How to Choose... and Wear, a Fragrance

Testing for the perfect scent

Scents have a fascinating ability to activate memories and feelings. Our sense of smell is instinctive. The olfactory receptors in the nose connect directly to the brain's limbic system—the area of the brain responsible for emotions and memory.

Before you become consciously aware of a fragrance, your brain has already been analyzing and categorizing the scent. This sense is so powerful that it is used as a therapeutic tool in treating Alzheimer's patients. The patients are asked to identify scents and describe the memories associated with them.

Fragrance plays an important part in all of our lives. With that in mind, Indigo Perfumery has created the following guide to make it easier to select and wear perfumes and colognes.

When shopping for a fragrance

Start out with either no lotion or an unscented one.

Do not wear a fragrance before shopping so that you have the truest          impressions of the scents you are testing.

Do not shop for perfume after eating garlic, cumin or very spicy foods. 

After you have narrowed down your selections, begin by lightly spraying the perfume onto a tester strip. WAIT a minute or two before sniffing to allow the initial blast of alcohol to evaporate.

While waving the tester strip from side to side, take short, shallow sniffs rather than a deep inhale. This will enable you to smell several perfumes without fatiguing your nose (this is similar to how dogs sniff).

If you like what you smell, further test by lightly spraying onto your arm. Again, WAIT to sniff for a minute or two until the alcohol evaporates.

Evaluate over time. The top notes will dissipate over the next 10-15 minutes, revealing the heart notes and eventually the base notes, which linger for hours.

Sample, sample, sample. It is very difficult to tell how a perfume will interact with your skin's chemistry until you have discovered how the scent changes, which it will. A fragrance reveals its true nature over time as the notes evaporate on the skin.

Do not assume your friend's great perfume will be the same on you. Everyone's chemistry is different, affected by skin type, diet, hormones, medications, acid balance, etc.

When wearing a fragrance

Heat and humidity intensify fragrances, making them more potent. Citrus or aquatic scents smell clean and fresh in warmer weather and will not bother those around you. They tend to wear off quicker, which can be a plus in the humidity. You may need to reapply more often, allowing you to enjoy those top notes and smell great. Spicy, musky and woody fragrances work well in the cooler months.

Store in a cool, dark place, but not the refrigerator! A dark closet is perfect, as is a 60-degree temperature.

To apply, spray or dab on the body’s hot spots, such as the back of the neck. The skin's heat will activate the fragrance all day.

Also spray on the other pulse points (inside of elbow, wrist, groin, behind the knee, etc.).

To prolong the life of a scent, first apply unscented lotion or cream, which will trap the fragrance notes longer.

Keep in mind that oily skin (and a spicy or high fat diet) intensifies scents (oils on the skin trap the fragrance notes), while dry skin results in the scent evaporating more quickly.

The "French" art of applying perfume is to walk through a mist of fragrance so that the whole body is coated in the scent, creating an even distribution. We don’t usually recommend this, as a fragrance needs to interact with the skin to develop to its fullest potential.