"People are often very sensitive to a perfume because the odor has a negative connotation or brings up an unpleasant memory," says Ivanica. But the same logic applies in the opposite direction.
Maison Martin Margiela's Replica perfumes riff off the positive nostalgia people associate with certain scents. Take their appropriately named "Beach Walk" fragrance. "This soft and pure scent plays on nostalgia in particular by awakening olfactory souvenirs of sunny vacations and beach boardwalks," describes Sephora Vice President of Fragrance Brooke Banwart. In other words, unless you have horrible childhood memories of the beach, this fragrance is perfect for perfume-haters.
If you like the idea of a floral fragrance, but hate floral fragrances in practice, give this clean, springy scent a try.
"It's inspired by the scent of soaked fields of flowers and wet concrete after the first rainfall," describes Banwart. But unlike sweet, cloying florals, this airy one incorporates notes like dew and lotus to create a fresh unisex blend.
This fresh, citrusy unisex perfume is made in small batches in Los Angeles, California -- and you can tell it's crafted with care. Subtly blended notes of woods, peach, citrus and air create a bright, nautical scent that made each of our editors go, "Ooh, I love that one."
Drom Fragrances perfumer Caroline Ivanica, explains it like this: "People who hate perfume identify with discrete fragrances that give them a 'second skin feeling.' Citrus notes are most of the time a top scorer -- they offer a natural freshness."
Take it from the name itself: This clean, hypoallergenic fragrance is meant for a woman, who is "unclassifiable," says Banwart, "a woman who likes to smell like she is wearing nothing at all." Like the Demeter cologne sprays, this scent is composed of a single note, called ambrox, which Banwart says is usually used in perfumery as a base note. "Here it plays the lead role for a fragrance that it is noticed only by others -- not by the wearer."
One-of-a-kind perfumes don't always come cheap, and certified organic perfume line Strange Invisible Perfumes from Venice, California makes it easy to shell out the dough. Their botanical, unfiltered perfumes are hand-blended and bottled in limited batches, and they smell as expensive as they are. For perfume haters, their impossibly natural L'Invisible fragrance is a winner -- it's composed of a unique blend of scents like amber, ylang ylang, lemon and rose, and ends up smelling subtle and enigmatic. In other words: Invisible.
