couOr: Everything You Wanted to Know About Fragrance Shopping But Were Afraid To Ask...

Scents are very personal and need to be carefully selected. If you are shopping for fragrances in a department store or a perfume boutique, the environment may be overwhelmed by the many fragrances that reside under the same roof. You may get an olfactory fatigue quicker than you will in a more neutral environment such as your home.



Fragrance Counter / Department Store Survival Tips
Most people buy their fragrances in the department store, drugstore or better yet – a specialty perfume boutique. If you are a fragrance connoisseur you also have the advantage of being able to buy online, as you are already familiar with many fragrances and already know your likes and dislikes.

There are many challenges for shopping for fragrance -

Preparing for your sniffing expedition:
Fragrance shopping is fun – and also dangerous: you may end up smelling like something you hate! To avoid this from happening, you must be thoroughly prepared – mentally and physically.

To be mentally prepared for your snifforama, you must know your goals and your boundaries. You may go on a fragrance sniffing expedition with a specific goal in mind, or you may find yourself in the situation out of curiosity as you just passed by a perfume boutique and followed your nose…

Either way – you still have goals, and you better make sure you achieve them before your nose gets too tired. One should master the art of not getting scent stripes shoved under your nose involuntarily or get sprayed pre-maturely with an un-godly scent.

Snifforama Goals:
Your goals can be many. Here are a few common ones:
1) Explore scents you never tried before. In fact, you may have decided to spend your whole day off doing so – it’s one of your favourite things in the world!
2) Check out specific scents (old or new) that you heard about and are very curious to sniff or try on.
3) Find a new scent for yourself.
4) Find a perfume gift for somebody.
5) Look at the beautiful perfume bottles. You may not even like perfumes, but collect flacons. 6) Buy a specific fragrance or fragrances that you have already decided on purchasing, as fast as possible before your parking meter runs out! You absolutely can’t bother smelling anything on the way!

Knowing Your Boundaries:
How willing are you to try new scents? How willing are you to get sprayed with an unknown scent, unsolicited?

Knowing your boundaries will save you a lot of trouble, as you will be prepared and willing to defend them. There is no reason why a salesperson should spray your skin with perfume unless you ask for it. So make sure you communicate well what your intentions are. It has become a common practice among perfume salespeople to offer you a scent strip instead of readily spritzing your arm with perfumes they pick for you unsolicited.
However, many salespeople still shove scent stripes under your nose (or close enough to overwhelm your olfactory pre-maturely) without your voluntary interest. It takes practice to learn how to recognize and predict those behaviours and be able to avoid smelling what you do not want to smell.

Preparing Physically:
On the physical level, if you know in advance that you are going for a snifforama – the most important thing is to come to the battlefield with as much unscented skin as possible. Leave home or work unscented if you can, it will help your olfactory be a lot more receptive, not to mention that you will be able to smell for yourself the evolution of the scent on your own skin.

There are a couple of useful tools you can take with you to your sniffing expedition – also known as the Snifforama Survival Kit:

Scent Shopping Survival Kit:
1) Pencil or pen (to write perfume names on scent stripes)
2) A woolen scarf or a sweater (to refresh your olfactory bulb and avoid fatigue) or coffee beans (these are now requently offered on most perfume counters and less convenient to carry on your own – so they are only a second choice). Note: if you have none of those – you can use the less polite method: take good sniff of your armpits to neutralize your sense of smell and refresh your olfactory.
3) Lots of bare skin if you are planning to try many different scents. Wear T shirt or a tank top on hot summer days, or layer them with a jacket that you can take off once skin testing begins!

