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SCMP Reporter

IMAGINE it. The Queen is standing in front of you, smiling, saying a few words. You are trying to concentrate, perhaps even to reply. But you can't.

  Why? Because you have just caught a whiff of her perfume and you know you've smelt it before but you can't think where.

  Is it Obsession? (No, not so Oriental.) Anais Anais? (Not floral enough.) You flare your nostrils, breathe deeply. Joy? (The costliest perfume in the world?)    It's on the tip of your impertinent tongue to ask. But Her Majesty has moved on in a cloud of . . . what is that scent? And you meant to thank her for the telegram sent on the occasion of your mum's 100th birthday.

   Okay. This hasn't happened to you yet. But in case you do find yourself in this situation, puzzling over what Her Majesty has dabbed on her pulse points, we will tell you.

   It is Madame Rochas, created by Rochas in the 1960s to become one of the favourite scents of that decade and a winner with royalty.

   Just as a fragrance can evoke memories of a person (usually), a place, an event, so every decade has had its signature scent.

  Some of them aren't around anymore. Others, such as Chanel No 5, created in the 1920s, endure. Some have been re-launched - such as Caleche, from Hermes, formulated in the 1950s and reborn last year.

  Other scents have the power to conquer - and divide - those who love the fragrance and those who hate it. The highly successful and wickedly named Poison (circa 1982) from Christian Dior is one of these and its equally celebrated sister, Dune, to some extent.

  A particular perfume may smell great on some people, but not on you.

  That's body chemistry, race, skin condition and diet. In fact, most perfumes duplicate ingredients. The fragrant raw materials are distilled from such earthy sources as fruits, leaves, wood, herbs, fir needles, bark and, most popularly, flowers.

  The most often used ingredients are roses, bergamot (from citrus fruit), jasmine, ylang ylang and vanilla. Each of these forms a heady basis for fresh or fruity florals, orientals, musk and ''green'' scents. But the finished fragrance may incorporate literally hundreds of ingredients.

  Joy, by Jean Patou, is heralded as the ''costliest perfume in the world''. This is not necessarily reflected in the price at the perfume counter, but it is the most expensive perfume to produce because of the raw materials used.

   To make just one precious ounce of Joy, perfumers must pluck almost 600 roses and an incredible 10,600 jasmine flowers.

  For this reason, it is best to leave the perfume buying to the person who will be wearing it, unless you are very sure of yourself.

  An experienced salesperson may determine what will suit you from finding out which fragrance you have worn in the past.

  For example, one customer, after assaulting her nose for half an hour and covering every pulse point and more with a different fragrance, was about to leave empty handed from the Lane Crawford perfume counter.

  A salesgirl approached and asked which fragrance madame usually wore? It was Opium from Yves Saint Laurent and the assistant promptly suggested Diva, from Ungaro. She was spot on with the choice.



The ability to scent success does not just come naturally