Body Chemistry Perfume Profile: Is There Such a Thing?

My goal is to recruit as many people as possible to the world of perfume addiction, and to that end, my brother is coming along nicely in his fragrance junkie grooming.  For example, he rocks Caron Yatagan, the fragrance that launched his perfume journey and fuels continued exploration.  As a business owner, his talents are both technical and aesthetic, which lend themselves to a unique and thorough perfume analysis.  We have talked of planning a 1/2 day perfume outing (and still will), but in the meantime, my sister and I did a Sephora crawl to jump start the process and pick out a few scents we both thought he might like.  Last week, I hand delivered these to his work for an impromptu sniffing session.

Samples included:

Bleu de Chanel Edt
Atelier Trefle Pur
Commodity Moss
Commodity Book
YSL Y
Terre d'Hermes
Azzaro pour homme

We sniffed and discussed and compared each sample, returning again and again to the paper strips during the drydown of each fragrance.  His top choices for further skin testing at a later time were (in order of preference):

Commodity Book
YSL Y
Atelier Trefle Pur
Bleu de Chanel Edt

During our sniff-off, he asked an interesting question. 'Is there a foolproof way to know what perfume will work on different body chemistry?'  I thought of all the largely useless perfume quizzes that include favorite place to vacation,  favorite season, etc.  He continues, 'what about the specific food people eat or the alcohol they drink?'  (My brother is a bourbon aficionado, which informed this question and also created an instant connection with Commodity Book.) 

I'm intrigued by this thought...is there such an analysis to know in advance how a perfume will mix with one's specific body chemistry? Hmm.

Photo from iStock