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Picking out a good scent is a challenge, especially for the cologne-lovers who are very choosy and wear signature scents. The scent is your style statement and speaks about you, so choosing the right one is important as well as critical. The scents are complicated and made up of top, heart, and base notes, so you must have a little understanding of the notes, the natural aromas, and the fragrances you are attracted to. Moreover, only mesmerizing notes do not make a fragrance suitable for you. Some people are allergic to certain ingredients. Colognes containing such ingredients may cause different reactions like itching, sneezing or headache, etc., so knowing yourself is key here.
Other factors include the projection of the scents, their longevity, and their uniqueness. So, the right fragrance must be a combination of various attributes which make it an ideal choice and offers a pleasant experience. In this article, we have covered all those who love to wear colognes but do not know how to choose a cologne that works best. So, stick to us and discover a step-by-step approach to finding the best cologne for you.
Factors to Consider for buying a suitable cologne
1. Learn about the notes
Perfumes are made up of notes so understanding the notes is the key to understanding the fragrance. These notes are actually the three layers that make up the fragrance. The pyramid consists of top notes, heart notes, and base notes. Top notes or opening notes of a perfume can be felt when you apply the perfume. These notes are not long-lasting and fade away quickly because they are usually lighter than the rest of the fragrance. However, they leave the strongest impression on you because you smell them when you try the new fragrance. The most common top notes the colognes usually have are fresh herbs, light fruity notes, and citrus fruits.
Heart notes are the middle notes and constitute about 40% to 80% of the fragrance. They last long and leave an ever-lasting impact as well. They appear as soon as the top notes fade away, while the base notes are the final impression of the fragrance, and they are felt when the base notes have completely evaporated. They constitute about 10% to 25% of the fragrance and last longer than the top notes and heart notes. Common base notes used in the colognes are cedarwood, vanilla, musk, sandalwood, etc.
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2. Learn about fragrance families and their suitability
Scents are categorized into four families, i.e., woody, floral, amber & fresh. Understanding these families will help you to identify your preferences. People usually associate and wear fragrances according to the season, while some of them work all around the year. However, everyone may have a different preference, and they should update their fragrance wardrobe accordingly. Woody fragrances include sandalwood and patchouli, cedar and vetiver, etc. Floral fragrances include the scents of different flowers. This category further splits down into Floral, Soft floral & Floral Oriental. Another dominating category is Oriental. Oriental fragrances include spicy fragrances containing frankincense, myrrh, and vanilla notes. These fragrances are warm and smoky, so they are suitable for winters & autumn. Fresh fragrances fall into the citrus, fruity, green, and aromatic fragrances which feel super-refreshing in summers.
3. Find the Classic Scents
Some scents have mass appeal, so they are popular. You can easily find them in any cologne store and online. Knowing them will give you some good options for choosing one you would love to wear for a lifetime. Perfumers copy this known scent and make replicas, so they are now available at far lesser prices than the original. However, longevity and projection do matter. Make sure you inquire the salesman or manufacturer about it before buying.
4. Objective
Keep your objective in mind while choosing a fragrance. Make sure you choose a decent fragrance according to the event you are wearing it in. If you are going to buy the cologne for casual use, then it must not be very loud. However, if you are looking for a scent for a formal event or wedding, wearing a loud and spicy fragrance can be your go-to scent.
5. Internet Research
Google on the internet. You can get really good content and numerous groups made by the scent-lovers. You can check their reviews about a particular scent and get to know about these obsessions to narrow down your list of the best colognes available in the market. Moreover, you can also follow Vloggers, Bloggers, TikTokers, etc., to get to know more about the mesmerizing colognes. Various community-driven fragrance directories also exist, which can also help you to make a wise choice. A few popular perfume directories are Fragrantica, WikiParfum, Basenotes, etc.
6. Ask Fragrance Fanatics
Asking the scent lovers about their obsession is a good idea. This is how you will come to know about numerous lovely scents you don’t know about. Be conscious about the scents around you, notice them and ask your friends & acquaintances what they are wearing or those with a good sense of fragrance if you like their cologne.
7. Know Your Body Chemistry
Everybody’s body has different body chemistry, and it secretes natural body oils, so every skin reacts differently to the scent. So, it is important to know how your body reacts to your favorite scent. You can do it by wearing your favorite scent on the pulse point for some time to decide whether to buy it or not. If it exhibits redness, irritation, or any other kind of allergy, then it means that the scent is not for you. For example, some citrus scents cause skin irritation because of the presence of a high concentration of limonene.
8. Test the Cologne
Before you buy any fragrance, make sure you try it on your skin. Colognes are expensive so investing a fortune in a scent that you have never worn is silly. Moreover, everyone’s skin has its own odor and unique code of hormones, so the odor, longevity & projection of a certain cologne can be different on different skin types. So, we would advise you to try the fragrance on your skin before buying it. Spray a small amount of cologne and let it stay for a few minutes. The wrist & neck are the suitable areas to test the fragrance because scents usually stay well on these areas. Make the decision afterward. You can also buy a 2 ml sample before buying its bottle. Various scent stores sell free samples to promote their brand nowadays. Here are a few tips you should follow while testing a cologne;
- Sniff from the bottle first but don’t inhale the fragrance.
- Spray perfume on the blotter sheet and let it sit on it for a few seconds. This is how you can also smell it later and test its base notes and longevity.
- If you try your favorite perfumes on your skin, then try them on the pulse points like the wrist, elbow, or neck. These points are warmer, so the cologne reveals the true smell on the skin.
- Refresh your nose after testing each perfume. You can do not it by getting a whiff of a neutral thing like a cloth or coffee beans etc. so that the fragrances may not mix with each other.
- Compare perfumes with each other. Make a batch of perfumes you like and narrow down your list by checking them again to decide what to buy.
How do you know what strength cologne to use?
There are several perfume variations available in the market, so if you don’t have an idea about the perfume’s strength, then you may get confused and end up making the wrong decision. The strength of the cologne depends upon the concentration of perfume oils. A scent with a lesser concentration can vary from the scent with that of the greater one. The more the concentration of perfume oil is, the stronger and the purer the cologne will be. Moreover, the colognes which have a higher concentration of perfume oils have greater longevity on the skin. Such fragrances contain a lesser amount of alcohol and more oil, so they are expensive as well.
Here is a concise list of different variants and their concentration to give you an idea so that you may be able to choose your cologne wisely.
- Parfum contains 20%-40% concentration of Perfume oils.
- Eau de Parfum contains 15-20% Concentration of perfume oils.
- Eau de Toilette contains 5-15% Concentration of perfume oils.
- Eau de Cologne contains 2-5% Concentration of perfume oils
- Eau Fraîche contains 1-3% Concentration of perfume oils.
Wrapping Up
Whether it’s a floral one or a fruity blast, a scent speaks about your personality, and people associate and remember you with it, so one must choose it considerately. We hope this informational blog will help you to choose the right cologne suitable for your personality.
Do share your experience with us in the comments section below. Happy Shopping.
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