How to Choose the Best Perfume for You | Sion Scent
Discover how to choose the best perfume for you, find your signature scent and understand fragrance families and perfume notes to find a scent you’ll truly love.
A B R I L
8/10/20264 min read
Choosing a perfume can feel surprisingly difficult. With so many fragrance families, perfume notes and beautiful bottles to choose from, how do you know which one is actually right for you? If this sounds anything like your current thoughts, keep reading ...
Now to start off, finding the best perfume for you isn't necessarily finding the most popular perfume, the most niche or the one that smells amazing on someone else. It's finding the fragrance that works with your skin, suits your personality and makes you feel like yourself. If you're wondering how to choose a perfume or want to find your signature scent, here's where to start.
1. Think about how you want your perfume to make you feel
Before looking at perfume notes, think about the feeling you're drawn to.
Do you want your fragrance to feel:
Fresh and clean?
Soft and feminine?
Warm and sensual?
Elegant and sophisticated?
Light and playful?
Comforting and familiar?
Bold and memorable?
This is often a better starting point than simply asking what perfume smells 'nice'. Your fragrance becomes part of how you present yourself, so choosing a scent that reflects how you want to feel can make it much easier to narrow down your options.
2. Understand fragrance families
One of the easiest ways to find the best perfume for you is to understand the main fragrance families.
Floral
Floral perfumes feature flowers such as rose, jasmine, lavender, ylang ylang and sweet pea. They're often associated with femininity, softness and elegance.
Fresh
Fresh fragrances tend to feel clean, light and uplifting. They're often a great choice for daytime and warmer weather.
Woody
Woody perfumes can have warm, earthy or sophisticated qualities, often using notes such as sandalwood, cedarwood or vetiver.
Amber
Amber fragrances are usually warm, rich and sensual, often combining sweet, resinous and spicy qualities.
Musky
Musk can add softness, warmth and depth to a perfume. It's often found in the base of a fragrance and can help create a smooth, lingering scent.
...You don't have to choose just one family, many of the most interesting perfumes combine several.
3. Learn the difference between top, middle and base notes
If you've ever wondered why a perfume smells different 30 minutes after spraying it, this is why.
A perfume is made up of different perfume notes that develop over time.
Top notes are what you smell immediately after applying your perfume. They're often fresh, bright and light.
Middle notes, sometimes called heart notes, emerge as the top notes fade. Floral, fruity and spicy notes are often found here.
Base notes develop last and can remain on your skin for hours. Musk, amber, woods and vanilla are common examples.
...So don't make your final decision based only on the first few seconds of smelling a fragrance.
4. Always try perfume on your skin
A fragrance can smell completely different on your skin compared with a tester strip or another person. Your skin, body temperature and natural oils can all influence how a perfume develops. When trying a new fragrance, spray a small amount onto your skin and give it time to develop. Ideally, experience the fragrance through its different stages before deciding whether it's right for you.
5. Consider when you'll wear it
The best perfume for you also depends on when you want to wear it.
You might prefer something light and fresh for everyday wear, while choosing something warmer and more sensual for evenings or special occasions. You can also have more than one signature scent.
Perhaps your everyday perfume feels completely different from the fragrance you reach for when you're dressing up. There's no rule saying you need to have just one.
6. Don't choose a perfume based only on trends
Trends can be useful for discovering new fragrances, but they shouldn't decide what you wear. A perfume can be incredibly popular and still not feel like you.
Instead, pay attention to the scents you naturally gravitate towards. Do you repeatedly choose soft florals? Warm amber? Clean musk? Fresh citrus? These preferences can tell you a lot about the perfume notes and fragrance families you're likely to enjoy.
7. Finding your signature scent takes time
Your signature scent should feel natural rather than forced.
You don't need to find it immediately, try different fragrance families, notice which perfume notes you enjoy and pay attention to how different scents make you feel throughout the day.
And remember... your taste can change. The perfume you love in your twenties might not be the one you reach for years later.... That's part of the fun of fragrance!
Finding your Sion Scent
At Sion Scent, we believe fragrance can be more than something that simply smells beautiful. It can become part of your everyday rituals, memories and identity.
Our fragrances are created with this idea in mind: beautiful scents with meaning behind them.
If you're still searching for the best perfume for you, take your time, explore different fragrance families and choose the scent that feels most like you.
