How to Try Perfume
Start by smelling a perfume with a blotter to see if it is a perfume you think that you could wear. There is no point in trying on your skin a perfume that you will not like.
Smell coffee beans between each sampling to clear your nose and to get it ready for the next one.
Once you have selected a few perfumes to try, apply some on your wrist. You should not try more than about two perfumes at once on your skin because they will confuse your sense of smell or blend together.
Let the perfume blend and settle in your skin for about ten minutes, walk around, do something else and then smell it again. This enables you to experience the full character of the perfume and to obtain a hint of the different levels of the fragrances notes as the scent mixes with your body chemistry.
Your nose is the best judge in determining which perfume fits you the best. You must simply love the perfume you choose and feel good about wearing it.
Finally you should experiment with different fragrance families and different types of perfume. A fine fragrance or designer perfume should be seen as a fragranced part of your wardrobe. Just as you wear different clothes for different seasons, occasions and moods, your fragrance collection should be rotated and balanced in this manner to include different variety of fragrances for that perfect occasion.
How to wear perfume
Perfume and Eau de toilette will stay longer on your skin if you layer the scent. By layering we mean by using different products with your perfume so that it stays with you for a long time, about six hours. For example:
- Start by using a perfumed shower gel or perfumed soap for your shower. If you prefer taking a bath, you can put a drop of perfume in your water.
- Apply a perfumed body lotion on your body before getting dressed. If you do not like wearing body lotion all over your body, put it only on your pulse points where you will apply your perfume.
- Then, apply your perfume or eau de toilette on your pulse points: the inner wrists, behind the ears, and lower neck. Do not rub your perfume within your skin as you will break some of its molecular composition.
Another tip to making your perfume last a long time is to spray your fragrance onto your hairbrush and running the fragranced brush through your hair. This is because the hair is more porous than the skin and absorbs the perfume quickly and effectively.
Finally, another way of making your mark with your perfume is to lightly spray it on your mattress as you make the bed - the fragrance will subtly remain on the sheets.
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How to choose a perfume as a gift for a loved one
Start by asking yourself what are the perfumes that the person already has. Does she usually wear floral, fruity, green, citrus' or spicy and warm perfumes. People tend to own many perfume brands, but within the same family of perfume.
Lighter skin and hair people tend to prefer lighter perfumes: floral/citrus, fruity/green, and darker skin and hair people tend to prefer more spicy and warm perfumes. Young people usually prefer light floral, fruity and citrus' perfumes.
Fresh floral and fruity fragrances are often more appropriate in the summer months, whereas spicier and warmer scents are more suited to the colder months.
How to Store and Care for your Perfume
Always keep the cap on your perfume bottle closely tight. Oxygen is a big enemy to perfume and will spoil its chemical composition.
Keep your perfume away from heat and direct sunlight. Your perfume should be kept in a cool dark place if you want it to retain its quality for a long time. If you like to keep your perfume on a counter, use it within a year.
Apply your perfume with the stopper that comes with your perfume bottle and not with your fingers, so that you do not spoil your perfume with residues off your fingers.
Your perfume should last about 5 years if properly stored and cared. However, be aware that it could spoil earlier than that. If it changes color, darkens or clouds, it means that the perfume molecules are breaking down and that your perfume has spoiled.
What is the difference between Perfume, Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette?
Perfume
This is the extract of a fragrance and represents the scent in its purest form. This often creates a smooth and round texture, which is hard to achieve with the dilution represented in the other concentrations of fragrance.
Eau de Parfum
Eau de Parfum or EDP is one of the most popular forms of fragrance. Eau de Parfum contains between seven to fourteen per cent of essential oils and is the second strongest and longest lasting means of wearing a fine fragrance.
Eau de Toilette
Eau de Toilette or EDT is fast becoming the most common means of wearing a fragrance. EDT's are not as highly concentrated in essential oils as an EDP or Perfume would be and contain one to three per cent of fragrance oils. This impacts the ability of the fragrance to last and around eighty percent of the oils in an EDT fragrance will evaporate within three hours of application.
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