Wearing a perfume seems to be a simple thing but to hear Thresia Hamman hold forth on this task, you begin to realise that there is a whole PhD programme to smelling good.
As the managing director of Cupidolls International Perfumes, which originates from South Africa, Hamman knows an awful lot about perfumery having grown up in a family that lives, breathes and makes perfumes.
As a matter of fact when she completed school, she went straight into the family business, which is headquartered in East London in the Eastern Cape. Having started operating three months ago, the company has opened two stores which are both supplied by its factory in Block 8.
Hamman says that the strength and fragrance of a perfume must be matched to a wearer’s personality.
The bubbly, outgoing personalities who wear bold colours because they want to stand out in a crowd, she says, are better suited to super-concentrated perfumes while the quieter types should go for soft fragrances.
Alongside personality is age and the example that Hamman makes with regard to this aspect is that a sweet-smelling perfume is better suited to a wearer in their 30s than who is in their 40s or 50s.
In the case of perfume-wearing imbibers, there will definitely be a clash of scents. This means that one would have to wear two different kinds of perfumes for when they are sober and for when they are not.
The same goes for when one eats food with a strong smell like garlic. This will definitely increase the price of being modern but if one is going to upgrade themselves they might as well do it right.
Hamman’s experience has also been that physiological changes can affect a user’s olfactory appreciation of a perfume.
She tells the story of a female Cupidolls customer who had been using their perfumes for some 20 years then suddenly complained about the smell being different.
“But it was still the same perfume and we couldn’t put a finger on what was wrong until she revealed that she was on chemotherapy,” says Hamman, adding that hormonal change can also affect a user’s sense of smell in the same way.
Cupidolls has two stores in Gaborone ÔÇô one at Northgate Mall, another at KB Mall at the bus station.
Hamman says that this knowledge is being imparted to sales ladies who work at the two stores so that they are better able to provide the right service to clients.
