Like it or not, men emit certain odors that washing does not eliminate. Though the odors are not necessarily unpleasant, increasing numbers of men are camouflaging nature the same way many women do - with colognes, perfumes, splashes and sprays.
"I would say there's been a small surge in men buying fragrances," said Annie Christenson, cosmetics department manager of Nordstrom in downtown Salt Lake City. "As men are getting more educated, (they realize) that it's OK to buy these things."Men can get a large spray bottle of fragrant liquid to enhance (or overcome) their natural body odors for anywhere from $13 to $180. Average price is $40 to $45.
Calvin Klein fragrances for men - Eternity, Safari and Obsession - are big sellers. A new Calvin Klein fragrance just coming onto the market, Escape, is also expected to do well.
Except for Obsession, which has a pungent odor, most are relatively light and sweet.
Other big sellers are Drakkar Noir and Fahrenheit. Drakker Noir smells much like the Calvin Klein fragrances, but Fahrenheit is very different - much earthier and mustier than the others.
"Not everyone is going to want the same type of thing," Christenson said. "That makes (Fahrenheit) a little more exclusive."
Christenson said the lingering recession has not substantially affected fragrance sales.
"Even if (they) don't have a lot of money, people ask what's going to make them feel good and buy it," she said.
There are less expensive alternatives to brand-name fragrances. Elsha, a big seller, retails at about $13 for a big spray bottle. In addition, one company, Parfums de Coeur, offers imitations of Obsession (Lone Star), Eternity (Tahoe) and Drakkar Noir (New York Nights) for about a third the price of the real thing.
Parfums de Coeur President Mark Laracy said his company determines the composition of an impostor fragrance by doing a chemical analysis of the original to determine its mix of essential oils.
The amount of oil in a fragrance determines how long it will last. Christenson said perfume is concentrated and lasts a long time, while cologne and eau (pronounced "o") de toilette are more diluted. The different designations originate from France, where each fragrance type, by law, must be concentrated to a specified degree. As might be expected, the longer the fragrance lasts, the more expensive it is.
Fragrance manufacturers use a huge variety of ingredients from all over the globe to help you smell nice for the dance, including alyssum, amber, artemesia, basil, bergamot, cedar, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, eucalyptus, labdanum, lavender, lemons, mandarin oranges, mint, neroli, nutmeg, oak moss, patchouli, pine, rosewood, sage, sandalwood, vetiver, violets and wormwood. Cartier's Pasha fragrance, for example, contains 15 different ingredients.
The development of a fragrance is much more than just throwing together a bunch of good-smelling things, putting them in a bottle, and selling it. Fragrance manufacturers spend years researching their products before bringing them to market.
A good example is Cartier's development of Pasha. It took two years and 12 different bottle designs before Cartier found one it liked. It took 2 1/2 years and more than 500 experiments to find the right fragrance.
In addition to scent and bottle appearance, manufacturers spend large amounts of time and money coming up with suitably exotic names for their fragrances, which they jealously guard through trademark laws.
Since mainstream advertising vehicles can't communicate how fragrances smell, advertisers must exercise considerable creativity in marketing them. Consider, for example, one manufacturer's marketing pitch: "Aramis moves out of the bottle and onto the skin with a burst of masculine and sensual energy."
Translation: "It smells good."
Apart from all the hype and advertising jingles, however, your nose remains the true test.
"Smelling is believing," Laracy said.