With the season getting colder and us officially in Autumn, stores smell like cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and everything nice. This is the official scent of fall. Now, it’s time to think about what your official scent is. Perfumes and colognes can reflect our personality and tastes, just as our fashion and beauty picks can. However, finding the right fragrance requires more than a brief sniff.
When considering how to find your signature scent, just like your fashion sense, you’d also like your perfume to reflect who you are. Whether you prefer a floral and fresh combination or a stronger woodsy and spiced scent to reflect an earthier side of you, different combinations might surprise you as well. Essentially, your favorite perfumes are identified by their dominant scent profile; from there, you would build your scent profile.
What is a Scent Profile?
Every fragrance consists of a combination of notes and ingredients that work together to create a scent profile. Scent profiles blend a variety of characteristics and components, like refreshing notes of citrus or linen, while other scents include jasmine, vanilla, pistachio, or caramel.
Usually, scent profiles can stay relatively similar, but they can also change over time and progress from one style to another. However, your dominant scent note will be one of the four: woody, floral, ambery, or fresh (along with their subcategories.)
You’ll often find the dominant scent, the middle, and base notes. The dominant note is what you initially smell when you use the fragrance, but they’re the first impression. The middle is what is what appears once the initial smell wears off; they last a bit longer. Then, the base notes are left at the end, the smell you remember the most. They’re the body of the perfume that works with the middle notes to give you your perfect signature scent.
Floral Scents
Floral scents are popular because they have a sweet and flowery aroma, which can often be the dominant scent in many fragrances. This floral family is usually found in many fragrances, including lavender, rose, rosy peony, green daisy, jasmine, and so many more. All of these scents allow for a sense of freshness and sweetness. They may smell like fresh-cut flowers or powdery. These beautiful scents are romantic, sweet, and timeless.
Woody Scents
Woody scents have a warm and captivating aroma that is both sensual and comforting. This aroma often includes dominant scents of amber, oak moss, dry sandalwood, cedar, musky, smoky woody, and many more earthy tones. These scents may smell warm, opulent, and powdery. Their base notes often have a stronger and more potent scent, which can be categorized as more masculine.
Ambery Scents
Ambery scents are known for their warm, sweet, and spicy undertones. Many popular notes in these scents are lush amber, vanilla, cinnamon, orris, myrrh, orange blossom, and cardamom. These scents add richness to their palette, emitting a cozier and sweeter vibe. They often may smell like herbal, spicy, or dry resin.
Fresh Scents
Fresh scents are typically defined by their zesty, vibrant, and aromatic compositions. Notes that can be found in these fragrances are lush orange, lemon, grapefruit, citrus, sea spray, and linen. These undertones smell bright, citrusy, and clean; you almost seem to find yourself on a summer day with the sun shining on you, a happy day with just a bit of tanginess in the air—a rather uplifting scent to add to your scent profile.
Now what?
Now that you know what a scent is, it’s time to tailor these scents and use some tips to help you discover your signature scent.
Consider your Style
Self-expression is important and ties in with different parts of who you are, whether you have a laid-back vibe or a more eccentric appeal—finding a perfume that matches and aligns with your brand. Much of it comes down to who you are and what you want your smell to reflect. Certain fragrances may come off in different ways with their presentation and perceptions, and an important factor to consider is how those fragrances work with your aesthetic.
What Smells appeal to you
There are things we naturally may gravitate towards and enjoy more than others. My first favorite scent was the Bath and Body Works Champagne Toast perfume, and I still enjoy it. Some may find the perfect aroma in citrusy smells or a fragrance that smells like an entire lavender field. Consider how a fragrance makes you feel when you smell it and if you want to smell how that fragrance makes you feel, whether it’s delicious, fun, clean, strong, elegant, or playful. An excellent place to look is what smells have previously caught your attention, and work from there.
Get to know your Signature Scent
Since our bodies have their chemistry and pH, the balance of each scent could wear differently on one person than on another. It takes time to distinguish which perfumes you like the best, or which ones work well for your body. Many fragrances come in smaller or travel-sized versions, and trying these first may be worthwhile. Consider experimenting with one at a time to find what makes you feel and smell great.
Good luck!
Finding a signature scent may be easier than for others, but enjoy experimenting with your scents and allowing yourself to find that one signature fragrance that expresses who you are.