Perfume, the Necessary Accessory

While getting ready for a night out on the town, you go through your mental checklist.  Hair perfectly colored, cut and styled – check.  Perfect black party dress with the right accessories – check.  Flawless skin, make up and nails – check.

But as you go to spray on your same old every day fragrance, you realize that something is missing.  Your fragrance does not create an aura of mystery or excitement.  It’s conservative and expected.   Now this may be ok for every day, but for what you hope will be an extraordinary night, you need subtle yet sexy scent that lingers slightly.  In fact, you need a few new scents.  You need a perfume makeover!

Here are some tips for what not to wear in perfume that will get you noticed for all of the right reasons:

Consult the experts.  In order to break the habit of wearing the same old perfume, you need to reacquaint yourself with the kinds of fragrances you like.  Do your research.  Sephora has a great online Fragrance Finder for men and women that asks a series of questions and recommends fragrances based on the categories fresh, floral, oriental (as in spices) and woody.  The fragrance finder then directs you to perfumes you may like according to your general preferences.

Consider the mood you want to create.  Design perfume fragrances around your life.  Do you have a perfume like Prada that you wear with your power suits when you give presentations?  Perhaps you have another one that gives an aura of mystery or makes you feel sexy when you go out on the town, and a lighter one you wear when you are shopping, or running errands.  The moral of the story here is switch it up.  Don’t be so predictable when it comes to perfume.  Keep them guessing about your scent.

Avoid smelling like everyone else in the room.  Don’t run out to get the latest perfume mentioned on the My Favorite Things episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.  While we have nothing against Oprah (who does?), EVERYONE is going to run right out to the store and get that perfume just because she has endorsed it.  Try to find lesser known or worn scents to create uniqueness within your collection.  And if you do run right out to buy O’s favorite, definitely avoid wearing it every day, so you won’t always smell like everyone else in the room.

Consider it a necessary accessory. Think of your perfume collection as a necessary part of your beauty regimen or wardrobe.  Having a diverse perfume portfolio is like having an engaging handbag collection, the right line of skin care products or having low, a medium and a high black heel in your wardrobe.  If you look at a good perfume collection as necessary, you will build it with care and expertise.

Whatever you wear, don’t wear too much!  This is one of the most common faux-paux’s of perfume wearers.  They find a fragrance they like, and they put on WAY too much.  Try out your perfume at home before you wear it.  Ask the other people in your house whether or not it is overpowering.  And ask a few, because sense of smell is relative.  A good rule is to lightly dab it on your pulse points, elbow joints and knees.  Or, you could spray it in the air and walk through the mist, but be careful to spray only once!  The best time to apply it is directly after a bath or shower because your pores will absorb the fragrance.

And don’t forget, you want to be remembered as the person with the perfectly coiffed hair, beautiful make up and nails AND wearing the right fragrance.  Not the woman who looked good but was also good at clearing out a room!  Enjoy!