How to choose the ideal perfume for men and women
How many times have you bought a perfume that you loved, only to find a few days later that you don't even like it anymore? If you're wondering how to choose your ideal perfume, we have some helpful tips and suggestions for you.
Buying a perfume can be complex. There are countless fragrances available, all vying for our attention. Brand packaging, fragrance names, celebrity endorsements and our own tastes, and indecisions undoubtedly influence us.
When choosing a perfume, you should consider factors such as your skin, age, personality and lifestyle. When choosing a perfume in a store, follow our recommendations below to help you choose the right fragrance:
Avoid other scents
When looking for your next scent, it's advisable to be completely free of other scents that could impact your perception of a fragrance.Take a shower with a neutral soap (odourless) and avoid using any perfumes or scented cosmetics.
Do not use too many scent strips
In store, there are lots of olfactory strips or the famous "papers" to help you test a scent. This is a good option to keep scents separate, but it can also be overwhelming and confusing, especially if you mix up the strips. Using more than four tests with different fragrances will make the decision more complicated because your sense of smell gets overwhelmed.
Spray the perfume on your skin
Once you've found a fragrance you like, we recommend that you spray it on your skin (back of the hand or forearm) and wait for it to dry. This is the only way to determine if the perfume suits your skin and, subsequently, your taste. Be careful never to rub the perfume when spraying it on your skin, as you'll break the scent particles and the scent will be lost quickly. Next, wait about 20 minutes for the scent to establish itself before checking whether or not the perfume will be an ideal companion.
Tips to choose the right perfume or cologne
Now that you know the best way to facilitate your choice in the store, these handy tips will help you choose the fragrances that suits you best:
Analyse if it is a quality perfume or cologne
The first thing to look at is the quality of the scent. For example, is it an original fragrance or not? Is it Eau de Parfum or Eau de Toilette? To discover the quality of a scent, we recommend you apply it to your skin and then analyse the strength of the scent and the duration it lasts on your skin. If it seems faint or disappears within minutes, the quality is poor and it won't last effectively.
You can also test the quality by checking the liquid in the bottle. To confirm if it's an original product, shake the bottle quickly. When small bubbles form and disappear immediately, it's considered a quality product.
You can also tell a lot about the quality of a product from its branding, packaging and design. Look for attractive and elegant branding, thoughtful design, manufacturing components on the bottle and good quality packaging. Unbranded bottles, stickers and flimsy packaging are traits of products to avoid.
Look at the olfactory family
According to fragrance experts and Michael Edwards, the creator of the "Perfume Wheel", there are four categories for fragrances; Floral, Fresh, Oriental and Woody.
Each of them relates to gender, personality and appeals to a variety of emotions or attitudes. For women, floral notes tend to be a great fit. They are soft fragrances with the scent flowers such as roses, jasmine, gardenia, lily etc. Younger women may lean towards fresh and fruity notes that suit their active lifestyles and energise them. Men's scents tend to be woodier and muskier to provide an air of masculinity and strength. Each category is adapted to suit a range of identities.
Perfume concentration level
Good quality perfumes have a scent concentration between 15% and 45% that allows them to last for around seven hours. Eau de Parfum contains 15% and the scent lasts for approximately six hours. You can also buy Eau de Toilette which has approximately 10% concentration and its scent lasts for approximately four hours. Finally, Eau de Cologne is composed of 5% with a predominance of citrus notes and lasts for three hours.
Each of these have varying price points with Eau de Parfum being the most expensive due to the quality and strength of the scent. Eau de Toilette can be a good mid-range option with a slightly smaller price tag, however, you may need to apply more fragrance to top it up and could end up using more in the long term.
Choose according to your skin type
It's important to bear in mind that your skin type has a great influence on the prolongation of the scent. With very oily skin, the perfume tends to be enhanced so it's worth using soft fragrances with floral notes and remembering not to use too much.
Conversely, people with dry skin tend to absorb perfume very quickly, therefore, it's advisable to apply a moisturising cream before you use fragrance to help preserve it. With dry skin types, intense or sweet fragrances tend to complement this type of skin.
Our personality and mood
If you identify as an extroverted, cheerful and dynamic person, floral scents are best suited to you. If you want to project sensuality and maturity, an oriental scent will be an excellent choice. If you're wanting to project elegance or if you're a leader by nature, a woody perfume is your best choice.
Fragrances according to age
Your taste in scents and your personality will ultimately change as you age. As a guide, if you're aged up to 20 years old, sweet, citrus and fruity aromas are recommended. For those over 20, fruity scents are still advised, but with slightly stronger concentration. If you’re over 40, oriental scents are recommended to help project maturity. Finally, for those over 60, floral scents are suggested for women and men are better suited to more woody perfumes.
We hope you find these tips useful and that you now feel confident to choose your ideal perfume. We offer a range of luxurious and niche scents for men and women spanning the entire "Perfume Wheel". Use our helpful descriptions which advise the top notes, heart notes and bottom notes to help you choose your perfect scent.