How to overcome sales pitch and scent spray overload:
Just like anything else in life, communication is the key. If you have a very specific goal when scent-shopping, communicate it with the sales person as soon as they approach you. In other words, be assertive!
Here are a few examples (based on the goals described above):

1) Planned Snifforama: when the salesperson approaches you, explain right away that you are “looking around” and do not need help. If you are indeed spending the whole day there, don’t forget to go for lunch. It may even be a good idea to invite the salesperson to join you for lunch! Building a relationship with the salesperson will pay off – maybe next time when you visit to just sniff around you will be left alone; Your obvious eager passion about perfume may even pay off with generous samples; Or better yet – you may have just found a new friend to share your passion with – in the rare cases when the salesperson is a passionate perfumista themselves! What can be more fun than being able to discuss perfume with an intelligent and knowledgeable salesperson that can understand your fragrance whims, and wants to make you happy?
2) If you are here to check out specific fragrances, make it super clear with the salesperson. Ask them to help you find the scents. If they offer you to try a “new scent” that just came out which is not on your list, don’t be afraid to be firm and say you need to smell the others first.
3) Finding a new scent for yourself is the hardest task of all. Especially because in most cases, the salesperson does not have the adequate knowledge, training and sensitivity to be of real help. In most department stores, salespeople are pressured to promote new scents, and do not have a lot of knowledge of many of the classics or the older scents. There is also a tremendous gap in their knowledge and understanding of notes and fragrance families and fragrance categorization. Don’t be surprised to find out that you know more than the salesperson. If this is the case – you better get rid of them politely, by saying that you don’t need any help, thank you, you are just sniffing around; however, if they are indeed knowledgeable, their words will be worth their weight in gold! They will be able to introduce you to new scents that are terribly worthy of your attention, ones that are right up your alley – yet different, unusual and new to you. You better become friends with them or at least remember their name (and the names of the perfumes they offer you)!
4) If you thought finding a scent for yourself was a challenge – finding a scent for someone else is 100 times as difficult. Unless you know the person’s taste of course – or know that they run out of their favourite scent. Knowing what else they like is helpful information – names of fragrances, as well as notes or fragrance categories. You will really need help from a knowledgeable salesperson. If they only pitch new scents to you, that can be the first warning that they probably won’t be very helpful. In this case, just thank them and continue with your own guesswork. If you can get samples of scents that you suspect your friend will like, that can be very helpful. You could bring the samples back to your friend and casually introduce them and measure their reaction by facial expressions and gestures. You might even want to make a little movie about it with your camera-phone LOL...
5) If you are only here for the bottles, make it very clear, and ask about other beautiful bottles. The salesperson will most likely be happy to show them off. Make it super clear that you don’t want to try anything on if you are scent-phobic! Lots of nose-wrinkling usually does it. However, if you are shopping for FRAGRANCE based on the bottle design alone, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Liking the bottle does not, and I repeat, does NOT guarantee loving the juice. Don't be a marketing victim ;)
6) If you are in a rush and needs to get your shopping done as fast as possible, just come in, and while heavily panting, ask for the specific sizes of the fragrances you need. Don’t even bother smiling, until they find it for you. Smiling will invite a conversation, and you don’t have time for that! Once all your scents are on the counter, thank the salesperson heavily for all their help, smile a lot and blow a kiss as you dash out the door to watch your car getting towed away...

Other things to avoid when fragrance shopping:
1) Impulse buying: in my experience, impulse buying of scents usually leads to returns. Most people need some time to get to know a fragrance – either try it several times in different situations and moods, or get a sample so they can try it on their own time. It is very unusual to purchase a scent on an impulse and not feel regret afterwards.
2) More so – resist your impulse for buying a whole set of fragrance, shower gel, body lotion etc. of a scent you have never tried before. You need to try it first and absolutely love it to justify such an investment (we are talking both money and storage space here, two very valuable resources!).
3) I highly recommend not spraying yourself on the neck (or chest) with a new scent. If the scent does not work for you, it is harder to wash it out (unless you take a shower), and being exposed to it constantly (especially if it has a very strong silage) can be unexpectedly overwhelming and even cause headache and/or nausea.

Whenever possible, get samples so that you can try the fragrances at home, whenever you feel like it! Ask the sales person if they have samples available, and if he/she offers the tester, tell him/her that you are already wearing another scent you were trying before (more than likely, this is also the truth – especially if your snifforama was a spontaneous one).

Sniffing and Scent Testing
Once you have overcome all the challenges of dealing with the salespeople, it’s time to talk about the real thing – sniffing and testing!

