Kuweight 64: PERFUMES - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FRAGRANCES AND CHOOSING THE RIGHT ONE

With all the perfumes old and new in the market, sometimes it can get confusing which one to actually buy. The fragrance you wear or choose to buy speaks about you and your personality. It's depends on your age and how you want to smell, if you like strong smelling oriental, or woody or musk based perfume. Or something feminine like floral or fruity or fresh smelling citrus fragrance. I personally prefer floral or fruity because, they always smell lovely. I don't have to scare or suffocate people with something too strong.

I've been, once in a while tempted, when people pass by me and I get a whiff of an amazing fragrance, to stop them and ask, 'would you mind if I ask you, what perfume are you wearing?' Then I hold myself, what if they mind, they don't to want to tell, it's such a personal thing and to stop to stranger and ask what fragrance is that...hmm, I have'nt done that so far. Nevermind asking a stranger. I do my own research. As a lover of fragrances, I try out the latest perfumes and older ones at department stores, and when I return home, I wait to see if the smell stays on, what is like after several hours or 12 hours or even a day. Let me share a discovery and a fact ....80% of the beautiful smelling perfume don't last for more than an hour to 4 hours!

So my advise would be don't be in hurry to buy a perfume, just because it smells good when you try it on in the shop. It may not smell the same an hour later or couple of hours later. Trust me. It could still smell amazing or horrible or the smell would have faded or disappeared. Don't try too many perfumes on one day, it can be pretty confusing. Try just two or three. Once you are done at the perfume outlet, go about doing other stuff, return home, wait and see how the perfume actually smells on you after 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hour and even 8 hours. Then decide based on how it smells on you and whether its long lasting. The thumb rule being, don't expect a perfume to last more than 5 hours.

Perfumes and eau de parfums last longer on the skin and smells better than eau de toilettes and is more expensive.

Here are some facts and tips which will help you enjoy your perfume.

* The 'amazing' or 'wonderful' smell you first get when you spray or apply pefume, is the 'top notes', they just last for 5 to 10 minutes, followed the 'middle notes', that last say 20 minutes. It's the smell and combination of final 'base notes' or 'bottom notes' that make the perfume last longer for several hours or linger on on your body as they are heavier. The smell of the base notes is quite different from the top notes. So after you try your perfume, it's bound to smell different after an hour. Sometimes people buy perfumes relying on the smell they get as soon as they spray on them, love it, buy it and use it once or twice and then they don't like how it smells anymore and they wonder why did they buy it in the first place. So, as I said earlier, try it on and wait to see what it smells like first, then after 20 minutes, then after an hour to feel the difference and if you appreciate the base notes and if it lasts for atleast 4 hours. You can always go back the shop if you want to buy it.

* Your friend's perfume will not smell the same on you because of the difference in body chemistry, diet and age. Fragrances are made of many essential oils and certain essential oils are absorbed by our skin and others are not. If you have dry skin, the fragrance will stay for shorter time than those with oily skin since oily skin has more natural moisture to hold the fragrance. PH levels (amount of acidity in our skin) varies slightly from person to person which also causes fragrances to react differently on different people. So if someone tells you of this great smelling perfume, try it out first, don't be in a hurry to buy. See how it works on you.

* To preserve your fragrance, keep it in a cool, dry area away from sunlight and windows or else an imbalance will form in the perfume and would end up smelling something else after a while.

* Apply your fragrance on pulse points like the wrist, behind the ear, crook of the arm and knee, base of the throat. For long lasting fragrance apply or spray on your ankles, it allows the fragrance to blossom up!

* You might have to re-apply if you want the fragrance to linger on your body. So carry your favourite perfume with you wherever you go.

Here are some really nice perfumes I'd like to recommend.

Juicy Couture Classic - Hope to buy one sometime...I love the way it smells

Estee Lauder Private Collection Gardenia

Issey Miyake - L'Eau de Issey Florale

Hugo Boss Orange

Roberto Cavalli Perfume

Burberry London (on oldie but amazing fragrance)

Britney Spears Radiance

Chance - Chanel

A scent by Issey Miyake; there is an older version and a newer one, see what suits you better

Chloe Eau de parfum - preferably for evening/night,
amazing smell, long lasting. I've been using it since a year and I love it. My husband gifted it to me