A scent that becomes synonymous with you? The fastest shortcut to compliments.
Securing said signature scent? Not quite as simple.
Fragrance is personal. A scent that wins the heart (and nose) of your mum, psychic, favourite coworker might do nothing for you. And vice versa: The fragrances you swoon over might not be for them.
So with all these personal preferences and differing opinions, how on earth do you find a scent that feels like you? I asked fragrance specialist and Brand Education Lead Chiara all the questions to help demystify the world of a signature scent. Once and for all.
What Is A Signature Scent (And Do I Need One?)
In a pistachio shell: It’s the scent that prompts your friend to text you “someone here is wearing your perfume” when they smell it on someone else.
Historically, a signature fragrance becomes an extension of your identity, personality, and style—and irrevocably associated with you. But our fragrance specialist thinks the notion may be a little outdated:
“I actually don’t believe in a signature scent,” explains Chiara. “I believe in having a fragrance wardrobe—it’s the same as changing your makeup or your outfit. It depends on your mood, what you’re doing, what you’re up to that day.”
“You’re not going to wear the same outfit to a picnic as you would to a rock concert. The same goes for fragrance.”
How To Start Your Fragrance Hunt
Before you go nose-blind at the counter, here’s how to make the hunt a little easier.
Start With What You Love
Your favourite real-world smells are a reliable guide.
“I usually start by asking people: What smells do they like in the world, in general? Because usually if you like it out in the world, you'll probably like it in yourself,” shares Chiara.
“Do you like the smell of freshly baked cookies fresh out of the oven? Do you like the smell of rain on concrete? These types of real world scents can usually be aligned to a fragrance family.”
Meet The (Olfactive) Families
“It's helpful to understand the different families, and where they sit on the fragrance wheel when trying to choose a fragrance,” explains Chiara. “You can more easily recognise what you like and then you can actually be a bit more specific when you're looking at a full fragrance catalogue.”
These fragrance families include:
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Floral. These are your flower/ foliage scents.
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Amber. These are your warm, often sensual scents, inspired by resins, spices, and amber.
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Woody. These are your grounded, earthy scents.
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Fresh. These are your clean, vibrant, uplifting scents, like citrus, grass, and ocean.
Most fragrances offer a hybrid of these scent families. Which led to the invention of The Fragrance Wheel: A common system to help show how these families overlap and transition (e.g. fresh blends into woody).
Context Is Everything
“Next, I usually ask where are you gonna wear it? Is this an everyday fragrance that you're gonna wear into the office? Is it something for an evening, for date night? Do you want people to be able to smell you or do you want to be a bit more understated? Because that's gonna affect the scent you choose.”
Chiara adds: “Fragrance strength usually comes down to the formula. If you want something light and subtle, a fragrance with a lower amount of perfume content is probably going to work for you. But if you want to go bold or go home, you should try a formula with a higher perfume percentage.”
Feelings First
“Always ask yourself, how do you want to feel wearing this fragrance? Confident? Sexy? Do you want to be a bit more understated? Usually you can align this feeling to a point on the fragrance wheel and go from there.”
Good Things Take Time
“When you’re trying a new fragrance, don't judge it straight away. It takes about 30 minutes for the base notes of a fragrance to come through and for it to settle. So when you first put a fragrance on, you're going to get those top notes, which are usually quite light or citrusy. You won’t get that final fragrance for 20 to 30 minutes so want to be patient.”
Think you know the type of fragrance you’re looking for? Take a squiz through our explainers on each of the Go-To fragrances over here.
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