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Flower Girl

By Stefene Russell

We’ll start with the ironic plot twist, a detail straight out of a Guy de Maupassant short story: Margie Thomas, a woman who boasts “a closet full of fragrances,” was once horribly allergic to perfume. But six years ago, on a fluke, she found herself working in promotions for Liz Claiborne’s fragrance division. “You would think I’d say, ‘You know, I’m just not right for this job,’” she laughs, “but I stuck with it and developed an immunity to it. I think that’s evidence of how much I enjoy it.”

While taking her fragrance certification test, Thomas became smitten with the sheer tradition of it all: Centuries before Liz Taylor played Cleopatra (or hawked White Diamonds perfume) the queen of Egypt was anointing herself with laudanum and myrrh. “It was something that the Wise Men presented to the Christ child. It’s been important all through history,” she says, “but they were just oils; nobody really put it all together.”

Modern perfumes, she explains, are more complex, organized into what’s called top, heat and base notes. Top notes are what you smell immediately after puffing the atomizer. Middle and base notes can linger all day, melting into each other and creating different scents as the perfume evaporates. Body chemistry and skin temperature further change the smell. “So it’s a very individual type of accessory,” Thomas says. And just because it’s invisible to the eye doesn’t mean it can’t be unbecoming on the wrong person—wallflowers who spray on something big and splashy, prepare to be profoundly uncomfortable.

Thomas, who’s now the fragrance specialist for Sephora’s West County store, has worn everything the shop carries. She’s not a fan of intensely fruity or “coconutty” fragrances (“I feel like I’m wearing a drink”) or what she calls “fragrances that walk into the room before I do.

“I am a really outgoing, really social person,” she explains, “so I want something softer.” She approaches scent the way most women decide which shoes to wear: If she’s about to run errands, she spritzes on “something like Vera Wang, which is a white floral. It was the bride’s fragrance, so it’s very fresh and clean and white.” At home, after a de-stressing bath, she applies “Kenzo Flower, because it’s soft and powdery. I love putting on a little fragrance before I go to bed, something soft and nice.” Then there are the signature fragrances: “When your friends smell it, they say, ‘Oh, that makes me think of you.’”

Thomas’ signature fragrances? “Spicy florals.” She is a gardener and has a soft spot for flowers, especially jasmine and lilacs. (However, she says she “doesn’t do so well” growing actual rosebushes and so doesn’t often wear rose perfume.) Though florals suit Thomas’ personality, her signature scent has changed over the years. She used to wear Liz Claiborne Mambo, a rich concoction of ylang-ylang, sandalwood, pink ginger and vanilla; these days she’s a huge fan of DKNY Be Delicious, a crisp scent with apple in its middle notes.

“A lot of times, you will stay with a family,” Thomas says, “like the Gucci fragrances, which I like a lot. Rush is a really old fragrance. I personally like the original Gucci; it gives you that sweetness—with the vanilla—and it just makes me feel pretty when I wear it. That’s what you want in a fragrance, and when I’m helping a client that’s what I’ll ask them: How do you want to feel when you wear it?”

Thomas’ Favorite Fragrances

Chanel No. 5: “I’ve been wearing this since the age of 16,” Thomas says, “and I still wear it. It’s a very warm floral, more of an oriental.” Urban legend has it that Madame Coco’s perfumer, Ernest Beaux, created six scents, and she chose the fifth. First bottled in 1921, it was the first perfume to incorporate large amounts of aldehydes, organic compounds that amplify the fragrance’s notes. Synonymous with class, pearls and Marilyn Monroe. 

Givenchy L’Interdit: Created for Audrey Hepburn in 1957 (apparently to go with the giant lunettes and lampshade chapeaux the designer also made for her). The original formulation was discontinued and then reintroduced in 2002. Like Chanel No. 5, L’Interdit contains aldehydes, which turns up the volume on some of its shyer notes, including orange blossom and violet.  “It’s just a great fragrance,” Thomas says.

DKNY’s Be Delicious: “I’m out of it right now—and I miss it. It’s just so fresh.” Thomas likes its citrusy top notes of grapefruit, cucumber and magnolia, which settle down into “a bunch of beautiful florals in the middle” such as tuberose, white muguet, rose and violet. “You can wear it both day and night,” she says. “It’s fresh enough for day, but the florals make it romantic enough for nighttime.”

Bulgari Voile de Jasmin: “I love jasmine,” Thomas says, and she counts this white floral as one of her favorite jasmine perfumes. It’s made with jasmine sambac, or Arabian jasmine, along with bergamot, rosewood, ylang-ylang, mimosa and rose. Romantic, feminine and definitely not a fragrance that enters the room before you do.

Gucci Eau de Parfum: “One of my favorites. It’s just a very beautiful fragrance. I love this, because it’s so warm ... the citrus, orange and vanilla make it very different. You’ll find a lot of vanilla in the fragrances I wear.” Deeper and more mysterious than white florals such as Vera Wang, this fragrance contains vanilla absolute and cumin that spice up the sweetness of heliotrope and orange blossom.