buying a perfume

‘Where do I start?’

Some of the customers who visit our shop in Sidmouth know where they are going. They'll have positive views about the kinds of scents they like, and those they don't. Others, faced with the choice of hundreds of tester bottles on our shelves are like children in a sweet shop - keen to experiment and experience as many as they can with an open mind; happy just to dive straight in and see where serendipity takes them. A significant majority however ask the inevitable when faced with so much choice - "where do I start".

chosing perfume If there really was a scientific and foolproof method to chosing a scent, it would of course very much negate the stated purpose of this website. A scent is chosen from the heart not from the head. However, scent is the most primative of our senses, it connects with our memories and experiences that reside in our soul, so we can at least approach the task from a knowledge of ourselves. At the very least, a fragrance should be worn the way we wear our clothes - it should be an expression of who we are, and who we want to be; a manifestation of our inner selves.

If that sounded too esoteric, let's bring it all back down to earth! Like clothes, fragrances can and should reflect purpose and occassion. Is the perfume being worn for day wear? Is it about being casual and relaxed? In that case, you might want to consider a light floral (or for something very fresh - maybe a scent with a citrus feel). If on the other hand the scent is being worn for an evening out then something more seductive might be appropriate - perhaps musk, or an oriental theme, or a warm and spicy note. Like our clothes, scents for Spring might equally be fresh and clean; florals in Summer; evocatively spicey in Autumn and rich and warming in Winter. The key point is to think more about the scents we wear, why we're wearing them, and what mood each style creates for us and those around is.

A scent should also reflect your personality. In your dress, are you more comfortable with restrained classic attire or do you look for something more modern, daring or provocative? For the chic classic, you might want to wear an refined and sophisticated historic scent or a modern take on a classic style, but for something more provoking there's a wide choice too of scents by perfumers keen to push against the boundaries of convention.