How to Choose the Right Perfume?

Do you find it challenging to choose the right perfume for yourself? Perfumery is an art, and so is selecting the right perfumes that fit your style and personality the best. Sometimes, a perfume smelling perfect on someone else might not feel good enough on you! Why? It is because perfumes are not a ‘one size fits all’ kind of deal.

In the case of perfumes, there are major underlying factors that determine how a scent works on you. It reacts differently with different levels of light and heat. Additionally, your diet and hormones also affect how a perfume smells.

I would like to add here that the best place for buying fragrances is Eliteperfumesus.com. This retail shop for perfumes has numerous brands available at affordable prices.

In simple terms, factors affecting a scent can be categorized into three major parts:  Your body’s chemistry (the distinct make-up of a human’s bodily functions), the scent’s ingredients, and the environment.

Let’s break down the significant factors affecting perfumes. It will help you choose the right perfume for yourself.

1.     Skin Type

 

Is your skin oily or dry? How is skin type related to perfumes? Well, the answers to these questions are simple.

Our skin consists of sebaceous glands that produce sebum. The amount of sebum produced determines if our skin is oily or dry. How? It makes its way to the surface of our skin through our hair follicles. This sebum has a distinct smell on each individual depending upon his/her diets, stress levels, lifestyle, and overall health.

Now, let’s come to the bottom line. The oilier your skin is, the less perfume you need to apply for the scent to be powerful and long-lasting. Hence, you should definitely go for softer perfumes if your skin is more on the oily side.

On the other hand, perfume scents dull very quickly on dry skin as it quickly soaks up and evaporates the fragrance. Therefore, you can handle stronger perfumes better if you have dry skin.

2.     Skin’s pH Level

pH means “potential hydrogen.” pH levels refer to the acid-to-alkaline ratio of a substance. A pH level of 1 indicates that a substance is most acidic; while a pH level of 14 means it’s most alkaline.

pH level for skin also influences how a scent smells on you. An ideal pH level for skin is around 5.5. If it falls too much on the acidic side, your skin becomes oily. Similarly, your skin becomes very dry and sensitive if the pH level falls more on the alkaline side.

Conclusively, your skin’s pH level should be balanced for the best results of perfume on your body.

3.     Top, Heart & Base Notes

Many people might not know about this, but perfume is made up of three notes; top, heart, and base.

Top notes are the first impression of a perfume you get after spraying it on. It evaporates quickly (5-15 minutes), leaving way for the heart notes.

Heart notes makeup 70% of the scent and last longer. Their purpose is to introduce new scents after the top notes and buffer the base notes, which may not smell so pleasant on their own.

Base notes are the ones kicking in 30 minutes and lingering on your skin till the end. They are the foundation of the perfume; rich, heavy, and long-lasting. These notes work together to form a complete, enveloping scent.

4.     Trial and Error

There is no other way to be entirely sure about perfume than try it out for yourself. I know it’s not possible to test out every bottle on the shelf. But what you can do is ask the attendant to pick out the best-selling or most popular scents and sample a few of them.

The correct way to test a fragrance is to spray it on a pulse point where your skin is naturally warm, like your wrist or elbow. Then,the fragrance really heats up and reveals itself over time.

Never judge a scent in just the initial sniff. Those are just the top notes you smell in the beginning. Wait for at least 15 minutes to reach the heart notes and an hour to touch the base notes. It may seem lengthy, but it’s essential if you want a scent that is the perfect fit for you.

5.     Concentration: How to choose a perfume online

This is hands down the most important consideration while choosing a scent. Concentration refers to the strength of perfume. Fragrances come in four different levels of concentration.

The higher a perfume’s concentration is, the higher is its price. Why? It is because colognes or perfumes with high concentration have a more powerful scent and last longer.

The highest concentration is known as perfume or parfum. It usually lasts all day with just one application to the wrists or pulse points. Then comes the Eau de parfum, which can last about six hours after application.

Lastly,Eau de toilette is at the third level. Its prices are mostly reasonable, and they are also easy to find in retail stores. The fourth and lowest fragrance concentration is eau de cologne, which only lasts about two hours.