Choosing a Perfume! Women's Fragrances Families! : eBay Guides

FRAGRANCES GUIDE ------Women's Fragrance Families

The essential oils of a perfume react differently with each different person. Some perfumes are more suited to some personalities than others, and some perfumes are gregarious, others are more reserved. Your choice needs to suit the wearer's attitude as well as demeanour, as well as reflect the status of your relationship with the wearer. For example, you wouldn't buy the same fragrance for your mother as you would for a recently acquired girlfriend, dont't you?..seriously you wouldn't dear right? :o)

In the recent years, the choice of fragrances and scents seems to grow wider every day! We are litterally submerged into various perfume making companies, celebrity stars perfumes etc (submerged... as every other items we might buy!) that offer us quantities to choose from! Of course, each of them want you to buy from! But, with such a huge selection, how do you even begin to know where to start when it comes to buying perfume and how to choose which one is better for you? Here is a little help! Read on!

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First, you should know that there are six different categories of scent that express different moods. All perfumes are into one of six categories based on their dominant top notes. And of course, different categories will suit different people or occasions. The categories are:

• Citrus Fragrances:

These fragrances project a sharp, tangy aura, which are naturally refreshing and uplifting. Citrus blends are among the oldest known scents. They were first worn by men and are now popular with women as well. Some popular examples include CK One by Calvin Klein , Gucci by Gucci and Jess by Jessica McClintock.The light, fresh character of citrus notes (bergamot, orange, lemon, petitgrain, mandarin etc...) is often combined with more feminine scents (flowers, fruits and chypre) to create Chypre Fragrance.

Citrus Fragrance Lifestyle: Refreshing fragrances for the energetic, sporty woman. Appropriate for office wear, day wear or warm evening wear. A perfect summer fragrance especially for warm or humid climate.

• Green Fragrances:

Green fragrance notes are natural in character; often married with fruity and floral notes, they are modern and fashionable. They are much lighter than the orientals, and are well suited to more casual wear. Because they make a less dramatic assault on the nose, they are also safer to give as gifts!

Green Fragrance Lifestyle: A slightly eccentric fragrance for the modern woman. For the professional woman working in an office atmosphere. Good day wear and occasional evening wear in warmer weather. Sporty, charismatic and artful.

• Floral Fragrances:

An accord of different floral fragrance notes. Combined with any other family, floral perfumes are universally commercial. Single florals are included in this family. This is the largest and most popular category and is created mainly from flowers, including rose, carnation, orange blossom, gardenia and jasmine. These are often blended together to produce a distinctive floral bouquet. Some popular examples in this category include Aromatics Elixir by Clinique,  Romance by Ralph Lauren and Yves St.Laurent Paris. They are suitable for almost everyone and any occasion. But be wary of cheaper brands; this most feminine of all the main groups works best when the ingredients used are of high quality, and that means less expensive brands can't smell exactly that.

Floral Fragrance Lifestyle: The scent of romance and starry nights. Floral fragrances evoke memories of romantic moments, and create new ones. The most feminine of all fragrance families.

• Chypre Fragrances:

This is a woody fragrance created by French perfumer Francois Coty, based on his impression of the island of Cyprus. The fragrance is based on a woody, mossy and flowery complex, sometimes with aspects of leather or fruits, chypre perfumes are rich and tenacious. It is dominated by pine aromas with hints of bergamot, oak moss, citrus and patchouli providing an earthy suite of aromas. Some popular examples include Miss Dior by Dior, Caleche by Hermes, and  Gossip by Cindy Adams.

Chypre Fragrance Lifestyle: Very elegant, classical, for women who tend to prefer slightly out of the norm fragrances. Chypre fragrances smell slightly dry, not very sweet.

• Oriental Fragrances:

A blend of warmth and mystery. Musks and precious woods are complemented by exotic essences. They use strong spicy scents, amber, balsams and resins suggesting warmth and exotic sensuality, and are popular for evening wear or for any special social occasions. However, be cautious giving them to anyone you don't know well – these intense perfumes can be a very personal choice! Some examples include Obsession by Calvin Klein, Opium by Yves St.Laurent  and Royal Secret by Five Star.

