Tag: perfume samples

How to find a new fragrance – tips & tricks to try before you buy

We’ve learned all manner of tips and tricks at The Perfume Society, which we’re thrilled to share with you, here. We’ve been privileged to meet some of the world’s best perfumers and foremost fragrance experts over the last seven years we’ve been going, and want to share their advice with you, below.

If you want a fabulous new fragrance to try, need tips on how to smell it as a perfumer does or how to describe what you’re smelling, consider some of these most useful fragrant facts to help you enjoy your fragrances even more…

Your taste in fragrance changes over the years – just as in food preference – and depends on weather, what you’ve eaten recently, your mood and hormones. So, take your time to explore a new scent out of your comfort range.

Spray on a blotter first and come back to it at hourly intervals. Write down your initial thoughts, then re-try a few days (and weeks) later.

Many perfumers trained for more years than a heart surgeon, memorising ingredients by connecting their smell to personal scent memories and images that immediately spring to mind, unbidden.

Smell has no distinct language. If you’re struggling to describe a scent, try likening it to fabric (is it velvety, suede-like, cotton fresh, silken or fluffy?) Perhaps it reminds you of music (played on which instruments? Fast or slow?) Or you might picture a place – imagine the air temperature and scenery it evokes…

Your nose gets used to smelling the same things, so avoid wearing the same thing daily. Try layering to re-awaken your senses or branch out with exciting new discoveries!

Like all artists, perfumers tend to have a certain style. If you fall in love with one (we’re predicting several) of these, research them online: we bet you’ll fall for others.

Scent molecules are volatile and evaporate at differing rates. Citruses are lightest, often found in top notes and disappearing rapidly; florals tend to be in the heart while base notes are heavier, woody or resinous. Make these stages last FAR longer by using matching or unscented body lotion, spray into your hair or on clothes (after testing on tissue!)

Undecided? Spray on a scarf rather than skin: you can take it off and sniff again, later! Spraying on fabric (or your hair) also helps make it last far longer as the molecules don’t warm up so quickly (or evaporate) as on skin. As does…

Use an unscented (or matching) body lotion or oil. Fragrance doesn’t last long on dry skin (or in hot climates). It clings far longer to moisturised skin – so slather up, then spray.

Don’t know what to try next? Use our simple Find a Fragrance tool: just type the name of a fragrance you already know and love, and the so-clever algorithm suggests six new scents with similar characters to try.

Fragrance samples are THE best way to try new things, dive nose-first into a whole new house you’ve never tried or perhaps a differing perfume family than you’d normally go for.

We know that a full bottle can be a big investment and not everyone happens to live near a shop with a great selection. That’s why we put together carefully curated Discovery Boxes. Our Launches We Love Discovery Box is a stunning selection of new names, with gorgeous mini bottles and generous samples from niche and luxury houses we know you’re going to love as much as we do…

By Suzy Nightingale

Explore fragrance during #lockdown – how to get perfume samples sent to your home…

Explore fragrance during #lockdown – it’s instantly mood-lifting and can be utterly mind-blowing! Here’s how to get perfume samples sent to your home…

Since the first #lockdown, The Perfume Society has more than ever become the go-to for perfume-lovers who want to try fragrances on their skin before buying – or simply experience the pleasure of smelling new scents.

 

 

Even during the summer/early autumn window, when stores were reopened, most retailers had removed their tester units, making it impossible for shoppers to discover what fragrances on sale actually smell like. And with the government locking down England once again, The Perfume Society is once again virtually the ONLY way for perfume-lovers to sample fragrance, via our own curated Discovery Boxes of samples, together with the wide range of niche brand Discovery Sets in our online shop.

 

What’s more, here at The Perfume Society, we offerr a wealth of great advice about how to best test a fragrance in the FAQ section of our website – but the world’s greatest perfumers agree with us, that the only way to truly get to know a new fragrance is by trying it on your skin, first.

Fragrance takes time to develop on your skin. ‘Top Notes’ (the ones you smell first) only last fleetingly, up to fifteen minutes, before disappearing. The ‘Heart Notes’ and ‘Base Notes’ linger far longer, and these are only detectable after properly living with them as your skin warms up and the notes bloom. So a ‘spray and pray’ split-second purchase was never the best way to try perfume, anyway – something many of who’ve ever grabbed a random bottle at Duty Free and lived to regret, hours later on a long-distance plane journey (remember those?!) can relate to only too well.

 

 

While some other sectors have struggled, we’ve seen a HUGE rise in sales of our Discovery Boxes for both men and women, with feedback telling us that 70% of those who purchased one of our Perfume Society Discovery Boxes went on to purchase a full-size bottle of one of the samples they tried, and to recommend others to friends.

There’s been a massive rise, too, in people looking for personalised fragrance recommendations, via our Find-A-Fragrance tool. You simply type in the name of a fragrance you already love, and it recommends you six new scents to try (in Male/Female or ‘Unisex’ categories) based on our unique algorithm. It’s spookily accurate! In 2019 we made over 2.5 million personalised recommendations, and that figure is up 161% year on year since the start of lockdown.

 

 

We carefully curate each of our Perfume Society Discovery Boxes to include samples and mini sizes from a breadth of fragrances houses. These range from new, niche indie brands and the ‘rising stars’ of the perfumery world, to established luxury and classic high-street names. Even in ‘normal’ times, not everyone happens to live near a well-stocked perfumery or independent boutique, we have delighted perfume-lovers from John O’ Groats to Land’s End with our Discovery Boxes and Perfume House Sets, enabling them to discover, explore and enjoy fragrance in the comfort (and safety) of their own homes.