Sniffing Tips:
1) Sniff the scents from the bottle first. Although this is not the most accurate impression of the scent (the residues of the scent that was recently sprayed may be altered due to oxidation) it is a fast and easy way to shortlist which perfumes to try first.
2) If you like the scent, spritz some on scent stripe. Wait a few seconds so that the alcohol evaporates and doest not sting your nose and tire your olfactory bulb.
3) Take short sniffs rather than deeply inhale the scent.
4) Don’t forget to write the name of the scent on the scent stripe!
5) Keep in mind that the initial impression on the scent stripe is going to fade and change.
6) Don’t forget to refresh your olfactory after sniffing 3 or 5 fragrances, or whenever you feel that you can’t smell the scents and tell them apart anymore. This can be done simply by inhaling deeply for three times through a woolen scarf or coffee beans.

Skin Test:
1) Skin does not smell or behave like paper, so once you have narrowed down your list of interests for the day, try the scent on your skin.
2) If you have planned your sniffing or perfume shopping trip, it is best that you don’t wear any scent so that you have enough skin available for testing.
3) I personally prefer and recommend using the wrist for scent testing. It is warmer than other areas of your body, and far enough from your nose so that you can decide when to sniff the new scent and evaluate it throughout its different evolutionary stages.
4) A second choice for testing scent is the bent of your elbow. It is also a warm area on your skin and easily sniffable. The other great advantage of wearing scents behind the elbow is that it will not be affected by the scents of your soap when you wash your hands.
5) I highly recommend trying on one scent at a time. It is easier to experience a scent on its own to truly understand how it affects you, including the mood it inspires in you. If you try two scents at once you may have more challenge determining which scent is responsible for the effect (positive or negative).
6) Testing more than one scent at a time: If you are an adept at testing scents and find it easy to concentrate on one scent or the other, you can use different areas of your skin for scent testing. Just try to remember (or jot down) the names of the fragrances and where you have applied them. Areas that are easy to distinguish from one another are the wrists (use a different scent for each) and underneath the elbows. Both areas are pulse points and are ideal for fragrance development on the skin. You can use other areas of your bare skin, but this may be very confusing as the scents will blend into each other in the air as you sniff them.

Sampling Tips:
The following tips will help you experience the scent to its fullest, and be able to decide which scent you like the most. Although these tips were written especially about Ayala Moriel’s samples, most of them apply to any samples you may have had the chance to procure on your fragrance expeditions.

1. To avoid olfactory fatigue: Smell only up to 5 samples at a time. You may want to inhale fresh coffee beans between sampling the fragrances, to refresh your olfactory alertness



2. Smell the perfumes from the vial first, to get your first impression. Keep in mind that the initial impression will fade quickly as the perfume interacts with your skin. Take short, quick sniffs rather than deeply inhale the scent.




3. Using scent stripes or cards: you can apply a drop of perfume on a scent stripe, and note the different dry out stages, and compare the different scents. However, this will not tell you how the perfume will smell on your skin, just how it smells on paper.


4. Apply a small amount of the desired perfume on the pulse points of your clean wrists (i.e. not previously scented). Let the scent develop on your skin for several hours. This way you will experience the dry out phase, and learn how the perfume interacts with your own personal body chemistry.


5. It is recommended that you wear only one perfume at a time on both wrists. This way you will experience the fragrance better.




6. Caution: Avoid contact with eyes. Keep out of the reach of children and pets. Wear on pulse points behind ears and on wrists, and avoid wearing on areas that are exposed to the sun. Keep samples away from heat and sunlight. If you develop any allergic reactions, stop using the product immediately.


Matching Scents to Moods and Occasions
Just as personal as fragrance is, deciding when to wear what is an extremely personal thing. Don’t be surprised to discover that you like wearing some “winter” perfumes in the summer and “daytime” perfumes in the evening. I personally believe that you should wear whatever scent you want whenever you want. It is your own internal associations with a fragrance that will make it more suitable for this occasion or the other. Not what other people think is “correct” or appropriate.

However, the traditional and widely accepted guidelines for matching scents to occasions, moods and seasons does make sense on many levels – psychological, physical and social.

