You may find yourself confused between choosing an eau de parfum or an eau de toilette. Or perhaps you wish to know which fragrance notes are best for which season?
How to Choose a Scent
Perfumes can be divided into ‘scent families' that contain a number of fragrance notes. Lancôme fragrances come in a variety of different scent families including floral scents and fresh scents through to warm and sophisticated scents. When testing fragrances start paying attention to which of these scent profiles appeal to you most at first try. Over time a pattern will emerge that can help you better select the best smelling perfume based on your preferences.
What Are Fragrance Notes? How to Find Fragrance by Notes.
Top Note: A top note is the scent you smell the moment that a fragrance is applied to your skin and fades away quicker.
Heart or Middle Notes: The heart notes of a fragrance are the main centre of the perfume, they’re typically the main scent you will notice in a perfume and help to create harmony in a perfume.
Base Notes: The base notes typically have the longest wear time and tend to develop with the warmth of the skin throughout the day as they are worn. Even once the top and heart notes have started to dissipate these notes remain strong.
How to Select a Fragrance Intensity
As a general rule it's the concentration of essential oils in a perfume that determines how intense the fragrance notes are and long the perfume will last.
Extrait de parfum and Absolu de parfum are two concentrations which contain a higher amount of essential oils and are typically considered to be the ultimate “be all” for long-lasting and intense perfumes.
These concentrations of oils are followed by eau de parfum – the classic style scent which you are most likely to find in perfumes – think of it as the middle ground. Not too overpowering, not too subtle, and it still maintains a powerful scent.
Then there are the lighter variations of scent: eau de toilette and finally eau fraiche (which translates to “fresh water”) and gives the most lightest and subtle scent of all.
Fragrance Tip: Do not test too many perfumes at the same time
If you're unsure of what you like it's best to try no more than three perfumes at a time. Beyond that your senses will be overwhelmed and you may have difficulty trying to distinguish between scents. (Some tricks used by perfumers to help ‘reset’ your nose between tests include sniffing the crook of your elbow, a clean tissue or coffee beans!) It’s always a good idea to ask for advice from a fragrance expert or counter staff. It's their job to be intimately familiar with a wide range of scents — so chances are good they'll be able to help you narrow down your search and find the best smelling perfume for you.
Source: Lancome