Feedback from real perfume-lovers about our most recent box include: ‘It’s a treat for me. I work for the NHS and it’s a good stress relief to enjoy them all.’

And: ‘This is the third box I’ve bought and have not been disappointed yet. Even the scents I don’t enjoy are an experience, and I’m able to share the perfume love with friends.’

 

Don’t suffer from a lack of new scent-sniffing opportunities in your life! Why not take this time to explore a whole world of mind-blowingly great new, niche and luxury fragrance houses you may never have heard of or not yet had the chance to try…?

 

Come into the garden with Parterre

When David and Julia Bridger decided to combine the ruling passions of their lives – art, gardens, travel and perfume – and gather a team of experts (literally) in their field, they set in motion a series of events that is poised to change the face of British fragrance forever. And put Parterre on the map…

Embracing the concept of ‘from seed to bottle’, David and Julia not only set out to to grow, harvest and distil many of their own ingredients – but they also had a longing to try growing crops that had never before been grown on British soil. Even including – astonishingly – vetiver.

The English-grown vetiver is key in their sublime scent, Root of All Goodness, which you can try a sample of in our Niche Collection II Discovery Box:

 

Root of All Goodness

FAMILY: Fougère
TOP NOTES: ginger, lemon, bergamot
HEART NOTES: clary sage, hyssop, blue hyssop
BASE NOTES: vetiver, leather accords, amber

Those craving warmth should look no further than Parterre’s golden elixir, an evocative blend of all things radiant. Even the top notes of bergamot and lemon have been enriched with the tingle of ginger, softly melding into the hazy heart of camphorous hyssop and herbaceous clary sage.

 

To continue the story of this garen-centric house, the work that has gone into this project is nothing short of astounding. It begins with finding and restoring Keyneston Mill in the Dorset’s Tarrant Valley, bordered by the River Stour. There, a series of botanical gardens has been designed – hence the name, ‘Parterre’ – divided into ‘The Fougère Garden’ (with its ferns, lavender and mosses), the Padua Garden (roses, jasmine, geranium), and so on.

The planting expands into surrounding fields, with crop-scale ingredients, including rose geranium, mint, yarrow and the aforementioned vetiver. (Which we can report is incredibly smooth and pure: a vetiver lover’s dream!). For Julia and David, this is about ‘reinventing perfumery by taking it back to its roots.’ Parterre‘s motto: ‘Where creative botany meets artistry and the wild spirit of adventure.’

We think you’re going to want to explore this garden of fragrances quite thoroughly… You can vist Parterre’s Keyneston Mill gardens for a small £3 entry charge, and of course explore the Root of All Goodness in your own home, – along with twelve other fragrances – in our Niche Collection II Discovery Box!

Niche Collection II Discovery Box £19 (£15 for VIP Club members)

By Suzy Nightingale

Last chance to grab a Limited Edition Niche Discovery Box!

Well we told you it was limited, but we had no idea they’d sell this quickly! If you’re wanting to try a superb selection of truly intriguing Limited Edition Niche fragrances, you’d best act fast as this could be your last chance…

For a deep-dive in to the wonderful world of the Limited Edition Niche Discovery Box, we’ve put together our iconic Smelling Notes online – exclusive to The Perfume Society – in which we take you through the notes you can expect to smell, an evocative description of each fragrance we’ve included in the box, a look at the history and inspiration behind each house, and a fun (but highly educational) list of questions to ask yourself while sniffing them.

But really, time is of the scented essence, here, so we’d best give you a shorter run-down so you can choose to buy before this box goes, forever!

P.S: Thank you, Sam, writer of the perfume blog I Scent You A Day for sharing this picture (we’re always thrilled when you send us pics of our perfume boxes ‘in the wild’ as it were!)

As you can see, it’s brimming over with a fab selection of scents to try at home, and here’s what you get:

Anima Vinci Sesame Chān 7.5ml eau de parfum (full size £150 for 100ml)
Atkinsons Mint & Tonic 2ml eau de parfum (£130 for 100ml)
BDK Parfums Rouge Smoking 2ml eau de parfum (£150 for 100ml)
E. Coudray Musc et Freesia 1.5ml eau de toilette (£65 for 100ml)
Fragrance du Bois Oud Vert Intense 2ml eau de parfum (£295 for 50ml)
Juliette Has a Gun Liquid Illusion 1.7ml eau de parfum (£200 for 75ml)
Kingdom Scotland Metamorphic 2ml eau de parfum (£110 for 50ml)
Merchant of Venice Blue Tea 5ml eau de parfum (£180 for 100ml)
Modernist Geist 2ml eau de parfum (£150 for 50ml)
Parle Moi de Parfum Une Tonne de Roses / 8 2ml eau de parfum (£98 for 50ml)
Parterre Run of the River 2ml eau de parfum (£95 for 50ml)
Prosody Rose Rondeaux 2ml eau de parfum (£135 for 50ml)
Serge Lutens Santal Blanc 1ml eau de parfum (£110 for 100ml)
Tom Daxon Laconia 4.5ml eau de parfum (full size £105 for 50ml)

The Limited Edition Niche Discovery Box also contains two divinely fragrant extras…

Cochine White Jasmine & Gardenia Smoothing Hand Cream 5ml (full size £14 for 50ml)
Cochine Tuberose & Wild Fig Smoothing Hand Cream 5ml (full size £14 for 50ml)

Limited Edition Niche Discovery Box £23 (£19 for our VIP Club members)

Grab yours while you still can – or get a back-up if you already have one and adore it!