Choosing a perfume that reflects your style: A guide to the perfect fragrance
First, consider your affinities, the components that suit you, and whose fragrance has a beneficial effect on your senses. It won't do you any good to buy a perfume with oud because it's popular if it actually gives you a headache. The same is true for some of the most well-known perfume ingredients, such as rose, iris, musk, saffron…
If an advertisement or comments intrigue you, first pay attention to the perfume's notes. If it includes notes you like, you can consider it.
Several important facts need to be considered when choosing a parfum. Some of these are the chemistry of our skin, the pigment melanin, the time of day, the season, and the occasion for which we use the perfume (work, going out, walking, celebrating, school, fitness, summer vacation, winter holiday...). There are unwritten rules about seasonal perfumes, a product of modern times, as we used to wear the same perfume in both summer and winter just 20 years ago, and it wasn't strange. Now, it is almost sacrilege, as summer implies citrus, aquatic, spicy perfumes, and winter calls for deeper gourmand, resinous, oriental perfumes. Spring heralds warmer weather, so lighter notes are appropriate, while autumn successfully supports heavier perfumes. To avoid confusion with seasonal division, because we'll find some ingredients invariably in summer and winter creations, we'll pay attention to projection, aura, sillage... High temperatures intensify some fragrances the most.
Your personal olfactory experience: Skin chemistry and the effect of perfume on you
How a fragrance will project on your skin is something no one can tell you with certainty because there are numerous factors. First, consider the pH of the skin, then the secretion of sebum, gender, race, age, the food you eat, the medicines you take, and you still can't get a precise answer. That's why there are so-called flankers, decants, mini packages for trial, or simply trying it in perfumery. What you need to know is that the perfume you apply on your wrist, on paper, and on a piece of clothing will not project the same. The one that remains on your hand is actually what you can expect. The top notes are felt in the first half-hour, followed by the middle notes (the heart of the perfume) and finally the base (dry down).
There are differing opinions on which of these three is the most important; some say the heart of the perfume, some the base, and some even claim the top notes because they sell the perfume immediately in the perfumery. Middle Eastern perfumes, or Arab as we also call them, are opened, sprayed, and left for at least thirty days to mature, and then we will get the real scent, and then you will get a real test with Arab perfumes. These are just some guidelines that can help, but for the real effect, you must try for yourself.
It is primarily necessary to know the chemical response of your skin.
It's important to mention that the strength of the perfume also depends on the pH of our skin. The pH scale ranges from 0-14, where 7 is the middle, meaning exactly neutral. Lower than 7 is more acidic, and higher values are more alkaline. Optimally, the pH value of the skin should be slightly acidic, i.e., a value of 5.5 pH. Thus, depending on the pH of the skin, the scent will behave and change. Logically and expectedly, it will reveal its true face to those who have a normal (optimal) pH value. A high pH value means extremely dry skin that eats the perfume. If you have such a problem, hydrate your skin well, and it would be advisable to pair your favorite perfume with the same lotion or cream.
Guide to understanding scents
What you want is most important, how you want to smell, whether to leave a scented trail when you pass by or to smell constantly, and only those close to you can sense it. Are you looking for sillage (aura) or longevity? As we've already mentioned, there's also the occasion for use. Maybe you've bought and have hundreds of perfumes, but you're still looking for that signature perfume. We encourage you to continue because we understand that it is indeed a passion. We will help you choose based on some established categories, but the final decision is always subjective, which is the greatest beauty of perfumery.
There's also the surprise factor when the list of notes includes all those you know you love, but the perfume smells different than expected, or you don't like it at all. And the other way around, the list of notes might include some you wouldn't typically choose, but the perfume turns out to be excellent and you like it. A similar situation is with user reviews, where for some perfume it's said to be a clone of a more famous one, and you rely on such a review for purchasing, and then it's a disappointment. If someone's perfume smells like another to someone, it absolutely doesn't mean it will smell the same to you. Reviews and comments are desirable, but when you know all this about perfume behavior, pH values, notes, and occasions, you can conclude that understanding scents is individual.
The role of olfactory groups and their classification
Olfactory groups play a role in communicating what notes and molecules a perfume is composed of. Such information is needed to understand how a certain perfume might smell. You might consider some compositions by reading the olfactory group if you're a fan of a specific one.
Male and female perfumes - is there such a division
Probably everyone knows that scents are divided into female, male, and unisex. It could be said that this division was more pronounced before, with women exclusively wearing female fragrances, men wearing male perfumes, and unisex being rare or nonexistent. Maybe also because the differences in note composition were greater, creating a clear cut. Now it's not like that because some "male notes" are successfully worn by both genders, and vice versa. Women wear leather, woody, and spicy fragrances very well, and men wear sweet, gourmand, fruity, and even floral scents. This doesn't mean some perfumes are better now compared to before, but it's a kind of parfum revolution. Unisex perfumes (perfumes for women and men) are most commonly encountered among niche perfumes, which boldly combine various fragrances, creating unique creations with above-average projection.
