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How to find your signature scent
Meet the helpful brands and websites demystifying fragrance shopping.
When Coco Chanel said "the best colour is one that looks good on you," she may have been referring to tweed jackets, but the sentiment also rings true when searching for your signature scent.
What we wear doesn't get much more personal than our perfume; an extension of our own scent and something only those we let close can appreciate. It has to reflect our style, our mood, make us feel comfortable, and make us smile; it has to be a pleasure to put on.
But with more than 1,400 perfume launches a year, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the choice, especially in a busy perfume hall where all the smells begin to blend into one. And blind-buying (that’s buying without smelling a physical tester) can be at best a lucky gamble, at worst a costly mistake.
Thankfully perfumers, fragrance houses, and industry bodies are getting smarter at serving up solutions to sourcing a scent. The rise of the discovery set, for starters, has been a game changer - allowing us to sample various fragrances from any one brand slowly and methodically in our own time, and our own space. We can spray twice (or even thrice), and buy once.
Here at GH we love a discovery set and are currently infatuated with every creation from Matiere Première - an ingredient-led fragrance house from master perfumer Aurelien Guichard; as well as the delicate-yet-bold Japanese inspired scents from niche brand Floraïku.
On top of this, websites such as Floral Street and The Perfume Society have helpful ways of deconstructing and categorising fragrance, doing much of the hard work for us. Click through to discover myriad ways to find your new favourite spritz.
Floral Street
Floral Street founder Michelle Feeney found a new way of speaking to her customers, eschewing old-fashioned terminology for simpler language.
“We’re about bunches of flowers, not bouquets, and moods rather than fragrance families. You don’t have to know the difference between a floral and a chypre, or what base notes are. If I ask whether you prefer your perfume ‘light or dark’, you’ll know what I mean," says Michelle.
This modern perfumery also checks all the right boxes with eco-conscious packaging, sustainably-sourced ingredients and clever scent combinations. The new Floral Street Scentschool at-home kit makes discovering scents easy; each Scentschool In A Box set includes a sample set blotters, ingredient cards and a code to join a 1-1 virtual scent discovery session with a Floral Street fragrance expert.
A treasure trove of lesser-known, haute perfumerie brands such as Frederic Malle (pictured) and Serge Lutens, Les Senteurs is every fragrance lover's dream.
Each scent is colour-coded based on the Senteur System: a helpful guide outlining 11 fragrance types in a manner that's simple to understand.
According to fragrance archivist James Craven, although one person's definition of a scent varies from another, these specific groupings can at least help give you an idea of a scent.
The groups range from floral (“fallen petals, bouquets, flowers in a vase”) to chypre (“rich dark scents: sophisticated elegant and urban). Plus, there's an option to buy sample sizes of most fragrances too, so you can test before splurging on a full-sized bottle.
The Perfume Society Find A Fragrance Tool
As the name suggests, The Perfume Society is a fantastic place to expand your fragrance knowledge and discover something new.
The Find A Fragrance tool is especially smart; simply put in a fragrance you like, and the algorithm conjures suggestions of similar scents. It's useful for finding dupes for discontinued fragrances, too.
You can also buy themed discovery boxes (pictured here), sample sets, attend perfumery events and download The Scented Letter, a bi-monthly fragrance magazine.
There's nothing quite as fancy as having a private fragrance consultation in the plush Penhaligon's boutique in Mayfair's Burlington Arcade. But for those who can't make it to the physical store, give the Fragrance Profiling quiz a go via the brand's website.Answer a few quick questions based on your personal preferences (where would you holiday? what's your go-to drink?) and up comes four fragrance suggestions. For something more in-depth, a virtual consultation with an expert is available for £15 an hour. You can also add free samples to your shopping cart.
For fans of high-end, niche fragrances such as Imaginary Authors' Yesterday Haze (pictured) and Parterre, Bloom Perfumery not only makes it easy to find a fragrance based on moods (sweet, sexy or clean) and families (floral or woody), you can also buy thoughtfully curated sample packs from Best of Zest to La Vie En Rose.
Most scents are also available in 1ml vials for around £3. Experimenting with perfume has never been so easy.
Beauty retailer Escentual now offer sample boxes highlighting a different scent vibe, family or ingredient every month. Each sample comes in generic vials - a clever way to ensure you're not swayed by branding or fragrance names.
It's not a subscription, so you only pay for the box you'd like to try (a list is provided here). Once you've found a fave, follow the instructions in the box to purchase the scent. The £19.95 is redeemable against any perfume on Escentual.
You'll also be granted access to the members-only Escentual Scents Facebook group, where you can learn more about scents and connect with fellow fragrance enthusiasts.
Hoohaa subscription, from £14.95/month
Tired of smelling like everyone else? Trial a new scent by independent and niche perfumers such as Olfactive O and 4160 Tuesdays every month with Hoohaa.
There are 3 subscription options (or edits, as the brand calls them) to choose from, based on your scent vibe. 'Easy Does It' will give you wearable (yet no less exciting!) scents, 'Buckle Up' features bolder fragrances and 'Take Me To Mars' is perfect for those who want to experiment and step out of their comfort zone.
You can easily swap edits too.£14.95 will get you a 10ml tester that will last an entire month, and you'll receive a 10% discount off a full-size bottle purchase on Hoohaa. Navigating niche fragrances have never been easier.
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