Guide to Choosing Perfume

If you're purchasing an expensive French fragrance you'll want to make sure you avoid any costly mistakes.

To make the process a little less daunting start by deciding which one (or more) of the FRAGRANCE FAMILIES you or your gift recipient identifies with.

Under each of those families there will be several different perfume brands available, giving you PLENTY of VARIETY to choose from!

Perfume notes can also change quite dramatically over time, so make sure you give yourself lots of shopping time!




We all know that fragrance is very much an INDIVIDUAL TASTE and most of us tend to have very strong personal preferences when it comes to our likes and dislikes. And of course this can sometimes make make choosing perfume for another person a little tricky.

Make sure you are careful not to fall into the trap of categorizing people too. Not every older woman wants to smell of roses or lavender and not every younger woman wants to smell of musk or vanilla!

This EASY-TO-FOLLOW guide will give you some practical advice and hopefully some inspirational ideas!

How To Choose Perfume

1.Find out as much as you can about your recipient.

• What kind of lifestyle does she lead, what does she do in her leisure time?

• Is she sporty?

• Is she a busy mom, a high flying executive or a grandma?

• Does she like frills and lace and all things girly or is she more the down to earth no nonsense type?

2.Find out which one of the fragrance families suits her best.

• Floral - fresh cut flowers, suits a soft, romantic, feminine type.

• Oriental – warm, spicy, suits a sophisticated outgoing type.

• Woody - mossy, natural, suits a down to earth and practical type.

• Fresh - cool, oceanic, suits a sporty energetic type.

Fragrance Families

As you can see from this perfume wheel there are four basic fragrance families and each family can split again into many more blends such as floral oriental and mossy woods and so on.

The exception is the Fougere family in the center of the wheel as it contains elements from many of the other families as well.

Michael Edwards, who invented this wheel could best be described as something of a fragrance guru! He certainly made choosing perfume a lot less complicated for us :)

How To Shop For Perfume

1. Don't try any more than three fragrances at once or your olfactory senses (they're the ones that smell for us) will get overloaded and you won't be able to tell the difference between each fragrance.

2. Everyone's skin type is not the same and perfumes can react quite differently, so do make sure you try the fragrance on your skin.

3. When you're choosing perfume, let it settle on your skin before you take a whiff! Often the top perfume notes will be quite different from the middle or the base notes.

4. Be aware of concentration levels! Perfume is the most concentrated and the fragrance gets weaker as you move down this list.

• Perfume extract or concentrate.

• Eau de Parfum

• Eau de Toilette

• Eau de Cologne

• Splash and After Shave

And last but not least when you're done with choosing perfume, here's a couple of quick guides on the correct way to apply it and the best and safest place to store it!

How To Wear Perfume

• To get maximum bang for your buck and help your perfume to LINGER LONGER apply to your pulse points where the skin is naturally warmer. These are the parts of our bodies where the blood vessels are closest to the skin.

• You can find your pulse points on either side of your neck under your ears, the underside of your wrists, your cleavage and even at the back of your knees!

• As there are some components in fragrance that can damage your jewelry, make sure you apply your fragrance at least ten minutes before you add that precious string of pearls to your outfit!

IMPORTANT - Just as certain medications can increase your skin's sensitivity to sunlight and therefore increase the risk of sunburn, perfume has the ability to do the same. So, it's best to avoid wearing your fragrance to the beach!

• To ensure you get the maximum shelf life from your fragrance, it's best to store it in a dark, coolish place away from heat and sunlight. A drawer or closet is perfect and you'll get the added benefit of the fragrance leaving your clothes smelling nice!

My Own Success Story

During the years I worked for Duty Free as a FINE FRAGRANCE CONSULTANT I became pretty good at being able to choose the perfect fragrance for my customers.

By using the guidelines above it was easy to find clues, plus it helped that I SIMPLY ADORE French perfume, the beautiful designer packaging, those exquisitely elegant bottles, the heavenly scent, what's not to love?

I also discovered that sometimes there are people that can even look like a fragrance!

I remember this one particular customer really well. Wearing a maxi length pretty floral dress, a pair of simple sandals on her feet, pink lipstick and a floppy straw hat with a wide brim she almost FLOATED INTO THE STORE and I knew straight away which perfume I was going to suggest for her.

One of Christian Dior's classic perfumes is a very pretty, soft, summery, feminine floral fragrance in a pink and white box called Diorissimo, it was a match MADE in HEAVEN she LOVED IT!

So now can you see just how easy (not to mention fun) choosing perfume can be?

Perhaps you'd like seeing these pages . . .

Aromatherapy Baskets

Basket Containers

Bridal Shower Gifts Basket Ideas

Choosing Perfume to Perfume Gift Baskets
Home Page of Gift Basket Ideas