Perfume… *sigh*
I don’t think there is anything more heavenly for women to wear but perfume. If I had to choose a perfume: what other perfume is more classic than No. 5? Perfume is one of my favorite things to wear in the winter time. For me, winter is a very drab & quite boring season; & there’s nothing like perfume to spice things up.
Before I go into detail, I must explain some things about perfume. All perfumes & body mists consist a certain percentage of oils, and here’s the difference: eau de toilette has about 4-8% concentration, while eau de parfum has an 8-15% concentration. There are some manufacturers that sell parfum, which has the highest, 15-30%. Obviously, if you do have a parfum, you can wear less, because it will last longer.
Keep in mind that when a manufacturer / designer makes both EDT and EDP, the EDP will be more expensive. There are some exceptions where the perfume has the same name, but the toilette & parfum versions smell completely different. ALWAYS test before you buy! whether it be from a magazine, smelling it in the store; never buy a perfume blindly. I personally don’t care for body mists; I think that they’re just a waste of time & money. I think that they’re for women who love just a good spritz after the shower.
If you’re on a budget: buy a rollerball! At sephora they sell over 200 for you to choose from! They’re convenient, allow you to try it out, and fits in your bag. Most rollerballs are in the $20 range.
If you’re on a budget & can’t commit to one fragrance: buy a coffret! You probably don’t know what I’m talking about. They sell them in department stores, they do sell a few on sephora, occasionally at places like TJMaxx, and definitely sell them in the duty free section of the airport. They’re like a mini set of small bottles of perfumes. They sell them by brand, so think carefully. I love them because I get to sample each scent individually & they make great presents.
If you have to have a bottle of perfume & are on a budget: if you’re like me, (not crazy about rollerballs) and you absolutely have to have a bottle of perfume, the last resort would be: ebay.com. There are lots of people selling perfume on ebay! Keep in mind they might be selling testers, a bottle they used once or twice, etc.
Tip: Never buy anything on ebay from a seller that has less than 95% approval rating. The competition is so high that it’s just not worth it. I have bought several perfumes off ebay; I can get them at half the price they sell in store!! Also be wary & always compare prices. There are always people on eBay looking to make a profit, & sometimes will sell them at exaggerated prices.
And I have to mention ph balance. You might have heard of it, but not everyone knows about it. When you spray perfume directly onto your skin, the perfume will react to the chemistry of your skin & the scent will change. That’s why the same perfume smells differently on different people. For me this is a bit pish posh, for usually I spray perfume on my clothes for them to last longer.
Another Tip: if you combine the scented lotion with the perfume together, it will also last much longer. Also you can take a squeeze of some non scented lotion in your hand, spray a spritz of perfume in it, & then put it on. This causes the smell to radiate more naturally. A tip from Aerin Lauder, the granddaughter of Estee Lauder: to make a scent last, she would spray it in her hairbrush before brushing her hair. (However, don’t put perfume in your hair if you color it)
Lastly, never drown yourself in perfume. You don’t want to be the person that people can “smell” you before you enter the room. There’s an expression in Italian, when a person puts on perfume ‘like a prostitute’ (meaning that prostitutes wear too much perfume). Lol don’t be that person.
Rollerballs at Sephora: http://www.sephora.com/search/search.jsp?keyword=rollerball
Coffrets at Macy’s: http://www1.macys.com/shop/search?keyword=coffret
Coffrets at Sephora: http://www.sephora.com/search/search.jsp?keyword=coffret
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