Hi all! I am brand new to perfumes - I don't own any nor have I ever. I would really like to invest a few hours over the next 2-3 months to pick one perfume that I can wear daily (year-round, across occasions).
Not asking for specific recs, I know that's not allowed, but about whether the approach / way I'm thinking about it is good.
[I understand it might be better for me to spend much more time over longer (a year+) to develop taste organically and get several perfumes but I'm not particularly into perfume as a hobby and for now I'm trying to be a bit efficient and just get one thing. Perhaps in a year or two I'll revisit with a more thorough search.]
Can you suggest whether this approach makes sense and let me know if there's anything else you suggest?
- Define criteria:
(a) Works in all seasons
(b) Works across settings (work, daytime, evening, event, etc.)
(c) I love the smell of it
(d) I can wear it on my skin for a week and feel it works well with my skin chemistry, projects and lasts well throughout the day, and I don't get sick of it
- Narrow down scent sub-families based on criteria (a) and (b): Based on some rough research of the 14 types of scents I think this leaves me with these 6 as the strongest contenders
- Soft Floral
- Woody
- Dry Wood
- Aromatic
- Water
- Green
For each fragrance sub-family left, pick ~5-10 scents to try in-store based on reddit/online recommendations (google scent family + read about what people seem to like, what sounds like it would smell good based on descriptions). This means 5-10 scents x 6 families = 30-60 scents to try in-store probably over 3-6 separate visits/days.
From each of those groups of 10 perfumes in 6 scent sub-families, pick ~1-3 of those to get a sampler of, based on what I liked most in-store and try each one. So a sampler of ~5-20 perfumes to try for a few days each.