Best Beauty Equipment

The beauty of perfume is its versatility; there really is a fragrance out there to grace any occasion. Whether it’s a casual lunch in a local restaurant, or an ultra-swanky evening out at a glitzy party, the finishing touch of any woman’s preparations should be a generous spray with an appropriate perfume. That way, you not only look good, you can be confident that you smell wonderful, too.

Often, the most difficult decision to make when shopping for perfume is which fragrance to buy. If you’re simply purchasing one you’ve used in the past, that’s relatively easy. You can trust that particular product, and will know which size bottle will suit your needs and your budget. However, if you’re planning to buy one you’ve never had before, it can be a bit of a hit and miss affair.

Perfume companies spend fortunes on their advertising campaigns, so it may be that you’ve been swayed by one of their glamorous ads on the television or at the cinema. Many people have been persuaded by them in the past, and have gone on to buy perfumes that they’ve loved from the very start. Trying one of them is the only true way of finding whether you like it or not.

Others may choose a particular fragrance because of the name of the celebrity on the bottle. More and more famous stars are releasing their own perfume products, and many people, out of admiration for that particular celebrity, have chosen a bottle based on the pulling power of the name. Pop singers, Hollywood actresses and TV personalities are just some of the stars who have dipped their toes in the market.

Buying perfume in the high street can be a pleasurable experience, but it doesn’t suit everyone. The fragrance counters in the local department stores are well stocked with all the top names, and the staff are usually very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. If you wish, you can ask for a sample, so at least you’ll know a little bit about the product before you buy it.

However, more and more people are turning to the Internet these days to do their shopping, and there are a number of significant advantages to buying online. Perhaps the most apparent is the convenience; the opportunity to shop without leaving the comfort of the home is a major attraction for some consumers.

There’s also the absence of any crowds to deal with. At the weekends, our shopping centres are teeming with people, all barging into one another for an extra inch or two of space. While some don’t object to this, others hate even the thought of it. Buying perfume is often so much more civilised on the Internet.

By Kat Brunton

A good perfume seems to encapsulate the personality of the wearer perfectly, reflecting and enhancing their natural style and femininity in a subtle yet memorable way.

On the other hand, an unsuitable one can end up being cloying and stifling, and will either be completely overpowering or too quick to fade away, leaving behind only a lingering synthetic shadow.

So how do you go about choosing the perfect perfume? Obviously, there is no one right answer for everyone in this respect. And it’s certainly not just a case of “the more you spend, the better the fragrance”. There is a dizzying array of scents available at prices ranging from the paltry to the princely, and selecting the one that’s right for you is never an easy decision.

The first thing to do is to get down to your local high street and sample some of the perfumes on offer. While it may be tempting to go wild and shower yourself with free samples, this is not a good idea. If you spray all the fragrances you can find about your person, your nose will be swamped and unable to pick out each individual one from the ensuing cacophony of smells.

Instead, ask the sales assistant for some fragrance blotters and a pen. Fragrance blotters are small strips of especially absorbent paper or cloth. If the shop doesn’t have these, then ordinary notepaper will do at a pinch. Spray each blotter or piece of paper with a different brand and write its name on the strip.

Although you won’t get the full effect of each scent from the strips – perfumes are specially formulated so that the heat of the human body draws out the more subtle elements of the fragrance – you will be able to judge each one independently and get a better idea of which is best suited to your individual taste.

Once you’ve selected a few that you like, you can go back to the shop and try them on your skin one at a time. Be sure not to rub the scent in after applying, as this can distort the delicate blend of active ingredients and give you a slightly skewed impression of it.

Then – and this is very important – leave the shop. The very best perfumes take time to build to their true aroma, so you have to give them a period to “settle in”. Try each of your shortlisted ones in this way, as some fragrances can be exceptionally expensive, so it pays to make sure you’re getting the one that is just right for you.

Once you have made your choice, avoid the high street like the plague. As with a lot of high-value goods, you can usually find a far better deal online than you ever will in bricks-and-mortar stores. The process of finding your fragrance at the very cheapest price available is made far easier by specialist comparison sites, which will search the web on your behalf and show you who is selling your preferred brand for the least.

So, when it comes to choosing the perfect perfume, the main thing to remember is to take your time. A good one can be a significant investment, so doing a little research first to make sure you’re definitely going to be happy with your final decision is always advisable.

By Kat Brunton