one of the most popular holiday gifts is
perfume which I love
but how do you choose the right one
we've brought in the expert
Michelle Krell Kidd very cool name is
known as quote the nose of Ann Arbor and
of course Meredith Bruckner from all
about art and Arbor comm discovered her
so Meredith how did you sniff out this
story about no smelling was involved in
that I couldn't do on the street man
Arbor Festival I was doing you know on
the street interviews and and you told
me what you do in town and I thought oh
that's so interesting and I looked you
up Michelle does amazing smell and tell
classes at the library free classes and
you've become sort of a celebrity in
town all for your nose people have
called her the walking sanella pedia yes
yes so we're here to learn about how to
buy perfume for yourself or for others
for the holidays so is there a formula
to it there actually is and it's
probably one that people really don't
know very much about for instance if you
have to buy perfume for yourself or
someone else the first thing you should
know is what do you like you should be
able to go to that counter and say well
I wear this I wear this I wear this and
then the next question should be okay
you want to smell this on a perfume
blotter which is right over there those
are my fume bladders and the first thing
you smell on a perfume bladder isn't the
whole character of a perfume but if you
like it right and it starts to pull you
in then you have to wear something on
skin and I say spray and walk away
because what you have to do is give
yourself time one to three hours to see
how it goes from top notes middle notes
to base notes and if you like it buy it
so that's kind of the approach and so if
you're not asked what you like that's
walk away and find someone who actually
helped you and to say agree with you
saying putting it on your skin because
it was his perfume my mom had on and it
smelled so beautiful on her and my aunt
and then I put it on and after I was
like what's that smell I smelled like a
barn animal with the same perfect I ABS
my mother was like that's horrible it
was bad yeah you have to know how it's
going to work with you stick about
trying it on exactly no it's like
finding a mate
right has to be chemistry chemistry walk
away that's right so tell us some of the
popular fragrances well so it's
interesting that you mentioned popular
right so when things are popular they
can be good but it doesn't mean they'll
necessarily smell it you know good on
you so they're worth trying however
there is a category that's growing a
perfumery called niche and these are
more inventive playful sense like this
is zoologist they're civet and dragonfly
here now what is zoologist right this is
a playful brand inspired by animal
personalities that are stylish sweet
what if you never existed right um it's
harder to find these things and what's
great and this is what I encourage if
you're gonna buy the right perfume is
sample sample sample buy in small
amounts mhm and also buy a travel size
like you know if you go to I eat is you
may not want to buy the bottle that's
$300 right there are travel sizes right
so you know in moderation you can do
anything on a budget and wind up
smelling fabulous so where are some good
places that you can find perfume
anywhere where they have what's called a
trained fragrance specialist someone who
really knows perfume and will ask you
questions and you know about what you
like especially if you're buying for
someone else you know you want to know
what they like if you're blind buy
something they might not like it very
much so you know snoop around on your
dresser ask them some questions so they
don't really know what you're trying to
get it and you'll get the right gift do
a little investigating definitely better
detective yeah so what about the pencils
I'm so curious
they say smell Mathai x'd on them
because these are made out of incense
cedar I had them made up for classes but
look what happens when you smell the
pencil shavings it's like it's beautiful
right take me back to like elementary
school and and I can hear the sounds of
the pencil sharp so what you just said
Meredith right when you smell something
you have feelings you have memories and
then the words come out and it's a
beautiful sense and we we under use it
or don't really understand it very much
and I trained in perfumery and this is
actually the first time on national
television we're seeing how people who
were trained in perfume you're trained
with kits this is by the john carroll
method i was trained at shiva Don and so
this is my natural skit which I get a
little choked up because it's filled
with memories
um and I love what I do so and you share
it if they smell and tell ya they're
well they're community-building because
when you smell something you feel you
remember you relate you share stories
and multiple people sharing stories
builds community and you learn it's a
subjective sense there's no wrong
answers right in school it's about
getting the a and being right you're
right all the time it's your life a good
lesson absolutely I love it I want to
talk more for more information on the
shops and other things going on in Ann
Arbor check out Meredith's articles and
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