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A side from stinky diapers, babies have the most delicious smell. Which is why you always see grown-ups—especially moms and grandmoms—lean in toward babies with their noses, inhaling deeply as if smelling a loaf of bread or a bouquet of flowers.
There’s really not much distinction between the smell of girl babies and boy babies, or girl toddlers and boy toddlers, or even seven-year-old girls and seven-year-old boys.
That changes about the time kids hit double digits. Boys start to smell like sweat, pepperoni pizza, locker rooms, and sporty body spray. Girls start to smell like fruit and flowers. Everything from body lotion and bath gel to lip gloss and even deodorant smells like green apples, raspberries, freesia, strawberries, lilac, pineapple, roses, and grapefruit. Slumber parties smell like an entire orchard and as if a garden has burst into bloom overnight in the hostess’s bedroom.
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As you get older, you’ll leave behind a trail of empty fruity bubble bath bottles and begin experimenting with cologne and perfume. There are thousands of scents to choose from and a few things to remember before dousing yourself with a bottle of Happy, Princess, or Daisy.
There is a difference in strengths and prices of fragrance. The least expensive and lightest scent—and a good choice for young ladies—is eau de cologne or eau de toilette.
YOU DO
Test perfume by spraying lightly on the inside of your wrist and wait at least thirty seconds to sniff, then sniff again in about thirty minutes when it has time to interact with your body’s chemistry.
YOU DON’T
Smell a perfume insert in a magazine or on someone else and decide that’s the one for you, just because you love it.
Why
Scent interacts differently on every body. What smells lightly floral on your friend might be nauseatingly sweet on you.
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YOU DO
Lightly spray or dab cologne on your pulse points— inside of the wrist, behind your ears, and in the crook of your knee.
YOU DON’T
Spray cologne all over your body.
Why
Cologne is not a spray tan. You should wear your scent; your scent should not wear you.
YOU DO
Keep in mind that when it comes to fragrance, less is more.
YOU DON’T
Wear so much perfume that people two feet away from you can smell you coming, or that your perfume hovers in a room, in a car, or on the furniture for hours after you’ve left.
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Why
Scent should be elusive and fleeting, not an assault on the senses. If your scent is so strong that others can not only smell it but also taste it, you are wearing far too much.
A lady does not wear heavy fragrances when she will be in confined spaces like a car, a plane, or a movie theater.
A lady does not reapply perfume like lip gloss. Fragrance lingers long after you no longer smell it.
A lady does not wear a heavy scent to breakfast unless she wants to give her parents a headache.
If a lady accidentally applies too much cologne, she uses a baby wipe or hand sanitizer to lessen the impact.