Perfumes for Morning, Noon and Night

Courtesy of Lisa Hoffman BeautyFour-vial set in Japanese Agarwood seen above

Lisa Hoffman Beauty has a new way for you to smell fabulous morning, noon and night—a method based on science and a cute, leather pack of perfumes.

The new fragrance line, dreamed up by founder Lisa Hoffman during a particularly inspired shower, includes five different scents based on places she visited with her husband, Dustin Hoffman, while he was working on location.

The twist? Each scent comes in four variations, modified to suit your nose's needs during the morning, afternoon, evening and bedtime.

“I created the sets just for me, for what I was wanting and missing,” says Hoffman. “First thing in the morning, a perfume I want to wear might be overwhelming and at night, when I’m getting ready to go out, it might not feel rich enough or sexy enough.” (Those of us with a signature scent run into this problem daily.) “It occurred to me that I could take one fragrance and alter it,” she says.

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One of Hoffman’s most popular new scents, Japanese Agarwood, is a fresh, woody scent that smells like waking up early on a camping trip. For the morning variation, she pushes the lighter, fresher notes (lemon and cardamom, in this case), and then she does the reverse in the evening, pushing warmer notes, like spiced jasmine and cedarwood.

Scientifically, that makes sense, says Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation. “Your sense of smell changes as the day progresses,” he explains. “It’s greatest when you first wake up, then declines as the day goes on.” (That’s partly because you haven’t eaten in awhile when you wake up, so your nose is on high alert to find food.)

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Even the specific fragrance notes are tailored to trigger your senses.

Citrus scents (like those in the morning variations) stimulate the trigeminal nerve—the same nerve that makes you cry when you cut an onion. “Stimulating that nerve makes you more awake or alert,” says Hirsch. (Coffee or orange juice would have the same effect.)