Here are the most common guidelines that are widely accepted in our culture in regards to when and where to wear perfumes:

Oriental scents are best suited for evening and cooler seasons. Orientals are considered more seductive and sensual – therefore more appropriate for romantic occasions (such as going out in the evening). Also, because they are heavy, if worn in hot weather, they will become overwhelming. Heat releases scent and diffuses it better – so if you wear a very heavy scent in warm weather, it could be quite overwhelming. Also, heavier scents may have a narcotic or sedative effect on the mind, an effect that may be found counter-productive if you need to work hard and concentrate during the day. If you hold a full time position as a daydreamer this may not be relevant to you.

Light florals and citrus scents are best suited for daytime and hot weather. This is because lighter scents are perceived as more “clean and polite” and therefore better for the work environment (or when you are more physically active – for most people this is during the day). The refreshing, energizing and rejuvenating qualities of many citrus scents make them ideal for hot weather, to balance the tendency to slow down and decrease blood pressure.

Chypre scents, which combine fresh citrus top notes and a mossy, earthy base, are an interesting example for scents that are appropriate for all occasions. They are widely accepted in the professional world because they are classy and refined, and never quite overwhelming. On the other hand, they are sensual and can be enjoyed as pure seduction on more personal and romantic occasions. They are warm enough to be worn in the winter, but also refreshing for the summer.

That being said, it is the personal associations and meanings that we relate to the scents that make them appropriate for certain occasion, season or mood.

I first tried Samsara by Guerlain in the summer. A floriental composition made of plenty of sandalwood (over 30%) along with jasmine, ylang ylang, vanilla, amber, bergamot, peach and tonka bean – this is not quite what you would call a typical summer perfume. Yet, the sensuality of the jasmine and the sweetness of vanilla were balanced beautifully with the sandalwood base which is slightly dry – and created a lovely and refreshing summer perfume. Whenever I smell Samsara, I remember that summer.

On the other hand, Creed’s Spring Flower – which is considered a harmless daytime fruity floral is a scent I worn mostly on special romantic dates. Although it is lovely as a daytime scent, whenever I smell it I remember those precious moments with my loved one, and its cheerful and crisp floral bouquet makes me feel happy in an instant.

To sum things up, there is no right or wrong when picking a fragrance. It may take you time to get to know your preferences, and decide when is best to wear your favourite scents. It will take some time to build your own vocabulary and understand what the different scents mean for you. Trust your intuition and follow your emotions for a rich and fulfilling scentual life.

The following are general ideas and recommendations for how to match scents to a mood, occasion or season:

Autumn Chypre, Oriental
Winter Oriental, Gourmand
Spring Soliflore, Fruity Floral, Green Floral, Chypre Green
Summer Citrus, Floral Fresh, Chypre Fresh, Fougere Fresh, Citrus Green, Lavender
Daytime Citrus, Fougere, Floral Fresh,
Evening Oriental, Gourmand, Chypre Animalic Floral, Leathery, Fougere Ambery
Professional Chypre, Fougere Fresh
Sport/Recreation Citrus, Aquatic
Casual Gourmand, Citrus
Romantic Floral, Oriental, Chypre Leather, Chypre Fruity, Fougere Ambery
Formal/Elegant Chypre Green, Floral Green, Woody
Rejuvenating Citrus, Green Floral
Soothing/Comforting/Reassuring Gourmand, Chypre, Ambery Oriental, Lavender
Seductive Oriental, Chypre Animalic Floral, Chypre Leathery, Chypre Fruity, Musky and Ambery notesPlayful Floral Green, Floral Fruity

P.s. At Ayala Moriel Parfums we also give Fragrance Consultations and Perfume Advice. Check out our new website, coming up late this summer, with our revolutionary, exclusive feature: FRAGRANCE CONSULTANT ON-LINE!

*For more information, email Ayala@Quinta-Essentia.ca

Summer is a late comer to where I live, but today was nice and sunny, even if only 20 degrees Celsius. The weather has been a bit temperamental in the last two weeks – cloudy, muggy, rainy… But mostly it’s been consistent about one thing: as little sun as possible. Sun is perhaps the one single thing that means summer. When it is present in abundance, it brings the feeling of generousity and freedom - the freedom to wear (or not) whatever you like without feeling vulnerable to the weather, and enjoy the simple yet luxurious sensation of summer – sunrays, warm sand, cool pools, salty and wavy oceans, juicy fruit, lusciously green grass shining with chlorophil and dew, and piping hot baked earth...

