A personal fragrance should be a extension of your style, but how do you hit the beauty counter and find the right one for you? First, get the facts. Second, start spraying! Enlist your mom or a friend to come with you - to double the available body surface for testing - and follow your nose to pick up a fragrance you like. Here are some helpful hints for making sense of scents.
Fragrance Glossary
Perfume (a.k.a. parfum): The most potent and usually the most expensive product in the fragrance family. It has a higher concentration of oil, so a little goes a long way -- the smell lasts very long and you won't run out on a bottle as quickly.
Eau de Parfum: It's not quite a perfume, but it goes that bit extra than the Eau de Toilette (see below) and Eau de Cologne (see below).
Eau de Toilette and Eau de Cologne: A bit weaker and more watered down than perfume. Eau de toilette and eau de cologne are usually available in convenient spray bottles. While the bottles may be larger and priced similarly to smaller versions containing the same scent, the bigger bottles are less concentrated, so you're not necessarily getting more for your money.
Body Splash: Has the lowest concentration of scented oil and disappears into the skin, offering a lighter scent.
(Photo credit: Protograph; Source: The Knot)
