We all know that choosing a perfume implies a profoundly personal and intimate experience, and even more so if you’re looking for a signature scent – a fragrance that not only delights your nostrils and senses but also becomes an extension of your identity and everyone associates with you, like some kind of olfactory representation of your person. That’s why finding the perfect fragrance is not as easy as going to a department store and simply picking one of the best sellers from the shelf.
Blind buys are an even worse idea for being quite a gamble – and an expensive one, too, in most cases. Often, customers are swayed by the compelling imagery and ideas that brands use in their advertisements and not so much by how their products smell. These clever marketing tricks can be misleading, so there’s a high chance your purchase will result in disappointment.
However, with millions of perfumes out there, each with a unique scent profile and endless formulas made of a multitude of ingredients, it’s obvious you can’t sniff them all until you find the one. So, there must be something that can help you narrow down your options and point you in the right direction, and there is: a few golden rules that will guide you on your personal journey to finding your signature fragrance.
Don’t overwhelm your senses
When sifting through perfumes, you might be tempted to test all the pretty bottles in the store, but that’s not the best way to go about it. Although the human nose is capable of picking up a wide variety of different scents, if you smell too many perfumes in a row, it will become difficult to discern the nuances and make an accurate assessment of each fragrance you’ve tried.
As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t test more than three perfumes at a time so your nose doesn’t become overwhelmed by the smells and loses its sensitivity. It’s also recommended to take a short break and sniff coffee beans between perfumes to give your nose a sort of palate cleansing. Perfume shops usually have small coffee bean pots on their counters to prevent olfactory fatigue. As for the order in which you should test fragrances, it’s best to start with the lighter ones first and then move to stronger or more intense scents. So, if you want to smell Alien perfume from Mugler, for example, make sure you leave it for last if you also have softer scents on your to-test list.
Learn how fragrances work
We’re not saying you should start studying chemistry and become a perfumer. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to learn a bit about the science behind fragrances and how they work so you know exactly what you’re smelling and make a more educated decision.
First of all, you should learn about the two main perfume categories, warm and fresh, and the olfactive families in each of them. This will help you identify the dominant notes in a perfume. It’s also important to know how different perfumes evolve over time. While some are linear and maintain the same smell throughout the day, the majority are designed to have a threefold structure comprised of top, middle, and base notes that reveal themselves gradually. Moreover, you should know that your skin’s pH and body chemistry influence the way a perfume smells and lasts on you. That’s why the same perfume can smell differently on different people.
The wear test
Testing a perfume on a blotter and smelling it for a few minutes won’t tell you the whole story of that fragrance. If you’re dealing with a complex scent, you’ll only get to familiarize yourself with the top notes and remain clueless about what lies underneath.
If you really want to get to know a scent, you have to put it to the ultimate test of full-day wear. This will give you the opportunity to see how the fragrance performs throughout the day and assess its longevity. Make sure you don’t spray it on your clothes but directly onto your skin, preferably on pulse points like the wrists, neck, and cleavage, to enjoy its full effect.
Get out of your perfume comfort zone
You probably already have a rough idea of the fragrances that suit you or at least you think might suit you. However, people tend to develop many preconceived ideas about perfumes based on a few disparate experiences, which can steer them in the wrong direction, which might also be your case. For instance, if you’ve tested a perfume from Hugo Boss and it wasn’t exactly love at first smell, it doesn’t mean you won’t like other perfumes from their range better.
Sometimes, you need to look beyond your go-to scent profiles and test fragrances you wouldn’t normally gravitate towards because of their description. A bit of exploration might help you uncover some unexpected gems.
Follow your nose
Probably the most helpful piece of advice when it comes to selecting a scent is to follow your nose, both literally and metaphorically. Beyond chemistry and notes and all the mysterious ingredients that fragrances are made of, a signature scent is about evoking powerful emotions – and that can’t be quantified or put into words. That’s why sometimes it’s best to push logic aside and choose a fragrance instinctually based on how it makes you feel, not its popularity, bottle design, or marketing.
Reserve logical thinking for more practical aspects, such as setting a price range for your perfume. If it costs as much as your monthly mortgage payment, maybe you should find a different one. Although the prices of many designer or niche fragrances fall on the high end of the spectrum for being labelled luxury goods, there are also plenty of great quality fragrances that are reasonably priced, so you’ll surely find one that will tick all your boxes.
