How to Choose a Women’s Perfume: Notes, Concentration and Testing

Start with the scent family

Retailers group fragrances into families, and knowing which you tend to like is the quickest way to narrow a choice.

• Floral: flowers such as rose, jasmine or peony, from light and fresh to rich and heady.
• Fruity: fruit notes, from crisp apple or pear to juicy berry or peach.
• Citrus and fresh: lemon, bergamot, tea and green notes, usually described as light.
• Woody and musky: woods, musks and soft skin-like notes.
• Oriental and gourmand: vanilla, amber, spices and sweet notes, usually described as warm.

Top, heart and base notes

A listing may describe a fragrance as top, heart and base notes. Top notes are what you smell first and fade first, heart notes form the body of the scent and base notes stay longest. These are the brand’s descriptions, not measurements, and the same note can smell different from one product to another. A product profile shows notes only where the retailer’s listing records them.

What the strength names indicate

Eau de toilette, eau de parfum and parfum (or extrait) are the strength names brands use. They run roughly from lighter to stronger in that order, but this is a trade convention rather than a defined standard, so brands differ. Compare the stated type and the bottle size for the exact product rather than relying on the name.

How to test a perfume

A perfume changes over the first hour as the top notes fade. Test on your skin, wait for it to settle and judge it after some time. Test one or two scents at a time; more makes them hard to tell apart. Skin, climate and what else you are wearing change how a scent comes across, so a scent that smells one way on a card or on someone else can smell different on you.

If you cannot test before buying, check the return terms, because some sellers do not accept returns on opened fragrance, and consider a smaller size or a travel size first.

Ingredients and sensitivities

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that fragrance ingredients may be listed simply as “fragrance” on a cosmetic label because fragrance formulas can be trade secrets. ^[1] It also notes that some fragrance components can cause allergies or sensitivities in some people and that it lacks the same authority to require allergen labelling for cosmetics as for food. ^[1][2] If you know that certain ingredients affect you, check the ingredient list, test a small amount first and contact the maker with questions. ^[2]

What to check in the listing

• The notes and scent family.
• The strength type and the bottle size in millilitres.
• Whether it is a full-size bottle, a gift set or a travel size.
• The seller’s return terms for opened and unopened bottles.
• Whether the brand’s own product page matches the listing you are looking at.

Buying as a gift

If you are buying for someone else, a gift set or a smaller size lowers the risk of choosing a scent that does not suit them. Check what the set contains and the size of each item, and look at the return terms in case the recipient prefers a different scent.

Where to look next

Browse the matching category: women’s perfume.

• How to choose a men’s cologne
• Unisex perfume buying guide
• Vanilla perfume