Hello perfume lovers! Finally some sunshine, hallelujah! We get a lot of questions daily to recommend the best perfumes to buy or gift a friend, colleague or love one. So, we thought it prudent to tell you a few things to know before you go perfume hunting.
Surprisingly, a large number of people do not know much about fragrances. I used to be one of those, I would walk into a perfume store and pick up any fragrance that I thought smelled good and call it a day. I never cared much about longevity, ingredients, none of that. That has changed as you can tell.
Over the years, I’ve learnt a lot about fragrances and I want to share some of that knowledge with you all. This article will cover some of the basics you should know before making your next perfume purchase. Hopefully, this gives you a glimpse into the delightful world of scents.
KNOW YOUR EAUS: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EAU DE TOILETTE, EAU DE PARFUM, AND PARFUM
Have you been wondering what those different Eaus on your perfume bottle means? Here's a breakdown for you.
Eau de toilette (EDT) is very refreshing and usually lasts the least amount of time.
Eau de Parfum (EDP) has more perfume concentration than Eau de toilette. This means it is slightly less refreshing but has more longevity.
Parfum feels the least fresh and most likely to have the best longevity. Most of the scents available are EDT and EDP concentrations.
The nexus of this is, that in general, the higher in concentration you go, the least you’re going to feel the initial blast that’s usually freshness and alcohol tickling your nose.
PERFUME CATEGORIES
Having understood the different types of perfume, let's take a look at the second basic building block: Fragrance notes. Smells are olfactive renditions of scents found all around us: plants, musks, woods, etc. There are four widely accepted categories that most fragrances fit in. They are Oriental, Woody, Fresh, and Floral. In that order, you’ll find each group has 3 to 4 subcategories, one of which will ultimately link to the next category. Together they form what’s known as the fragrance wheel. There are numerous presentations of the fragrance wheel available on the internet. Another category usually sits at the center of the wheel, that’s the Fougere style.
There are countless grey areas here of course where perfumers have and will continue to take liberties in order to create stunning compositions. Here are the classifications of some of the better-known scents out there:
The important point to note here however is, to gain insight about the categories as much as possible. This knowledge will advance your perfume discovery process and allow you to quickly eliminate the no-gos and focus on your preferred styles.
PERFUMES FOR DIFFERENT OCCASIONS
Armed with the knowledge of concentrations and categories, let's consider what perfume we should wear and where. There are so many options to choose from, but certain fragrances work better than others for some occasions.
Remember that master perfumers are artists and generally create a perfume with a specific vision. While we don’t necessarily have to adopt this vision, it does however help set the context. If it’s a popular fragrance from a well known designer brand for example, you most likely have seen ad campaigns that portray a model/models in a setting fit for the fragrance. A couple of examples are Johnny Depp in the Dior Sauvage campaigns or Tom Ford in the Grey Vetiver ad – The former is a total savage that acts and dresses like it, while the later is sharp tailored in a bespoke suit that would fit nicely for the office.
In other words, pick something suitable for the setting, the intense fragrance you would wear for an owanbe and gbese won’t necessarily be welcomed in a small enclosed space like an office. When making that next purchase, think about where you would be wearing that scent to (workplace, date night, clubbing, at home, fresh out of the shower and straight to bed, etc)
However, there are occasions where it may be advisable to skip fragrances altogether because they trigger emotions. If you’re going for an interview, think twice about spraying and think three times about which scent to put on!
BODY CHEMISTRY
Body chemistry and the purchasing process.
You’ve probably seen those paper strips when fragrance shopping at your favourite store for you to sample perfumes. Here's the catch, our bodies are very different from paper, so whatever you smell on those sampling paper is most likely going to be very different from what the fragrance will smell like on your body. The mix of our body heat will interact differently when compared to a paper. This is an important point to note especially when assaulted with a number of scents.
Another essential part of the purchasing process, is to understand that higher price is not necessarily a seal of quality. This is especially true today, a high number of fragrances released these days are clones of other popular fragrances.
DESIGNER VS NICHE
Lastly, the fragrance world has two facets: the designer and the niche side. “Designer” refers to brands like Chanel, Tom Ford or Dior that produce other products like clothing. “Niche” on the other hand usually refers to non-mass produced (compared to the typical designer brand) perfumes from a brand that is intended to be of higher quality, houses that are considered “Niche” usually only produce perfumes.
There are exceptions to this rule, there are cases where certain designer brands will create a “Private Collection” that is intended to have niche quality. This is a grey area, some have considered them Niche, some haven't. As earlier mentioned, your nose remains the deciding factor regardless of what label the perfume carries.
Most designer perfumes are found in perfume stores or big retail stores. Niche brands are found in custom stores or online through the brand’s store.
Examples of niche brands are Creed, Frederic Malle, Maison Francis Kurkdjan, Nishane. Example of Designer brands with private collections are: Tom Ford Private Collection, Dior Maison Christian Dior, Chanel Les Exclusifs, etc. There are hundreds of them out there, from master perfumers building their brands to influencers using services of perfumers to create their fragrances.
I hope going forward, you are able to better buy fragrances and the hunt for your next Holy Grail scent is a lot more smoother and easier.
I hope you found this helpful. Don't forget to leave me a comment.
Thank you for reading!
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