Today I am joining my fellow scent bloggers, including Aromascope, Perfume Critic, Perfume Posse, Perfume-Smellin’ Things, Scented Salamander, Scentzilla, Legerdenez and Victoria’s Own in making a list of my favourite summer fragrances. To these I will add later on this week, my own list of building blocks (notes) that make me feel like summer…

This was all Ina’s idea – and the list was to include a favourite for each of the following categories: floral, citrus, amber, green, spicy, leather, gourmand and musk. To this I will add Chypre (how obvious of me!). I am tempted to put Le Parfum de Therese in almost every possible category, but I will resist the temptation even though you know by now that it is in my opinion the best citrus, best Chypre, best leather and best floral (just breath in all those fresh jasmine petals!) there is for the summer.

I just recently made a list of my top favourites in all categories possible, so this list will be a bit different in a few ways:
1) For the most part (unless I had no choice!) I have omitted the “summer favourite of all times” that were in my previous list. For this very same reason there are no favourites from my own line in the list you are about to read. I am trying to avoid redundancy (sometimes).
2) I tried to not include perfumes that are for me a year-around staple, but rather just the ones that really shout summer as soon as your smell them.
3) Therefore, I allowed myself to add new loves to this list, as opposed to go over my wardrobe staples all over again... But that does not mean that they are not worth becoming a wardrobe staple!

Summer Floral: Tiare by Comptoir Sud Pacifique
Dabbing this one on from the precious tiny sample I got from Sali a while back, it saddens me that this scent is not longer available.
I am not sure why was this discontinued and replaced by the inferior Aloha Tiare, but this is just a fact of life… Tiare stands up for its name. A little dab goes a long way and will make you feel like a Tahitian girl wearing by nothing but Monoi. Tiare is a particularly fragrant species of gardenia, which is used for making the traditional Monoi de Tahiti my macerating the flowers into coconut oil. This is used to anoint both the body and the hair and is a luxurious mositurizer.
Tiare is a white floral that invokes beach, sensuality and happiness, and that’s what I love about it. It is simply tiare and coconut but that does not make it in the least boring – it’s a warm, soft and sweet floral.
I did not find Tiare online, but if you have a source that still carries the original Tiare, please share it with us.

* Let a thousand flowers bloom this summer: Frangipanni Absolute (Ormonde Jayne), Pure Poison, La Chasse Aux Papillon, Mimosa pour Moi, Hiris (Hermes) and Champs Elysees

Summer Citrus: Citron Citron
Citron Citron by the talented Miller Harris is a classic aromatic citrus but it is also quite original. What I like about it in particular is its bold dryness. This is achieved by pairing a woody base with complementary aromatic spices that share a fresh brightness with the tart citrus top.
Notes include: lime, lemon, orange, basil, mint, cardamom, coriander, cedar wood and white musk.

* Make your summer even more citrusy with: O de Lancome, Sugar (by Fresh), Grapefruit (Jo Malone), l’Eau de Hadrien (Annick Goutal)

Summer Amber: Obsession
If you find the original version of Obsession too heavy, you may enjoy wearing Sheer Obsession – the alcohol free version in the frosted bottle, with a more accented vanilla and citrus notes. I am not a big fan of single noted ambers, but these can be worn during the summer too. Obsession includes notes of: mandarin, tangerine, vanilla, orange blossom, jasmine, amber, oakmoss, frankincense and sandalwood.

* I would be curious to hear which ambers do you like to wear on a hot day.

Summer Green: Philosykos
Greens are the most difficult scents for me to wear, and particularly in warm weather. I prefer greens in a crisp cold weather of late fall and early winter. However, this miraculous scent is the most summery and wearable fragrance – despite the fact that it is very green. It may not have the best lasting power, but for this light and refreshing scent this is a good thing – as it allows you to recharge and get back your green fig kick.
Main notes: green fig, cedarwood, coconut milk.

