You’re in desperate need to fall in love with a new fragrance! The butterflies in your belly… that rush when you finally find the one. Our entire life, we’ve been told that the best way to choose a perfume is to test it on the skin. It may well be true, but did it ever feel easy to find the perfect scent? You can only try a couple of scents at a time, since, as a human, your nose is easily overwhelmed with too much information. As you may now have fallen victim to online shopping, we’d like to let you know how to shop fragrances online. It should help you whether you’re shopping for yourself, or whether you’re looking to gift someone with a new signature scent. We’re going for actual tips that should make shopping for fragrance online a lot simpler!
On this post:
- Judge the perfume by the bottle
- Find a brand you like
- Pick an emotion, a place, or a vibe
- Learn about perfumes types and concentrations
- Study the fragrance families
- Learn about perfume notes
Judge the perfume by the bottle
The color and style of the bottle offer valid hints. They can help you understand the fragrance inside: feel free to judge the book by its cover! Regardless of the gender they are marketed to, perfumes will often feature stylized packaging that may help you make a decision. Is the packaging colorful and young, or is it classic and demure? Does it give you a sporty, casual feeling, or does it make you want to dress up? Which one of these styles would describe you better?
We’ve just seen how the style of the bottle can be interpreted; now let’s examine the color codes! Generally speaking, blue bottles represent fresh, aquatic, and marine fragrances; green speaks for naturality, citric or verdant fragrances; black and gold express intense scents with a luxurious feel. Last, but not least, pink-bottled perfumes may be more romantic and floral, while white bottles will often hold powdery, lightly floral, and clean fragrances.
Find a brand you like
Are you attracted to a particular brand? Does the image represent you and your style? Can it be a symbol of your personality? If your answer is yes, chances are that it is a match! Whether we’re thinking about clothing, electronics, or perfumes, we’re sure that you have a brand that speaks to your heart. It may be the style, the core values, or the public it speaks to, but there’s something about that brand that draws you in if you feel that genuine engagement, and an emotional connection with the brand, then shopping for fragrance online should be a lot easier.
If this still feels too much of a stretch, then you may consider looking for that one brand of perfumes that you usually like. Think of the last perfume that you really love wearing and explore what other perfumes the brand offers. You may well feel the call once you see them!
Pick an emotion, a place, or a vibe
Find the brand’s description of the perfume and just let yourself go with the storytelling. Maybe the perfume wants to take you to your favorite beach, to a prairie, or even to a carnival. And you can trust a perfume when it promises to take you somewhere—perfumers have a way to make it happen.
More than taking you to a specific place, a perfume can also inspire a number of emotions, feelings, or experiences. You may want a perfume that feels happy or a perfume that feels like a hug! You may look for a fragrance that feels inspiring, energizing, or relaxing. The good news is that the answer is in the storytelling. Consider the style and vibes of the brand, and then surrender to the storytelling. If it feels right, then it probably is!
Learn about perfumes types and concentrations
If you need more than vibes to make a choice, then learning about perfume concentrations can be a great starting point. Once you understand the meaning of the words after the name of the perfume, it should all feel easier. Long story short, a perfume is just a blend of scented oils with secondary characters that allow the stars—scented oil—to keep stable in the bottle and do their magic when they touch your skin. Let’s analyze the concentration, always in French, from the least to most concentrated:
Eau Fraîche
1-2% of perfume oil
The most refreshing of perfume concentrations, the eau fraîche is fresh and short-lasting. As you spray it on your skin and clothing, it delivers a bright, crisp blast of fragrance that instantly revitalizes your senses. You may keep it by your side in case you need a fragrance wake-up call.
Eau de Cologne
2-5% of perfume oil
It was in 1709 Cologne, that perfumer Jean Marie Farina started the story of “eau de cologne”, the name of the original “eau de cologne”. As the fragrance grows worldwide in popularity, the expression “eau de cologne” becomes global. Today, eau de cologne may refer to one of three things: a men’s fragrance, a citrus-based fragrance with a light, unisex concept, or a fragrance that contains 2-5% perfume oils. Usually affordable and always subtle and fresh, an eau de cologne might be just what you need if you often feel overwhelmed by fragrances.
Eau de Toilette
5-15% of perfume oil
Contains 5-15% perfume oils, eau de toilette is one of the most popular perfume concentrations! An eau de toilette can be, at the same time, a fresher, lighter, and affordable alternative to an eau de parfum of the same range. But that’s not always the case. In some cases, they end up being distinct creations that may appeal to different people—it’s not as simple as the perfume percentage in the bottle. If eau the toilette doesn’t sound like concentrated enough for you, then you may love the sibling!
