01Premise
Sweat is a facet in fragrances that I feel does not receive much thought. Why would it? More often than not it is not appealing nor is it wearable to the average consumer; and to those who find value in complexity, well, it feels to me that this does not convey complexity the same way that Xerjoff’s blending or the Oud extraction processes might. Despite that though, I find it interesting that sweat being relatively simple in perfumery does not necessarily mean monotone as all the sweat fragrances I have smelled to date were somehow different.
There is a limited number of ways you can convey the note/accord of sweat, and by exploring the limitations of it via the categorization that I will introduce in the coming paragraphs, you will also see that the options of how to use it are more vast than one may initially suspect.
02The Categorization
To categorize sweat, you would superimpose several independent descriptors onto a single fragrance, each coming from a binary or ternary list, resulting in a (somewhat) complete character analysis that fragrance.
The lists are as follows:
- Is the fragrance a) Salty? b) Citrusy/Sicilian? c) Cumin-y?
- Is the fragrance a) Light? b) Dark? c) Intermediate?
- Is the fragrance a) Carnal?1 b) Natural?2
Let me explain each a little:
- 1a · Salty
- Salty sweat is like the sweat you taste after sport or the sweat of unbearably warm weather.
- 1b · Citrussy / Sicilian
- This is the type of sweat which is masked by citruses.
- 1c · Cumin-y
- An accord of sweat which is identifiably synthesized from cumin.
- 2a · Light
- A sweat facet that is bright, light (as in not heavy) and airy.
- 2b · Dark
- This implies a certain density, of either character or components. A dark sweat is one that you might associate with sweating independent of the sun.
- 2c · Intermediate
- A combination of both of the above.
- 3a · Carnal
- This is a type of sweat facet that is imbued with the human element. You might smell this and instantly think to yourself that this sweat is the outcome of desire.
- 3b · Natural
- This is simply the opposite of 3a (Carnal), where it is sweat independent of desire.
03Applying the Framework
And as said previously, any sweat fragrance can be described with a combination of one from the three lists. Let me give a few examples:
T-Shelby by Calaj
- Citrussy (b)
- Light (a) → Intermediate (c) (progresses as such)
- Natural (b)
Gym Rat by Calaj
- Citrussy (b)
- Light (a)
- Natural (b)
Desert Hope by Almost Human
- Cumin-y (c)
- Dark (b)
- Natural (b), but it could be argued that it is carnal (a)
Night by Akro
- Cumin-y (c)
- Light (a)
- Carnal (a)
Lilyn by Calaj
- Salty (a)
- Light (a)
- Carnal (a)
French Riviera by Mancera
- Salty (a)
- Light (a)
- Natural (b)
Fara by Antonio Alessandria
- Citrussy/Sicilian (a), the epitome of actually
- Light (a)
- Natural (b)
(I intend to expand the list)
As you can see, most of these fragrances were absolutely categorized and I feel quite holistically with just three words. Of course, even if you have a two fragrances that are salty (a), light (a) and natural (b), then they still can be different, however the sweat accord would be more or less similar in character in both of them.
Additionally, in some examples like Desert Hope, you can see that it is a little more up for debate, and I myself do not feel comfortable to present an absolute answer.
It is also important to note that scent is subjective, and even in lists that are binary or ternary such as the ones above, the characterization is still somewhat subjective.
04Every Combination
Three lists, of three, three and two, make eighteen combinations in all — and every sweat fragrance there is falls into one of them. Below is each of the eighteen, written out in full so that nothing has to be decoded: the first letter is the character, the second the weight, the third the element.
The right-hand column will be filled in later, to give an example of each of the possible combinations.
| Code | 1 Character | 2 Weight | 3 Element | Fragrance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aaa | Salty | Light | Carnal | |
| aab | Salty | Light | Natural | |
| aba | Salty | Dark | Carnal | |
| abb | Salty | Dark | Natural | |
| aca | Salty | Intermediate | Carnal | |
| acb | Salty | Intermediate | Natural | |
| baa | Citrussy / Sicilian | Light | Carnal | |
| bab | Citrussy / Sicilian | Light | Natural | |
| bba | Citrussy / Sicilian | Dark | Carnal | |
| bbb | Citrussy / Sicilian | Dark | Natural | |
| bca | Citrussy / Sicilian | Intermediate | Carnal | |
| bcb | Citrussy / Sicilian | Intermediate | Natural | |
| caa | Cumin-y | Light | Carnal | |
| cab | Cumin-y | Light | Natural | |
| cba | Cumin-y | Dark | Carnal | |
| cbb | Cumin-y | Dark | Natural | |
| cca | Cumin-y | Intermediate | Carnal | |
| ccb | Cumin-y | Intermediate | Natural |
05Notes
I would like everyone reading this not to take this as a rule that one has to follow. This framework is a suggestion that one can apply whenever it suits them; and whether that is to make connections that they would have not otherwise made, or to simply have a template for sorting sweat fragrances, then that is up to them.
06Footnotes
- It could be argued that Carnal is equivalent to Cumin-y, but I do think that separating these two adds clarity. ↩
- I do think that the third list of carnal vs natural is mainly dependent on the whole perfume and its intention, rather than the isolated sweat facet (OR it could also depend on the wearer, noting how a person’s skin might change a fragrance). ↩