Buy perfume online
Buying perfume online can save you lots of time and money.
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Buying perfume from a perfume shop
You know what type of fragrance you want but how do you navigate the perfume counters?
Tell the shop assistant what you are looking for
Perfume counters are not places you want to be at for a long time so make sure you tell the shop assistant what type of fragrance you are looking for. By clarifying what you are after (the family, the note and the dilution), you can avoid having to smell scents you are not interested in.
How many of you have sprayed your body with perfume after perfume only to find you don't remember what you sprayed where.
Use fragrance blotters provided by staff. It won't smell the same as it will on your skin but, at this stage, when you are trialing a number of scents, you won't run out of body parts to spray things on and you won't end up with a headache.
Don't decide you dislike a scent after one sniff. Allow the scent to develop over a few minutes. Its note will change as it is exposed to the environment.
After you have about 4-5 scents on blotters, go for a walk. Your nose is a sensitive creature and will become weary if it is inundated with different scents.
You can rejuvenate your sense of smell by having a cup of coffee, chewing on some gum or sniffing something neutral.
After giving your nose a rest, narrow your options down to two or three fragrances that you like.
Go back to the counters of the fragrances you selected and spray the fragrances on your skin. Don't ever buy a scent without trialing it on your skin. A scent that makes one person smell fantastic can make another person smell like they've slept in cat litter.
Make sure not to rub the scent in (i.e. don't rub your wrists together like they do in the movies) as this will distort the scent.
Take another walk for five minutes, remembering which scent was sprayed where. Do a final sniff test of your skin and select the one that is best for you.
Congratulations! You've successfully negotiated the rocky road of choosing a perfume. Now it's time to decide how much you are going to buy.
It's natural to worry if you are making the right choice. If you're lucky, the sales assistant may come to your rescue and offer you a free sample. This will last about a week and can provide you with peace of mind that you are making the right decision.
Aim for a 25-40ml bottle. These are small enough that you can try the fragrance out over time and in different scenarios, but not large enough that you will be spending a huge amount of money on it.
If you've found your ultimate fragrance, then go for the larger sizes (50, 100 and 125ml). These work out cheaper.