Eau de Parfum
15-20% of perfume oil
Featuring 15-20% perfume oils, the eau the parfum is what you will find the highest concentrated option for most perfume houses and designers. You may be confused by the adjectives “intense” or “extreme” after “eau the parfum” in some recent perfume brands; these are, most likely, still within the normal range for an eau de parfum, hitting the top side of the range. We can promise anything, but most people find the scent detectable on their skin after a full day; if you’re looking for a lasting option, then consider this one!
Learn about fragrance families
If you’re familiar with the concept of fragrance families, then you’ll have an easier time picking a new favorite fragrance. In short, these big families catalog the perfumes by scent type. The scent type is determined by the combination of fragrance notes. Luckily for you, the brand usually indicates the fragrance family quite clearly. It should be easy to have an idea of what they’re offering you. Let’s start to see how we would describe each family and which one speaks to your nose.
Fresh
This big category can be subdivided into green, water, citrus, aromatic, and fruity. You may also associate it with words like refreshing, sparkling, or zesty. There are many words that perfectly portray fresh fragrances! Perfect to use in warmer months as well as in hot and humid climates, fresh fragrances can be found mostly in light or transparent bottles. The fragrance family is also helpful to find these perfumes—the brand should most likely indicate it at some point. When it comes to notes, look for bergamot, lime (citruses in general), fig, and green, ozonic, or marine notes. If you like the sound of a particular combination, grab it!
Oriental
Warm and rich, oriental fragrances can be divided into soft oriental, oriental, and woody oriental. Feature resins, balsams, spices, woods, and ouds, as well as amber and vanilla, these fragrances are easily recognizable by their unique character. Suggested for everyone, these perfumes are incredibly intense, a little love-it-or-hate-it. The bottles tend to be adorned in gold, looking both opulent and sophisticated. With intense presence, an oriental perfume is an excellent choice for the evening, as well as for formal occasions. Does this sound like you?
Floral
One of the classic families of perfumes, the romantic florals. Divided into floral, soft floral, floral fruity, and floral-oriental, this huge family comprises virtually an endless list of notes and crosses over the full spectrum of colors. Popular floral notes would be iris, orange blossom, jasmine, tuberose, peony, violet, and ylang-ylang–and of course, roses. You can find floral notes in almost every perfume without necessarily meaning that they’re floral! A good hint to differentiate true florals is in the color of the bottle. Look for pink, violet or purply glass.
Woody
Divided into aromatic, dry wood, and mossy woods, this category is particularly popular among male fragrances—but has a solid presence in feminine fragrance shelves. Woods and mosses are present in most fragrances as base notes–but it is a different thing entirely to be a woody perfume. Generally speaking, some woody notes have more of a fresh and soft character (like vetiver and cedar) while others are deeper and more intense (such as patchouli and guaiac wood). Woody scents can also feel more earthy and green—typically associated with masculine fragrances. However, we think that they are for everyone!
Sweet
This may not be an official category, but this writer couldn’t help directing the spotlight to it. We think that the name is self-explanatory and direct—as we need to shop for fragrance online. Edible, sweet, gourmand… and irresistible. Sweet fragrances range from more youthful fruity-sweet to more sensual vanilla and creamy amber. If you spot vanilla, cinnamon, and caramel on the main notes, you’re probably looking at an addictive sweet scent.
Learn about perfume notes
You may need to learn something more specific than the perfume concentrations and fragrance families to make up your mind. If that sounds like you, check our round-up of perfume notes lingo. Let yourself be guided by your favorite notes to hit your next treasured perfume.
The first thing you need to do is look up your favorite scents of all time; find their fragrance family, along with a list of their top, heart, and base notes. Once you analyze a few options, we’re sure that you’ll find some sort of pattern among your favorites—or at least some repeating. If there’s an obvious match of elements, congrats: you’ll be able to search by notes. You may even combine that information with the visual hints we’ve discussed earlier.
Let’s test the concept with an example! Imagine that you analyze five fragrances, and you can find neroli in four of them. Here’s a clear indicator that a perfume like the NUXE Prodigieux Neroli Eau de Parfum should be a huge success!
If there are no clear patterns, then the good news is that you are able to love diverse perfumes! If that’s the case, maybe you need to step back and try to find a pattern in the fragrance family. You may also opt to trust more vague indicators like the vibe and image of the perfume.
Extra Tip: You shouldn’t focus too much on the gender the perfume is marketed to. Ultimately, perfumes are compositions of notes that might appeal to anyone, regardless of gender!
