Finding the right perfume is a lot like finding your soulmate. You have to go through a series of wrong ones before you finally find the one for you. While you need cupid to do his magic when it comes to long-lasting love, all you need when it comes to your love affair with perfumes is the right guidance on how to pick your forever favourite – the one that lasts.
Perfumes have the prestigious power, so much so, that they can become your signature scent, and thus define you. It’s what makes first impressions, and creates lasting recollections, because your fragrance, becomes a part of you, an extension of who you are. And that’s not something that should be short-lived. The trick is to pick a fragrance that not only smells great but also lingers long after.
Thankfully, it’s not as tough as it sounds. And to make it even easier, we’ve prepared a list of fool-proof pointers that will not only help you understand perfumes better but also ensure you pick a long-lasting fragrance you’ll love.
Try before you buy
If you’re looking for your signature scent, it’s best to try it before you buy it. Even if a fragrance comes highly recommended by your BFF or your favourite influencer, it’s best to try it out for yourself before investing in a fragrance. That’s because perfumes smell different on different people. What may smell heavenly on one person, may smell odd on the next. That’s because the pH balance of the skin varies individually. And when perfume reacts with this pH balance, it can change the fragrance. Other factors like body temperature, natural odour, and diet also affect fragrance. But the bottom line is – choose a fragrance that loves you back.
Choose the right strength
Every perfume has muscle power, and by that, we mean strength. Perfumes are a blend of perfume oil and alcohol. The more the perfume oil, the stronger the strength, the longer it will last. Different perfumes have different strengths; so if you’re for looking for a long-lasting fragrance, here’s what you need to look out for:
Extrait De Parfum
Also known as Pure Perfume or Perfume Extract, this is the most expensive and most concentrated form of perfume. It has a fragrance concentration of 20-40% and has a lasting power of up to 8 hours.
Eau De Parfum
More popularly known as EDP, it contains approximately 15-20% of perfume oil and lasts anywhere between 4 to 6 hours. It is one of the most popular choices and is suitable for everyday wear.
Find the right note
Always remember to take note of the note. Like a symphony, perfumes have a beginning, middle, and an end. In simpler words, a fragrance is composed of notes – top, middle and base notes.
Top notes
This is the introduction to the fragrance, almost like a first impression. Also known as the ‘Opening Notes’ or ‘Head Notes’, it is what you will smell immediately after spraying.
Middle Notes
This is the core of the fragrance. Also known as ‘Heart Notes’, this is what will linger once the top notes have disappeared. This is the main part, the robust body of the fragrance, and lasts longer than Top Notes.
Base Notes
Base Notes are what’s left at the end, and the fragrance you remember the most. They blend beautifully with the Top and Middle Notes to create a sensory, heady, lasting fragrance.
Having said that, scents with woody notes, leather, spices, and musk have intense base notes, making them last longer.
Time of the day
Perfumes are categorized into day and night fragrances. Day fragrances are lighter and are usually dominated by citrus and floral notes whereas night scents are more intense, like musk or woody notes, which are deep, sultry, and robust.
Handy hacks
- The name of the perfume, more often than not, reveals the kind of perfume it is. For example, nighttime perfumes will have words like Midnight, Blue, Dark, Intense, Noir, Night, Black, and so on. It’s easy to tell the intensity by reading the name.
- The colour of the bottle is a classic giveaway. Fragrances meant for nighttime are usually bottled in dark shades like dark blue, grey, black, or dark brown.
- Perfumes have effects in two phases – Opening and Drydown. Opening phases is the immediate fragrance whereas the Drydown phase manifests roughly 30 minutes later. So it’s wise to wait till the Drydown phase before buying a fragrance.
- Don’t rub the perfume into your skin. That’s because perfumes are meant to gradually release the top, middle, and base notes, and the friction from rubbing can burn off the top layer.
- Spray on your pulse points – neck, back of the ears, décolletage, and the inside of your wrists and elbow. These parts are naturally warm which allows the perfume to heat up and reveal itself gradually.
So there you have it. A ready-reckoner that will ensure you make the right choice, always. Just like a finishing touch to elegance, perfumes are an unforgettable, unseen, ultimate accessory that can make or break a personality. Like they say, your fragrance is your message, a scented slogan. Let it embrace you. Let it envelop you. Let it seduce you. Let it linger. Let it last. Because this is one accessory, that will never go out of style.
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