There's a peculiar amount of pressure involved in finding a signature scent these days.
It's supposed to capture your personality. Make you unforgettable. Announce your presence before you've even entered the room.
Good Lord. It's perfume.
I do like the idea of a signature scent. Something people eventually associate with you. Something familiar that brings you to mind, perhaps years later.
That's one of the beautiful things about fragrance.
But I don't believe you find that kind of connection by deciding what sort of person you'd like everybody to think you are.
And I certainly wouldn't trust a stranger on the internet to make that decision for you.
You have a nose.
I'd suggest giving it a vote.
Your Nose Doesn't Need a Personality Profile
The fragrance industry has developed some rather entertaining ideas about what our preferences supposedly reveal.
Love citrus? You're energetic and outgoing.
Prefer woods? You're sophisticated and mysterious.
Enjoy vanilla? Apparently, you're a romantic.
And what if you enjoy all three?
An identity crisis?
Or perhaps you simply appreciate a good fragrance.
I think we occasionally forget that we're allowed to enjoy something without assigning it a personality.
Start by exploring what genuinely appeals to you. Fresh compositions, florals, woods, amber, aromatics. There's an extraordinary amount to discover.
Understanding fragrance families can help you recognize what you're smelling.
But they're a map, not a psychological assessment.
And sometimes the most interesting discoveries happen when you try something you were convinced you wouldn't like.
Stop Falling in Love With the First Five Minutes
I've never particularly understood purchasing an expensive bottle of perfume based entirely on its opening.
That's rather like judging an entire conversation by the handshake.
Some fragrances make a magnificent entrance.
Unfortunately, they don't always have much to say afterward.
A well-constructed perfume is intended to develop. The opening introduces the composition. The heart begins revealing its character. And the dry-down may be quite different from what first caught your attention.
Give it that opportunity.
Spray the fragrance on your skin. Then go about your day.
Have lunch. Go shopping. Do whatever you were planning to do before perfume became the centre of your existence.
Come back to it several hours later.
Still love it?
Now we're getting somewhere.
Your Skin Gets a Say Too
Here's another reason I don't believe in choosing a fragrance exclusively from a testing strip.
You're not made of paper.
Your skin, its condition, the environment and the fragrance's formulation all influence the wearing experience.
Something that smells beautiful on a blotter might feel less appealing after a few hours on your skin.
The reverse can happen, too.
And please don't become obsessed with concentration percentages.
We've covered the differences between Extrait de Parfum and Eau de Parfum, and I remain convinced that composition matters considerably more than the number printed on a label.
If longevity is a concern, there are sensible ways to help perfume last longer.
But don't confuse a fragrance's ability to hang around with its ability to be worth smelling.
Those are two very different accomplishments.
And Give Your Poor Nose a Break
There's a particular kind of madness involved in visiting a fragrance counter and attempting to smell everything.
Twenty bottles. Thirty opinions. Several hundred notes.
By the end, you're not entirely certain whether you're smelling sandalwood or the sleeve of your own jacket.
Your sense of smell adapts to repeated exposure.
We've discussed olfactory fatigue elsewhere, but the practical advice is fairly simple.
Stop.
Take a break.
Try fewer fragrances at a time.
And don't feel obligated to purchase something because you've already spent forty minutes standing at the counter.
That's hardly a compelling reason to spend your money.
You May Already Have Found It
Here's something worth considering.
Your signature scent might not be the fragrance that impresses you most during a testing session.
It might be the one you keep reaching for without thinking about it.
The one you enjoy on an ordinary day.
The one that still makes you smile when you catch a trace of it hours later.
It doesn't need to be fashionable.
It doesn't need to be expensive.
And it certainly doesn't need to announce to the world that someone terribly important has arrived.
Because I've always believed that fragrance should reveal something about the person wearing it, not manufacture an identity for them.
If people eventually come to associate a particular fragrance with you, wonderful.
But I'd argue there's a more important test.
Do you still love wearing it when nobody else is around to notice?
If the answer is yes, I think you've found something worth keeping.
— Vach Cittoni
If you'd like to find out whether CEO, Eleven, or Wizdem might be your signature scent, take a look at each.
You can also try our Fragrance Finder Quiz or explore the Discovery Set if you're ready to get started.