Perfumes perfectly complement our personality and look, make us more courageous and catch the attention of those around us. They give us that special something that makes us stand out, that sets us apart. Good perfume is pricey, and if we want to spend a specific amount on it we should make a choice that we will not regret and that will have a positive effect on how we are perceived by others.

We should get ready before going shopping. A few tips can help us avoid failure. So, how can we tell which perfume is right for us? We have to start from scratch. First we should get our budget straight. Then we try to remind ourselves about the differences between perfume, eau de toilette, and cologne. They differ in the content of extract and, of course, price, which we should check at home before going shopping. This helps us adjust the product to our budget.

Before you go shopping

Before you go shopping, please remember to not use any perfume, deodorant, or even strong-scented cream. When a fragrance is mixed with your cosmetics, it may have a different smell.

But the next question is where to shop? Reliable beauty supply shops and perfumeries with a good reputation are the best choices. It is best to avoid bazaars or unreliable sources. It saves us from buying fake perfumes which may not last as long as the original ones and may not be dermatologically tested; we do not know how our skin would react to them.

Once we get to a perfumery or a beauty supply shop, we should walk straight to the department which interests us. Our nose is a very sensitive organ which quickly adapts to the scents in a shop or during perfume testing, and may become tired from too many surrounding fragrances.

What kind of perfume do you need?

We should determine our needs while thinking about buying a perfume, regardless of whether it is the first time we are buying one, or if we are picking up a new one to add to our collection. Will the perfume complement our everyday professional look? Are we planning to buy a fragrance for evening wear? When facing the shelves full of different perfumes, remember that manufacturers try to adapt the packaging to the perfume characteristics. A woman who is looking for an intense perfume for evening wear can skip the perfumes wrapped in light green packaging. That colour is used for fresh and delicate fragrances.

How to test perfumes

Beauty supply shops should never run out of perfume test strips, i.e. blotters; however, the best way to test perfumes is by trying them out on our skin. So remember not to test them by spraying them in the air, on someone else, or onto clothes. This can negatively influence your choice of fragrance. It is best to use your wrist or forearm for testing. However, if you do not like anything after four tests, you should leave the shop for a moment or… smell coffee. Coffee beans are found in perfumeries and beauty supply shops more and more often because the intense coffee aroma clears our nostrils and helps us test a couple more perfumes.

While spraying perfume onto the skin of the forearm, you should also remember to wait a moment before smelling it. After a couple of seconds, alcohol evaporates and we can smell the head notes – the notes that you smell for the shortest amount of time. To smell the true notes of the perfume, you have to wait a dozen or so minutes.

Sometimes choosing the best perfume requires several visits to a shop. We can wear different perfumes sprayed on our wrists for a whole day and then assess them. During our next visit to a perfumery we check two other perfumes until we find the right one, memorising or writing down our comments on particular brands. At the end, we compare our favourites and we have a winner!

Give yourself a choice

As we mentioned earlier, the nose is a very sensitive organ that gets tired quickly and gets used to one fragrance. As well as this, our partners and loved ones get used to our perfume. That is why it is good to have a couple of fragrances and use them interchangeably or depending on the occasion.