You spray one, then another, then a third. By the fifth, everything smells the same, and you walk out with a bottle you’re not quite sure about. At home, it smells different again. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Knowing how to test perfume properly makes a surprising difference, and it only takes a little patience.
When I worked with fragrance at Mecca and Sephora, the most common thing I saw was people deciding too quickly. A fragrance changes over hours, not seconds, so the way you test it matters as much as what you test.
Start with a fragrance card
Fragrance cards, sometimes called blotters, are a good place to begin. They let you smell several scents quickly and narrow down what you’re drawn to, without covering your arms in perfume.
Spray the card, wait a few seconds for the alcohol to evaporate, then smell it. Write the name on the card, because after a few you won’t remember which is which.
However, a card only tells you part of the story. It shows you the opening and the general character of a fragrance, but paper doesn’t have the warmth or natural oils of your skin.
Then test perfume on your skin
Once you’ve found one or two you love on paper, try them on skin. This is where a fragrance really comes to life, and where it can surprise you.
Spray once on your inner wrist or inner elbow, then leave it. Try not to rub your wrists together, as the friction can dull the brighter top notes before you’ve had a chance to smell them.
It also helps to start with clean skin. If you’ve already sprayed another perfume or used a scented body lotion, it will mix with whatever you’re testing.
How to test perfume without overwhelming your nose
Your nose tires more quickly than you might think. After a handful of scents, it starts to struggle to tell them apart, which is why everything begins to smell the same.
As a guide, smell no more than four or five fragrances in one go. On skin, one on each wrist is plenty.
Between scents, you may have seen coffee beans offered to “reset” your nose. Unfortunately, they don’t work, and The Perfume Society points out they simply add another strong smell. Instead, smell a patch of your own unscented skin, like the inside of your elbow, or step outside for a few minutes of fresh air.
Wait for the drydown
This is the step most people skip. As I explained in the fragrance pyramid, the first spray is mostly top notes, and they fade quickly. The heart notes take around 20 to 30 minutes to come through, and the base notes take longer still.
So once you’ve sprayed your skin, walk away. Carry on shopping, have a coffee, and smell your wrist again later. The version you smell after half an hour is much closer to the fragrance you’ll actually wear.
Wear it for a day before you buy
If you’re choosing a signature scent, or spending a lot on a bottle, it’s worth living with it for a full day first. Many stores will happily give you a sample to take home.
Wear it as you normally would, then pay attention to how it feels. Notice how long it lasts, whether you still enjoy it in the afternoon, and how it feels in different settings. Try it on a warm day and a cool one if you can, because heat changes how a fragrance behaves. If you find yourself reaching for your wrist to smell it again, that’s a very good sign.
How to test perfume in store, step by step
- Start with fragrance cards to narrow down your favourites.
- Choose one or two to try on your skin, one on each wrist.
- Spray once, and don’t rub.
- Smell no more than four or five fragrances in one go.
- Reset your nose with your own skin or fresh air, not coffee beans.
- Walk away, and smell it again after at least half an hour.
- Ask for a sample, and wear it for a full day before you buy.
A fragrance you love after a whole day is far more likely to become one you wear for years. Next, I’ll look at why the same fragrance can smell so different from one person to the next, and what your skin has to do with it.
The short edit
The essentials:
Use cards to narrow things down, then test perfume on your skin and give it time. The fragrance you’ll wear is the one you smell after half an hour, not the first spray.
Ask yourself:
Do I love this fragrance, or just the first few minutes of it?
Worth knowing:
Coffee beans don’t reset your nose. Smelling your own unscented skin or stepping into fresh air works better.