* Make your summer even greener than your neighbour's grass with: Ofresia (Dyptique), Verte Violette (l’Artisan Parfumeur)

Summer Spices: Opium Fleur de Shanghai
If you don’t want to shop online to find Fleur de Shanghai you may opt for the current summer edition for 2006 – Opium Fleur Imperiale – not as wonderful as Fleur de Shanghai, but with enough myrrh and cloves in it to keep up with the theme.
Main notes: mandarin, magnolia, star jasmine, carnatinon, myrrh, moss.

* More spicy summer recommendations: Aqaba, Youth Dew Amber Nude

Summer Leather: Dzing!
This is not a particularly light fragrance, and it may not suit everybody to wear it on a hot summer day – but if summer for you means steaming asphalt with the air dancing above the ground and distorting one’s vision, or a watching the tigers jump through burning tires in the circus – Dzing! Is the leathery perfume you want to wear in the summer. If you cannot get a hold of Dzing! You might want to try Bvlgari Black, which is quite similar – but has a very persistent lasting power that you might find overwhelming in extreme heat.
Notes include: Cade, Rose, orris, Styrax, cinnam, Black tea, benzoin, Peru balsam, Castoreum.

* Get more leather kick this summer with:
Cuir d’Oranger (Miller Harris), Cuir de Russie (Piver), Tabarome (Creed)

Summer Gorumand: CocoVanilla
CocoVanilla by Alyssa Ashley – light vanilla, musk and coconut in an alcohol-free base. It is very similar to Musk Vanilla by Coty, only lighter. I also like the packaging – a retro cream-yellow frosted bottle, which brings to mind warm sand, tanned skin and banana ice cream…
I never noticed it until it was on the special sales shelf at Shoppers Drug Mart, for only $9.99 CAD. You can’t go wrong for that price… Online I can only find it in German eBay or other German sites.

* More yummy gourmands for the summer:
Ananaz Fizz, Vanille Banane (Comptoir Sud Pacifique), Champaca (Ormonde Jayne)

Summer Musk: Musc Alize
Although listed as a floral on CSP website, this is more of a soft and peachy musk than a floral in my opinion. The peach notes are subtle and lightly sweet. Musc Alize is all that’s needed for a clean and soft as skin musk scent that is subtle and sexy. It’s basically a white musk but without smelling too harsh like some white musks tend to be.
Notes include Jasmine, Ylang, Violet, Vanilla, Amber and White Musk.

* Which other musks would you prefer to wear on a hot day, rather than anytime of the year?

Summer Chypre: Le Parfum de Thérèse
Did I already tell you how perfect Le Parfum de Thérèse is yet? If not, than read my April review of this rare beauty.
Including notes of: Basil, Melon, Lemon, Jasmine, Hedione, Sour Plum, Pepper, Chypre and Leather notes.

* More Chypre chic for your summer: Mitsouko EDT, Miss Dior EDT, Femme.

Favourite Summer Incense: Kyoto
This was the most difficult category for me to pick a scent for – not only because I do not usually wear incense scents, but also because the idea of combining the smoke of incense with the heat of summer does not seem right (unless the incense is lit in a chilly stone katacomba). However, after thiking long and hard I remembered one of my most favourite incense scents and it seems most appropriate for the summer: Kyoto by Comme de Garcons from their Incense Series. Kyoto is fresh, light transparent and very Zen-like. It is green and woody and recalls soft and sticky pine resin rather than burning sweet gums. I smell in it mastic – a fresh and balsamic resin from a Mediterranean bush, used to flavour ice cream when my parents were little kids. It was very hard to find mastic ice cream when I was a little girl, but one time they put me in to their secret and I will never forget neither the peculiar aroma of the fresh resin in the ice cream, nor the somewhat gooey texture of the frozen desert. Kyoto brings this initial fantastic chill of mastic resins, but also has an interesting side kicks of coniferous harmonies that brings to mind dark, cool and ancient wooden temple.
Main notes: Incense oil, Cypress coffee, Terak wood, Vetiver, Patchouli, Everlasting Flower, Virginian Cedarwood.

* Which incense scents would you wear to smoke your summer away?