Oriental Fragrance Lifestyle: Mystical, luxurious, dramatic, sexy, sensual. Mostly worn in the evening.

• Oceanic Fragrances:

These notes are fresh scented, slightly soapy clean fragrances. Modern "oceanic" fragrances are becoming more and more popular, particularly among younger people who appreciate the intense but often quite unusual scents, which instantly bring to mind seaside scenes. Naturally these are an excellent choice in the warmer months when thoughts turn to holidays!

Oceanic Fragrance Lifestyle: Sporty, young, joyous, energetic, understated

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Seasons and Strengths

The choice of fragrance that one wears is often affected by season and event. Summer calls for cooler lighter fragrances, whereas winter might suggest more intimate and warmer aromas. Spring is the return of freshness, and autumn is a period of subtlety.
Daywear and a choice for everyday work calls for a different perfume to an evening out. An intimate dinner might suggest a different aroma to a family get-together. When you are buying perfume for someone, consider when he or she might wear your choice.

The other consideration is the relative strengths of the essential oils, and the amount they are diluted. There are four different categories according to the strength of the oils.

Eau de Parfum is the strongest concentration and typically contains 15 - 22 percent essential oils.
Eau de Toilette has a typical concentration of 8 to 15 percent essential oils.
Eau de Cologne (or Cologne) has a concentration of 4 to 8 percent of essential oils.
Eau Fraîche is the most diluted of scent with just 1 to 3 percent concentration of essential oils.

The degree of concentration often suggests the size of the bottle and its price point. A larger portion will cost less per millilitre, but even small quantities of popular choices can cost a lot of money. The standard fragrance size bottles are usually in the 50ml, 75ml, 100ml or 125ml range. You can buy what is commonly known as a trial/sample size, and this is a good choice if you are experimenting with new fragrances or just want a choice for travelling. These are usually 25ml to 40ml. Finally, a collector's size that is commonly known as a miniature bottle might be 7ml or 10ml.

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Testing different perfumes

It is common practice when buying a perfume is to visit the fragrance counter and spray different scents on different parts of your body so you can compare them. We suggest you avoid this because after two or three applications your olfactory responses (that's your smell and taste senses) can easily be confused and your brain will be remembering and blending previous sniffs rather than sampling new ones. Secondly, how are you going to remember which you sprayed where. If you are going live shopping, we suggest you do something more like this:

1. Use fragrance blotters to gather your samples of different scents. These are small porous cards and are usually available at the perfume counter. Once you've sprayed the card you can write the name of the fragrance on the reverse side, that way you can identify the fragrance when you need to, and you can more readily compare the different aromas.

2. All fragrances take a few minutes to develop once they've been exposed to the atmosphere. Allow a few little time after it's been applied before sniffing the fragrance. To overcome nose fatigue (confusion of the olfactory), leave the smelling alone for a while and take in some fresh air, or smell something that carries your own body odour (armpit of your shirt sleeve for example). Sometimes eating a mint can refresh your olfactory senses.

3. Try to narrow your selection to two or three fragrances and then spray some on your skin, making a point to remember what you sprayed where. Now you need to go and do something else. You need to remove yourself from the perfumery (too many other smells in the air) and take your mind off the fragrance shopping altogether.

4. Let ten or fifteen minutes go by and then smell those parts of your skin that you sprayed. Let your gut reaction tell you which is the most effective, relative to the reason you are buying the fragrance!

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Well that's it! I hope this information I collected into one place helps you! Ultimately, choosing a fragrance is a very personal choice, and many women prefer to stick with what they know and buy the same thing year after year. But by trying different fragrances from the same group as your favourite smell, you may just discover a new gem! Try various fragrances and see which one is more appealing to you! Remember that perfumes won't react the same way in people's skin! That means you can smell much better than someone else using the same perfume as you or, of course, the opposite! :o)

Visit my store for the fragrances you've been looking for! If you don't see it in the store, simply request it!  I'll do my best to find it for you and yes you will have it for a very competitive price...wholesale or less! Why? So you can afford it and wear your favorite scent everyday at a reasonable price!

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