How to build a fragrance wardrobe – we’ve all the tools right here!

How to build your fragrance wardrobe is a bit like beginning to put together one of those ‘capsule wardrobes’ you see lauded in magazines. You need to know what suits you, those that work for specific roles in your life, and then ‘wild card’ pieces you’d perhaps never imagined but somehow express your inner soul.

Easier said than done, right? And a bit daunting. But it really doesn’t have to be.

A lot of us get stuck in the elusive search for a ‘signature scent’ – something that’s befuddled many an otherwise perfectly level-headed person – which had to be your one true love meeting your every need, match your every mood and mark you out as unique.

A wardrobe of fragrances caters to your many moods (hopefully you have more than one!) the multitude occasions and roles we play: colleague / friend / sibling / child / parent / lover – the list goes on… Have a read of the tips below, and let the fragrance wardrobe building begin…

 

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Just as jeans and a white shirt are a great fashion basic, but may not be deemed acceptable for a high-powered meeting or a glitzy party; one solitary perfume is unlikely to express every facet of your personality. Moreover, perfume should be fun – a hushed whisper of intriguing hints at your personality rather than a name tag sewn to a uniform.

You don’t need to know a lot about fragrance to begin: try typing the name of one you love into our Find a Fragrance tool – it will suggest six others to try.

Do some research online and find out name of the nose who made perfumes you already like – it’s an excellent starting point in your quest for tentatively branching out. Just as fashion designers have a signature cut, many perfumers stamp their mark in the scents they create.

Never imagine you know exactly which notes you love and hate. For many years I laboured under the misapprehension that I simply could not abide rose in any form; but several of my favourites contain rose – it all depends on the quality, quantity and how it’s are used.

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When trying something completely new, allow yourself to fall under the spell of the smell alone, without heeding the notes. Focus on how it makes you feel, the images it conjures. Where does it take you? What outfit would you pair with it? What’s the material / colour / texture?

Throw a Bring a Bottle perfume garden party for your friends, get everyone to bring fragrances – especially those languishing on dusty shelves – and a number of samples for you all to smell. Try them, swap them, critique them – surprise yourselves. Be brave!

With all this in mind, if you still need a starting point, it’s a good idea to try some differing types of fragrances from various houses / style of perfumer. Discovery Boxes and Brand Discovery Sets are ideal for this. You might surprise yourself! Then you’ll start to see the gaps in your collection and discover which you need in your new Fragrance Wardrobe…

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Explore your Fragrance Wardrobe

What to wear?! We curated an extra special selection of scents for our Fragrance Wardrobe Discovery Box – eleven (count ’em!) perfumes to shake you out of the doldrums and get you excited to explore fragrances you perhaps hadn’t thought about trying before!

We all get stuck in a rut sometimes, constantly reaching for the same or very similar things – from a clothing stash or Fragrance Wardrobe – by means of habit rather than active choice. But you wouldn’t want to wear the same outfit every single day, even if you loved it. The idea of a ‘signature scent’ is a bit old hat nowadays, plus your nose gets used to fragrances if you wear them 24/7, so it’s good to change up your style and try something new.

Here’s a tempting selection we bet you wont have tried all of, from just-launched designer names and new niche to a revived classic we’re totally swooning over.

In the Fragrance Wardrobe Discovery Box, try these olfactory outfits on for size…

 

EFFORTLESS CHIC:

Cartier Carat – Luminescent modern floral with a dazzling fresh bouquet of violet, lily, hyacinth and honeysuckle
Calvin Klein Women – Sparkling floriental hugging green eucalyptus with soft magnolia petals atop reassuringly soft white musk
Elizabeth Arden My Fifth Avenue – Stylish floral radiating crisp citrus, violet leaves and amber-warmed woods

LAIDBACK COOL:

Tory Burch – Unfussy (almost tomboy-ish) floral, a lush bouquet shot through with soothingly cool vetiver
Juliette Has a Gun Moscow Mule – Fresh cocktail with a kick of ginger, lime and apple on an unexpectedly sexy, woody base
Thierry Mugler Aura – Thrillingly original ambrée, hibiscus seeds, Tiger LianaTM, and iris for tropical leafyness infused with mist
Marc Jacobs Daisy Love – Radiant gourmand floating on crystalised cloudberries, swathed in cosy cashmere

GOING ‘OUT’ OUT:

La Perla Classic – Seriously sensual chypre throbbing with Indian carnation and spiced roses on an oakmoss base
Jimmy Choo Fever – Lusciously juicy floriential with black plum, vanilla orchid, jasmine and heliotrope
Anna Sui Fantasia – Delicious gourmand swirling cassis and pink pomelo with raspberry praline and cedarwood

BIG DAY/SPECIAL OCCASION:

Oscar De La Renta Bella Blanca – Succulent white floral freshened with pear juice, gauzy layers of jasmine and peachy musk

There’s also two fabulous beauty extras: a STUDIO 10 Lip Perfecting Balm Gloss in a lustrously blushed coral together with a gorgeously modern chypre in the form of Molton Brown Jasmine & Sunrose Shower Gel (30ml). So get building that wardrobe!

For a mere £19 (£15 for VIP Club Members), you can consider wearing something different and exciting, comfortingly cool or fabulously opulent every single day (or night) for nearly two weeks!

PLUS! Anyone who buys The Fragrance Wardrobe Discovery Box is entered into a prize draw to win a full-size version of one of the fragrances featured! 

We think this would be a great gift for a fashionista friend, or someone who’s nervous about branching out of their fragrance comfort zone, along with hardened perfume lovers already anxious to delve into this bumper box of delights, of course.

So now, the question wont so much be ‘what can I wear?’ but more ‘what can I wear NEXT?!’

Written by Suzy Nightingale