Style tips: Making sense of scents

This week we were lucky enough to experience the gorgeous new Jo Malone boutique that has just opened in Britomart, in the heart of downtown Auckland. Being surrounded by the divine scents got us thinking about the wonderful world of perfume. A new fragrance has the power to make us feel like a million dollars. However, with hundreds of fragrances hitting the market each year, the options are mind-boggling and shopping for a new scent can quickly become a perplexing experience.
Limit your options

Approaching your quest for a new fragrance in the right way will make the experience both a pleasant and a successful one. Trying to find a fragrance you love should never be a sickening experience, so never make the overeager mistake of attempting to try out every single scent you can get your hands on as you will only overwhelm your sense of smell. Start by giving yourself time to enjoy scents while limiting how many you are going to try - three to four are adequate.
Take your time
Arming yourself with a list of your all-time favourite fragrances is a great way to start your hunt. A good shop assistant will be able to point you in the direction of other scents that you may like. Although we are accustomed spraying scents on paper testers to try them out, the fragrance will never smell the same when it's sprayed on your skin. Fragrances react on everyone's skin in unique ways, so try the perfume on your skin rather than on paper. Ask for a sample, if available, and take the fragrance home to get acquainted with it in your own time. The real substance of a fragrance lies within the base notes that can take up to an hour to develop, so always take your time and don't make a purchasing decision based on what you smell initially as light top notes usually disperse within 15 minutes or so.
Subtle layers
Once you've got your hands on a scent that you've fallen head-over-heels in love with, it's important to remember a few rules to ensure you get the most out of your new fragrance. Fragrance is best applied to clean skin, so spritz yourself after showering, but before dressing. We all know that it's never nice being able to smell someone's heavy scent before we've even set eyes on them. Our noses are rather clever and adjust to new scents quickly, so just because you can't smell what you're wearing, it doesn't mean everyone else can't, too. Three sprays of an eau de parfum should do the trick and a couple more if you are using an eau de toilette.
For those who are ready to get creative with fragrance, Jo Malone is renowned for rewriting the rules of perfumery. Mix, match and layer her colognes to create your own unique scent. And the best thing is, the company delivers its covetable products anywhere in New Zealand.

Got a fashion or style topic you'd like us to cover? Email editor@simplyyou.co.nz