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Perfume is a necessary accessory these days. It gives your image that extra touch of elegance and femininity. But there are so many women's perfumes, how to select the right one? Discover different types of fragrances and the way to find the best perfume for you.
Even though there are hundreds of different perfumes on sale, all of them can be divided into several major categories:
floral
fresh
woody
oriental
fougere
Floral fragrances - luxurious and stylish
Perfumes with floral notes are the most popular, to name just a few Dune by Christian Dior, Beautiful by Estee Lauder or Miracle by Lancome. Floral fragrances are often based on jasmine, rose, gardenia, orange blossom and carnation perfume oils. They usually come in pink bottles, often with flower motives on the box. Floral scents create an image of romantic, stylish and sophisticated woman and can be worn during the day as well as for special occasions.
Fresh perfumes - great anytime anywhere
Refreshing perfumes like Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani or Green Tea by Elizabeth Arden are perfect for everyday wear. They usually include fragrance oils that come from grasses and herbs as well as citrus fruits such as pomello, bergamot, grapefruit, orange and lemon. Refreshing perfumes are easy to spot - most come in a clear, green or blue bottle. Blue ones usually have a marine note to their scent.
Oriental scents for special ocasions
Heavy and exotic oriental fragrances include balsamic notes with vanilla, oakmoss and animal notes. Perfect excamples are Opium by Yves Saint Laurent or Poison by Dior. Traditionally these scents are worn by mature women.
Most woody and Fougere notes are for men cologne, they are rarely used in perfumes, except for really heavy evening varieties.
Are you after a daytime or evening perfume?
When selecting a perfume it's very important to know where you are going to wear it. Not every fragrance can be worn at work. For daytime it's best to go for fresh or light floral scents. Many companies have a "no perfume" in their dress code all together. Never stopped me, from wearing one. A fresh scent applied moderately should be all right. Most retailers mention in the description whether a particular product is for day or evening wear.
For a romantic evening or a party, you can choose a completely different scent. Luxurious floral fragrances are just as suitable for the evening as they are for the day, and you can also wear something rich with woody or oriental notes.
Trying perfumes - testers and free samples
You, probably already have a good idea what kind of fragrance you are looking for. But you still shouldn't buy perfume relying only on its description. Trying it yourself is the best way to select a scent that is the best for you. You can do it in any department store or perfume shop - they always have testers.
Just sniffing the tester bottle won't give you the real idea of the scent, it's best to spray perfume on a little tester paper that the shops provide. Keep the paper with the fragrance and smell it in a few hours again. Most quality perfumes change their scent as you wear them, the scent might be quite different from the original.
Another great way to test perfumes is to ask for samples. Most department stores have free perfume samples and if they see, that you are interested in buying something, they will happily give you a couple of samples. Another way to get samples of perfume is online, there are many websites that will send you a free sample of perfumes hoping that you will buy from them later.
Finding discount perfumes online
An expensive department store is a good place to try and choose your perfumes, but is it the best place to buy? It's certainly not, because being a smart shopper you can find the very same brands of designer's perfumes much cheaper in specialized discount perfume shops and online.
Getting fragrances online is actually the easiest way to find cheap perfumes. Big online shops keep their prices significantly lower than department stores. They sell hundreds of perfume bottles a day and don't have to pay rent and stuff salaries, so online shops simply have less expenses and they pass the savings to you.
The quality of your perfume will be just the same as you would buy it directly from Lancome of Ester Lauder counter. But you have to make sure that the online shop you choose sells genuine designers brands. Some of them specialized in selling knockoffs - replicas of famous designer's perfumes. They say that it smells the same, but it doesn't, not after you wear it for a couple hours.
Buy a bigger bottle and save, does it really work that way?
Most perfumes come in 30ml, 50ml and 100ml bottles, and usually when buying the biggest bottle you get the best value for your money. However, do you really need 100ml of the same perfume, or would you rather have three small bottles of different fragrances?
It makes sense to go for the big bottle, if you really like this scent and are planning to use if everyday. On the other hand, when buying evening perfume for special occasions, keep in mind, that even a small bottle will last you for a year or more. I personally own many perfumes by different designers and, even though I wear perfume every day, I only buy small or medium size bottles. Also keep in mind that even high quality expensive perfume doesn't last forever, so it's best to get a fresh bottle more often.
Carefully chosen perfume can be a great accessory. Surely it's expensive, but for all the hard work a modern women do, we deserve a little treat, wouldn't you agree?
Tanya Turner is a publisher of Designer Perfume Planet.com where you can find information and advice about buying discount womens perfume as well as get free perfume samples of many designers' brands.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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