How To Find Your Signature Scent + 10 Tips
Discover the art of finding your signature scent with Noteworthy Scents! Our latest blog explores the science behind selecting the perfect fragrance that reflects your unique style and personality. Dive into the world of scent science today!
Have you ever walked past someone and marveled at how good they smelled?
This can happen when a perfume or fragrance creates a cloud of scent around the person wearing it. As the person goes about their day, the scent of their fragrance trails behind them, almost like an invitation for others to experience the scent too.
If you want to captivate others (and yourself) like this, you need a signature scent. Think of it like your own personal magic in a bottle. Below, we’ll touch on what a signature scent is, which fragrance terms you need to know, and how to find the signature scent of your dreams.
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What is a Signature Scent?
A signature scent is a fragrance that someone chooses to wear on a regular basis. A person with a signature scent wears one specific fragrance consistently enough that the scent becomes a distinct, recognizable part of their personal style or identity.
People with a signature scent are often so closely associated with their unique fragrance that when others smell it – even when not in their physical presence – they think of that person.
You may have noticed that you’re drawn to certain smells. That’s a good starting point when you’re trying to figure out what kind of signature scent is best for you. For example, you might feel happy and nostalgic whenever you smell cookies baking. This could narrow down your search to sweet fragrances. Or maybe you dream of vacationing in the Italian countryside. A citrus fragrance could be just the ticket.
Signature scents are deeply personal. Which is why it’s not always the best idea to just head to the store and buy any fragrance that piques your interest in the moment.
The in-store experience can be pretty overwhelming. You can probably picture it now: the crowd of other shoppers, the limited stock, the salespeople, the smell of all the fragrances clashing. Those things can make it difficult to think clearly, let alone decide which fragrance is right for you.
Perfume Basics: Fragrance Facts You Should Know
If you want a signature scent that’s as unique as you, one of the most beneficial things to do is learn some basic fragrance terms before you begin. It doesn’t take long. Here’s a helpful list of definitions:
Fragrance Family: Fragrances can be classified into four main families or categories: floral, fresh, ambery, and woody. Think of them like genres of music.
Notes: These are the individual scents that make up the overall smell of a fragrance. Some popular fragrance notes include vanilla, sandalwood, lemon, rose, and patchouli.
Top Notes: The top notes are the first scents you smell when you initially spray a fragrance.
Middle Notes: The middle notes are the aromas that come through as a fragrance evolves on your skin. These are sometimes referred to as mid notes or heart notes.
Base Notes: The base notes are the scents that linger after the top and middle notes have faded. The scent of the base notes is sometimes referred to as the drydown.
Accord: An accord is a combination of notes that, when blended, create a new or distinctive scent. For example, a leather accord might combine notes of patchouli, tobacco, and birch tar.
Sillage: This is the trail of scent a fragrance leaves in the air. A fragrance with good sillage will create a noticeable cloud of scent around you.
Concentration: Fragrances are made up of a combination of oil and alcohol that comes in different concentrations. Contrary to popular belief, cologne and perfume have nothing to do with what men and women wear. Instead, these terms simply refer to the concentration of perfume oil to alcohol. The higher the concentration, the longer a fragrance may last:
- Extrait/extracts have a 15-45% concentration of perfume oil to alcohol
- Eau de parfums (EDP) have a 10-15% concentration of perfume oil to alcohol
- Eau de toilettes (EDT) have a 5-10% concentration of perfume oil to alcohol
- Eau de colognes (EDC) have a 2-5% concentration of perfume oil to alcohol
Once you’re familiar with these terms, your search for a fragrance will be much more efficient and enjoyable. To streamline the process even further, below are ten tips to help you find your ideal signature scent.
The in-store fragrance shopping experience can feel overwhelming. The Noteworthy Quiz has a 89% success rate of finding real people like you a fragrance they love.
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Ten Tips to Find Your Signature Scent
1. Use Noteworthy to streamline the process: You don’t have to go it alone. Think of Noteworthy like your fragrance-finding bestie – one that completely gets your vibe and matches you with spot-on recommendations. Once you take the Noteworthy quiz, you get a curated list of four fragrances we think you’ll love. You can order the samples right then and there, and they’ll be delivered straight to your door. Bonus: the quiz only takes five minutes and has a 89% success rate of matching people to their ideal signature scent.
