Having a signature scent can make you feel elegant and mature, and learning how to pick a perfume that’s perfect for you is easier than you think. Once you’re an ace at all things shopping for fragrance, you’ll be able to choose a perfume that works for you anytime, anywhere.
How to Pick a Perfume That Suits You
From perfume that goes powdery after 15 minutes on your skin to ones that give you a vomit-inducing headache, picking a perfume can be a dangerous game. Not every perfume is ideal for you, but there is one out there! Put your nose (and wits) into action, and you’ll pick the perfect one.
Identify Your Skin Type
Perfume goes directly on the skin, and just like you need to consider your skin type when buying new skincare products, you should consider the same when picking out a perfume. Oily, dry, and combination skin all respond to fragrance ingredients differently, making some better suited than others.
- Oily: Thanks to a lower pH, oily skin holds onto fragrances for hours. Musky, warm, and spicy scents perform well on oily skin, though be careful of powerful scents as they can sometimes be overwhelming.
- Dry: Because of a higher pH, dry skin doesn’t hold onto fragrance for long. Stronger, more powerful scents will give you more payoff without having to reapply than softer ones, with florals, fruity, and citrusy notes pairing well.
- Combination: On a chemical level, most perfumes are well suited to combination skin.
Consider Where You Live
Heat is an intensifying agent, so if you live in really hot climates, your perfume might get stronger throughout the day. If you live in a hot climate year-round, you may want to gravitate towards less intense perfumes and vice versa for consistently cool climates.
Use the Perfumes You Like as Inspiration
Just like animal taxonomy, perfumes have their own classification structure. If you already have a few scents you like, a great place to start is to find ones similar to those. Match new perfumes to their concentrations, families, and notes, and there’s a high likelihood that you’ll enjoy the fragrance.
Find the Right Perfume Concentration
Not every fragrance is considered a “perfume.” From eau de cologne to parfum, there are gradations to how concentrated a fragrance product is. While these words can seem like marketing mumbo jumbo, they actually indicate an important element of the fragrance formula.
The more concentrated the fragrance, the more powerful and long-lasting the scent is. These fragrance concentrations include:
- Eau de Cologne: Eau de cologne only has 2-4% of the aromatic element and lasts for around 2-4 hours.
- Eau de Toilette: Eau de toilette has 5-15% of the aromatic element and lasts for around 5-7 hours.
- Eau de Parfum: Eau de parfum has 10-20% of the aromatic element and lasts for around 8 hours.
- Parfum: Parfum has 20%+ of the aromatic element and lasts around 12 hours.
The higher the concentration, the more expensive the perfume is.
Pick a Perfume Family
Complimentary and similar-smelling ingredients are grouped into “families.” Perfume families are a quick way to communicate the general smell/feel that a perfume has. If you have a few scents you like, you’ll probably find that they fall under the same family.
There are four major families: floral, fresh, woody, & oriental. Within these families, there are subfamilies, such as green, fruity, soft floral, and woody.
Find the Perfect Perfume Notes
Within perfume subfamilies are the actual ingredients that fall into those groups. Within perfume formulas, these ingredients are designated by “note.” These notes describe the ingredients themselves and how long they last, with base notes lasting the longest.
For example, Yves Saint Laurent’s Libre Le Parfum’s notes are:
- Top Notes: Bergamot heart Calabria, mandarin oil, ginger oil, saffron accord
- Heart Notes: Lavandin heart Provence, diva lavender heart Provence, orange flower absolute
- Base Notes: Vetiver oil, tonka bean absolute, honey accord, vanilla bourbon premium infusion
Given these warm, spicy scents layered with several florals, this perfume has notes that fall under the oriental floral subfamily. So, if you love a scent like this, you can explore other perfumes that feature many of the same ingredients.
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Test Drive Multiple Perfumes Before Committing
Of course, you want perfume to mix well with your body chemistry and last in your climate, but the sniff test is the ultimate deciding factor. The perfect perfume won’t only smell great on you, but you’ll love the way it smells, too!
The only way to experiment with new or vintage scents is by trying them out. At the very least, try to sniff a variety of concentrations and notes using tester cards at department and beauty stores. However, it’s better if you can wear it for a day to see how the scent develops over time. Perfume is expensive! Save money by buying the smallest samples or travel sizes that you can try before investing in the one.
The Perfect Perfume Is One Tester Strip Away
You can do your research and spend time experimenting with several scents, but at the end of the day, the best perfume is going to be the one you like the most. Wearing perfume is all about creating the perfect ambiance everywhere you go. It’s meant to be fun! So, send your senses alight by choosing the perfect perfume.
