How to pick your new signature scent for the New Year

Find your signature French scent

Most new years resolutions are centered around habits you want to form, habits you want to break, or lifestyle changes that you want to implement in the coming year. You want to look your best, feel your best, and be your best self. It is about rejuvenating your current lifestyle and hitting the reset button. One way that you can easily look and feel your best is by changing up your signature scent. 

The perfume you put on on a daily basis sets the tone for your day. If you feel like a goddess when you spritz it on, you will walk throughout your day a little taller and a little more confident. January is the perfect time to shake things up and select a new bottle as your go-to. But with all of the choices how do you pick the perfect scent for you? Hint: you’re probably doing it wrong. Here is OuiPlease’s guide to picking the best signature scent for the new year! 

First off, let’s get some definitions in order. It is hard to talk about the delicate notes of perfume without laying down some parameters. These are the definitions of some of the most common terms used when describing perfumes. 

OuiPlease’s Favorite Perfumes 

There are four main olfactive families (or basic scent categories) that exist in all fragrances: fresh, floral, spice, and woody. There are many subcategories that may mix two or three of the categories together, but these four are the most common types of perfumes. 

Fresh

Most noticeable by the citrus notes, (lemon, grapefruit, etc.) that are often combined with aromatic notes, like rosemary, basil, or lavender. This should smell like hanging laundry on a line in the middle of the French countryside on a pleasant spring afternoon.

Floral

Personally, this is the hardest category for me to pinpoint because I find it hard to tell the difference between different floral smells! I can never distinguish between scents such as violet or carnation. Floral perfumes also include jasmine, rose, berries, and more. They are feminine, soft, and subtly sweet smells. Floral perfumes should transport you to walking through the lavender fields in full bloom in Providence. 

Spice

Spice and woody are often mistaken for one another, but are very different. The spice scent family is one that has incense, smoke, warm spices, and leather. They are scents that are often “sharper” than the woody scent family. Vanilla is often included in the spice category, but not in the way you might think. This vanilla is rich and thick, not sugary sweet. When smelling a spicy perfume you may think of holding a steaming cup of tea on a rainy day in Paris.

Woody

Woody scents are classified as more “masculine” but are most associated with nature. It often smells of sandalwood, pine, patchouli, vetiver, and cedarwood. They are warm scents that are very inviting. This may also be similar to the inviting scent of walking into an old library. A perfume is woody if it makes you feel like you are walking in a forest after a rainstorm in the fall. 

Now that we have the vocabulary to pick our signature scent, we can move on to the fun part: trying them out! 

Say it with me: No perfume shopping online

Walking into a perfume store, grabbing a white tester strip, and sniffing the scent right under your nose will no longer cut it. And neither is buying perfume online because you saw your favorite blogger recommend it. You might love the smell of vanilla when you are cooking but cannot stand the smell of it as a perfume. Everyone is different! The chemicals in the perfume react with the oils on your skin, creating different smells. The same perfume might smell completely different on me than on you. Additionally, olfactory memory is so strong that scent plays a powerful role in our lives. It may make you seek out a scent that reminds you of a wonderful trip to Bordeaux, or you may shy away from a scent that reminds you of your great-aunt. That is why it is so important to try out the perfume yourself before splurging on a new scent. So how are you going to do that? Ask for samples at your local department store or beauty supply store. They almost always have samples for you to take home and try out over the course of a few days. 

Our Picks 

OuiPlease Tip: Sephora perfume samplers come with a gift certificate to purchase a full-sized bottle of your favorite scent! 

Don’t rush the process 

Perfumes develop over the course of about an hour. First, make sure you have clean, fragrance-free spots on your skin. Then, spritz once and…wait. The original scent will change over the course of 15 minutes to an hour. The perfume has to dry down (no rubbing!) to fully develop. All perfumes have a top note, heart, and base note. The top notes are often lighter and more citrusy. After drying the full beautiful scent will be released! Bottom line is to be patient. Finding the right scent for you is a process of (in-person) trial and error. It might take you a few trips to different stores for you to find the perfect scent. 

Let us know if you use any of these tips in finding your new signature scent. Show us your favorite perfume on instagram and tag us @Ouiplease!

xox,

Britt

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Photo: Pinterest 

Blog inspo: https://www.flare.com/fashion-beauty/how-to-find-your-signature-scent-perfume/