2. Try to understand what you’re smelling: We get it. It can be tricky to describe how a fragrance smells. While you don’t need to be an expert (Noteworthy takes care of that for you) it’s helpful to know what you like – or don’t like – about a fragrance. Here’s a list of common terms used to describe fragrances, and the smells they’re typically associated with:
- Gourmand: sweet desserts
- Musky: skin (clean or otherwise)
- Floral: a flower bouquet of any kind
- Aldehydic: fresh laundry or soap bubbles
- Smoky: campfire or just blown-out candles
- Fresh: spas or being outside on a spring day
- Lactonic: a smooth, creamy, almost milky quality
- Citrusy: a squeeze of lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit
- Spicy: cinnamon, pepper, or something you’d find in the spice cabinet
- Green: dewdrops on grass, freshly cut stems, snapped leaves, lush foliage
- Aquatic: seawater and breezy ocean air – makes you think of the color blue
- Aromatic: lavender, rosemary, thyme – something herbaceous and noticeable
- Woody: sawdust, a forest, cedar planks, sandalwood, freshly sharpened pencils
- Ambery: thick, heavy, sweet (and sometimes spicy) scents that come off as powdery
3. Always sample before you buy a full bottle: Not all fragrances smell the same on everyone. The only way to know for sure if a fragrance works for you is to wear it on your skin for at least a few hours. This gives all the top, middle, and base notes time to fully develop. Once you do find a scent that develops beautifully on your skin, you can use the $25 you spent on your Noteworthy discovery kit as a credit toward a full bottle of your new signature scent.
4. Put the coffee beans down: People used to think that sniffing a dish of coffee beans could help reset your nose while you smelled different fragrances. But a study found this isn’t necessary. At best, coffee beans don’t do much. At worst, their strong scent temporarily overpowers your olfactory receptors so you can’t smell lighter fragrance notes afterward. Instead, opt to sniff an unscented section of your arm or shirt to reset your nose. Since you’re already accustomed to your own scent and pH, this will help reset your nose better than coffee beans can.
5. Consider your lifestyle and career: Your daily life impacts what kind of signature scent is right for you. For example, something in the fresh fragrance family might be best for a person who works in a healthcare setting. If you find that your job impacts your fragrance choice more than you’d like, you can always opt to have a separate signature scent for your days off.
6. Don’t do it just for the compliments: It's important to choose a scent that aligns with your unique personality and style. While compliments are nice, try not to let others dictate what you wear. Instead, make your final selection based on what makes you feel best.
7. Decide how you want your signature scent to make you feel: Speaking of feeling your best, what feelings do you want to evoke when you wear your ideal signature scent? Do you want to feel cozy and comforted? Or mysterious and irresistible? Or opulent and sophisticated? Or do you just want to feel like a kid again? There’s a lot to consider, which is why a fragrance quiz can help you narrow it all down.
8. Test one fragrance at a time: While it might be tempting to spray a bunch of samples at once, this approach won’t accurately portray how a fragrance smells. Instead, test each fragrance individually so you can fully experience its notes and sillage. After all, a fragrance might turn from “love at first sniff” to “I can’t scrub this off fast enough.” The opposite can happen too: scents can grow on you. Adequately testing a fragrance takes at least a few days of wearing it during your normal routine so you can get the full experience. This is called wear testing. And if you must test more than one fragrance in a day, wait until the first fades away completely before trying the second. Pro tip: both unscented dish soap and makeup remover work well to get rid of any lingering fragrance on your skin.
9. Acknowledge that scent is subjective: There are actual genetic variations to explain why people perceive certain smells differently. In fact, scientists used DNA sequencing methods to identify these variations – and discovered that even a slight variation in one olfactory receptor is enough to change the way an odor is perceived by someone. What smells phenomenal to one person may smell just OK to another. So don’t take it too personally if someone doesn’t love your signature scent as much as you do. Every nose is different.
10. Have fun with it: Finding your signature scent should be a fun and enjoyable process. Think of it like a treasure hunt. You’ll discover your gem eventually. In the meantime, use the Noteworthy fragrance quiz to help you find your way.
Discover Your Signature Scent
Take our quiz and get 4 expertly-crafted scents tailored to your unique preferences.