Standard classification of perfumes by notes - Olfactory families
For experienced connoisseurs of scent notes, these groups are not unknown. For beginners in search of their future favorite perfume, it's important to know the so-called "olfactory families." Some of the basic divisions are:
FLORAL- the largest scent group, consisting of subgroups (floral aldehydic, floral woody musky, floral aquatic, floral fruity, floral fruity gourmand, floral green...)
CITRUS- is divided into citrus aromatic and citrus gourmand scents.
ORIENTAL- can be oriental floral, oriental fougère, oriental gourmand, oriental spicy…
CHYPRE- are sophisticated scents based on a harmony of oakmoss, patchouli, labdanum, and bergamot, and can be aromatic floral and aromatic fruity.
AROMATIC- are herbaceous aromas often combined with citrus notes and can be aromatic fougère, aromatic aquatic, aromatic fruity, aromatic spicy, and aromatic green.
WOODY- notes are placed in the heart or base of the perfume and can be woody aromatic, woody chypre, woody floral musky, woody aquatic, woody green…
LEATHER- perfumes are a quite rare and contentious group because some plant notes successfully mimic leather, such as birch.
The purpose of olfactory families
Perfume groups, besides informing about the notes used in making a perfume, also serve to choose a fragrance for a certain season. For warmer weather conditions, perfumes containing citrus, aldehydic, green, and aquatic fragrances are chosen. Cold weather heralds wearing gourmand, woody, fruity gourmand perfumes.
You might think, how can fruity notes be for winter, and fruity for summer? Simply imagine winter tastes and smells, that's what apples, cinnamon, plum, and dried fruit suggest. Summer is reminded by the flavors of pineapple, melon, lemon, raspberry, strawberry, peach...
We've already mentioned oriental fragrances, which are also called Arabic or Middle Eastern perfumes, characterized by strong scents, often woody and resinous notes, with incredible projection.
Important information for choosing, understanding, and acquiring perfumes
Many websites and magazines compare and rank. They offer us the results of broad research on the best and most impressive perfumes. Thus, we have the best perfumes for a certain year, decade, or season. The best female fragrance, the best male fragrance, the best unisex fragrance, then regional niche perfumes (Middle Eastern, French, Italian, British...). All these topics are useful and interesting to know because they help not only in choosing but also in understanding scents and their purposes.
Tastes differ, and the parfum offer is huge, always expanding, to the delight of perfume lovers. For the unsure and beginners, there's no fear because there are also so-called "safe" perfumes, wearable on most occasions. Often, we can see a recommendation for a perfume described as "a perfume that contains oud for beginners," meaning the concentration is very mild and balanced. This applies not only to oud but also to many other notes (leather, saffron, incense...). With such reviews, we must agree, because it's true that you can gradually introduce a new scent into your scent world and get accustomed to something strange and unknown to you. There's a special charm in discovering scents with unknown or for us incompatible combinations. For new users, the message would be that a whole empire awaits them to be discovered, a whole big perfume world. Because as much as perfume is something that activates our sense of smell, it activates memory even more. Perfume often evokes events and people, much better than a photograph or note.
Choosing the right fragrance for yourself, or as a gift for a loved one, may not be an easy task, but it's a nice and fun one. If you make a mistake, don't be disappointed; the perfume world is vast, and all of them are or will be someone's favorite perfume. It often happens that the desire for certain perfumes turns into a perfume passion, and then people become collectors. And it's not exactly a cheap hobby, on the contrary, it can be very expensive. We advise you to follow online perfumeries, collect codes and discounts, and follow sales. This only applies to regular websites that sell original perfumes. It's important to mention that you have many top-quality perfumes available, even niche perfumes, which can be very cheap. There are also various forums where you can exchange a perfume you don't like for another one. Similarly, some perfumeries offer the possibility of returns, even up to 90 days if you are not satisfied with the purchase.
Thus, in modern times, the possibilities are various
Perfumes change from year to year - what will mark 2024
Everyone who follows and uses perfumes has probably heard in conversation that parfum is not what it used to be, that it's weaker, that it's reformulated. Whether this is the case is probably not. The point is that the true reformulation could be noticed if we continuously used that same perfume for at least twenty years, or if we wore it and then noticed differences. Such a stance appears because we remember that the perfume we wore for some time was stronger or different, which doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Reformulation exists, and most perfumes are reformulated, but it's not so noticeable, nor worse than the original versions.
This year will certainly bring some already-known perfumes in intense or floral, maybe even woody versions and the novelty is also a slightly different trend, i.e., a shift from some fragrances that the market had become quite satiated within the previous period. Individually, each perfume house announces novelties, and some have already released new perfumes, which have been universally met with enthusiasm. The biggest novelty in this year's perfumes is that gourmand perfumes will not be so "gourmand," not in a loud and overwhelming way. It will be well-blended sophisticated notes. Citrus, marshmallow, and fruit, blended with indispensable vanilla and musk will play a role. For colder days, leather tones will play, but this time the emphasis will be on leather and fruit, and spices will still be very present, in a different way. A comeback of some well-known perfumes, and perfume icons, is expected. They will return in a known or somehow reformulated variant. Surely, a wonderful and innovative perfume year will follow.
