Tips & Tricks| Find Your Fragrance

Have you ever walked into a store in search of a perfume only to be confronted by a wall of scents so thick it’s impossible to distinguish one from the others? Me too. One of the most frustrating experiences is trying to find the right perfume but not being unable to accomplish the task. No worries, the UnitWise Heroes are on the case!

First, a little about perfumes:

Fragrances that you buy in perfumes, colognes, and lotions have three distinct fragrances layered on top of one another. These fragrances are known as “notes.”

• The first note is the scent which you smell immediately and is often the strongest of the three scents. 
• The second note emerges as the first one wears of, and it is more subtle than the first. 
• The third note is the last, the most subtle, and the longest lingering scent in the collection. Everyone’s body reacts uniquely to outside fragrances because of pheromones. Pheromones are your body’s natural chemistry and can sometimes enhance, repel, or dissipate a scent because of the acidity, oil, and other factors that contribute to the overall makeup of your skin. In other words, scents smell different on every single person. What smells great on one person’s skin can smell awful on another’s. 

There are roughly five fragrance families:

• Fresh, which encompasses scents like citrus & cotton 
• Floral, which encompasses blooms of all types of flowers
• Fruity, which encompasses all sorts of fruit-oriented smells like kiwi & strawberry. *Note: most fruity smells are better-suited for young ladies than grown-ups. The scents are typically very youthful.* 
• Oriental, which encompases fragrances like amber and vanilla
• Woods, which encompass things like sandalwood and pine. 

Fragrances have personalities (I know that sounds nutty, but it’s true). 

You should select a scent for the occasion. Examples of fragrance personalities include:

• Outdoorsy: Just like it sounds, this is the scent you wear if you’re going for a jog, a camping trip, or a picnic outdoors. Fresh scents tend to be included a lot in this personality group. Mary Kay’s Simply Cotton Eau du Toilette would be a good fit here. 
• Elegant: This personality type is what you wear for a night on the town, a hot date, or a trip to broadway. The scent for this personality tends to be oriental or a deep, rich floral scent. You want it to linger well into the wee hours of the morning. Mary Kay’s Warm Amber Eau de Toilette is a good example of this personality. 
• Girl-Next-Door: This is the Jennifer Aniston of personality types, a little shy, a little sexy, and overall the girl you want to visit Mom with. Woodsy florals and fresh scents really compliment this sort of personality. Thinking of Love Eau de Parfum by Mary Kay would be a great example of this. 

So how do you try on fragrances?

I know most of you think you’ve already got this one in the bag. You might be wrong. I know I was! Going into a perfume shop, it might be easy to just spray a test stick and hold it up to your nose. This is the wrong way to sample a scent with a tester! Instead, hold the stick at least 6 to 8 inches from your face and fan it toward you. That way you can enjoy the full bouquet of scents. If you're still having trouble discerning the scents, smell coffee grounds in order to clear your nasal passages.

While the testers will do if you already have a scent on, the best way to try on fragrances is to wear them all day. Remember those notes we talked about earlier? They smell different as they transition from one note to another, so the longer you wear it, the more you’ll know whether or not you really enjoy the scent. If you can, check with your consultant or director and see if you can get small testers so you can try out the scent for a few days before you purchase.

Most importantly, know that you are trying on scents for you and no one else. It’s an intimate experience, something to give you confidence and enjoyment throughout the day. Be bold. Be amazing. Be you!

Have a favorite scent or a trick for choosing fragrances you’d like to share? Drop by UnitWise’s Twitter & Facebook pages to tell us about it!