over the years.
Placed at the centre of the fragrant wheel in 1983, now Fougère stays in between the sub-categories Dry Woods (Woody) and Citrus (Fresh). As seen by the necessity of sub-categories for better definitions, these groups are not that strict. There is an established category called ‘Chypre‘ as well, while some newest launches may need new labels: this is the case of ‘Gourmand’ or edible-like scents.
Edward’s fragrance system is the most known, but it is not unique. For example, the OSMOZ project divides scents into 8 main families and per gender (feminine, masculine, and unisex):
- feminine: Chypre, Citrus, Floral and Oriental
- masculine: Aromatic/Fougère, Citrus, Oriental and Woody
- unisex: Citrus, Amber, Oriental and Fougère
One of my favourite fragrances is Mon Guerlain Eau de Toilette, which is described as a Citrus Oriental. As work experience taught me, each personality may find a suitable emanation into a sub-slice of this chart… so they may like or dislike my perfume and this is just a matter of personal taste.
Explore a world of colours, scents and feeling on ValentinaChirico.com
Image credits:
ph. Joshua Fuller
ph. Alex Rosario
ph. @JakobPuff
ph. Sharon McCutcheon
ph. Mattew Henry
ph. Hans Vivek
ph. Trung Do Bao
ph. Cici Hung
