A Guide to Fragrance Testing

With the abundance of perfumes currently on the market and more released every year, it can be a daunting process to find the right fragrance for you. In this guide I shall look at how to test fragrances in order to find your perfect match. The first thing you need to do is to get yourself down to a perfume counter in your local store. This is a must even if you ultimately intend to make your purchase online as you really do need to try a fragrance out before you buy it. But remember not to wear any other fragrance during that period – whether its your conventional fragrance, a scented shower gel or moisturiser as this will interfere with the testing process. Once at the perfume counter, you may still be overwhelmed with choice so it’s a good idea to talk to the assistant behind the counter about what you are hoping to achieve from your perfume. For example are you looking for a fragrance for a particular event or something to match your clothing or personality? The assistant will know the different scents and will be able to pick a few out for you to try. The best way to actually try the perfume is to apply some to your wrist. You will then want to have an initial smell of the fragrance to see if you like it. However due to the way they are manufactured they alter slightly over time depending on the top, middle and base notes. Your initial sniff will reveal the top notes but about ten minutes later the heartier middle notes will appear. After around twenty or thirty minutes the base notes will appear. It’s important to take note of these as they are the longest lasting and ultimately what your fragrance will reveal for most of the day. In order to go through the whole smelling process, you should carry on with your shopping whilst the scent develops. To speed up the testing process, you might want to sample more than one scent at a time. It is therefore best to place each fragrance on individual paper strips so you can smell them at different intervals. Remember to get the sales assistant to write on the name of each fragrance though or you may become very confused. Another thing to remember when trying on different fragrances is to try on the strength of product you intend to buy. Perfumes and eau de perfumes (EDP) are typically stronger than eau de toilettes (EDT) so you need to make sure you’re trying on the correct scent to get the results you are trying to achieve. If you follow the above advice for testing fragrances before you buy, you’re sure to find a perfect fragrance partner for you.