I've no idea why I smell the cap.
The perfume has already been sprayed. I've smelled it on my skin. I know what it smells like. And yet, almost without thinking, I pick up the cap and put it under my nose. It's a tiny ritual that serves no obvious purpose, but anyone who loves perfume will probably recognise it. Spray the fragrance, smell the skin, then smell the cap as though it might have a second opinion. Of course, it doesn't. The perfume on our skin is the real experience, warmer, more personal and constantly changing. The cap is simply holding a little of what was left behind.
So why do we do it? Perhaps because perfume is unusual. Most things we use every day have a purpose beyond the pleasure they give us. Soap cleans. Shampoo washes our hair. Moisturiser softens the skin. Perfume has no such excuse. We wear it because we want to smell good, and because we enjoy smelling it. There's something rather lovely about that. It's completely unnecessary, and that's part of the point.
Maybe smelling the cap is an extension of that pleasure. We've already experienced the fragrance, but we're not quite ready to let the moment end. The cap gives us another opportunity to smell it before the rest of the day gets in the way. It's a tiny act of anticipation, although there's something slightly ridiculous about needing to smell the perfume again immediately after spraying it.
Perhaps we're not checking whether the perfume smells right. We already know that. We're simply enjoying the fact that, for a few seconds, there's nothing else we need to do except smell it. Perfume doesn't clean anything, feed us or make our lives more practical. It gives us something enjoyable to smell, and we don't always need a better reason than that.
We don't just wear perfume. We revisit it. We smell it again when there's no need to, because we want to. So the next time you find yourself smelling the cap, don't worry about it. You're not looking for anything you missed. You're simply enjoying the perfume for a few seconds longer before getting on with the rest of your day.
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