So, how do you choose the fragrance that is right for you? Is it just a matter of going into a shop and buying whatever smells good at the time or is it more of an exact science? Will the perfume you bought change its smell over the course of the day? Is there such a thing as a daytime perfume and an evening perfume? And just because you buy a celebrity endorsed perfume does it mean that you smell exactly like the celebrity?



These may all seem pretty pointless questions, but are they? I wonder how many men and women have ever asked themselves these very points. My mum use to say that she wouldn't wear a perfume with a powdery smell, yet she liked talc, or that the perfume she wore never smelled the same on her as it had when she smelled it on someone else or the tester card they provided her in the shop. This last point is actually true, it has been proven that individual body odour and body temperature actually do alter a fragrance, so when buying a perfume make sure you try it on yourself and leave it for an hour for the scent to settle in as the real fragrance will then have had time adjust to the person wearing it, if it smells good to you after this time, buy it!

The question of day or evening fragrances still baffles me? I thought that a daywear perfume would be floral and light and an evening perfume heavy, headachy and musky, but is this true? Or is it just down to personal preference?

One thing I've always wondered is how much do you need to put on? Often when you apply your favourite fragrance you can't smell yourself when you've applied enough. At what point are you going to leave friends in the area or work colleagues gasping for air and over powered by your aura? Is less to more or is more too much?

Does the perfume you were say something about the person you are? Can it attract the opposite sex as it says on the box? Do fragrances with added Pheromone actually work or is it just all a ploy to attract us, the unassuming consumer?

When did buying perfume become like wine tasting? Yet another subject I have never understood? All these musky, oaky, fruity undertones which we should be able to taste, and also compliment the meat dish you've just ordered off the menu, the summer dessert or the dining occasion, why not drink it because you like it and it pleases your palate?

I wish perfume was a little more like wine in another way, for example you will taste a wine at a function or a friend's house, if you like the taste you will automatically ask the name of the wine and where it was bought, and yet if you smell a fragrance which is pleasing on a stranger you wouldn't dream stopping them in the street and asking what fragrance they are wearing at the moment? Why not? In actual fact it is a compliment.

In reality I think perfume is a matter of personal taste and preference, it should be a unique decision based on what smells good to you. You could buy a perfume because it's the biggest new thing on the market for this season or because your favourite model or pop singers name appears on the packaging! Alternatively be individual, trust what your nose tells you, apply liberally and enjoy wearing the fragrance which you have chosen because it's what you wanted.