Best Women's Fragrances

Fragrance families

While there are countless scents, there are four main fragrance families that they fall into. These are floral, oriental, woody and fresh.

The first thing you’re going to want to do is to have a sniff around the fragrances already on your dresser and decide which fragrance family you gravitate towards. It’s unusual that you’ll have accumulated fragrances from all different fragrance families since we naturally tend to prefer scents from one or two families. However, you may decide to branch out to complement different occasions and seasons in the year.

Fresh

Fun, upbeat and zesty - fresh scents contain notes like lemon, bergamot, orange, grapefruit and mandarin. They are most commonly found in the cologne and eau de toilette concentration strengths, making them ideal for daily daytime wear. This is a good fragrance family for you if you’re into bright, uplifting and sunny scents. They conjure images of the summer seaside and fresh citrus breakfast spreads.

A few fresh fragrances include Chanel’s Chance eau fraiche and philosophy by Pure Grace Fragrance.

Floral

Floral is a very popular fragrance family for women’s fragrances since it is very feminine, delicate and pleasant. It is one of the easiest to recognise since they tend to be filled with notes of jasmine, peony, gardenia, tuberose, lily of the valley, magnolia and rose. They evoke sensations of freshly cut bouquets and spring weddings.

To give floral scents some depth, they are often mixed with a touch of spice or musk in order to create deeper, richer and more invigorating scents.

Oriental

The term ‘oriental’ in the perfume world refers to a historic fragrance family classification that embraced notes like amber, sandalwood, coumarin, orris, vanilla and gum resins.

Oriental fragrances exude warmth and sensuality and often feel more ‘grown-up’ than the other fragrance families. The heavy and seductive scents are best suited for evening affairs. They use deep base notes which linger on the skin for longer.

Woody

Perfumers use a warm palette of woody elements in their fragrances, taking advantage of the aromatic scents of sandalwood, cedar, oud and guaiac wood. They also use roots and leaves such as patchouli and vetiver for their profoundly earthy and woody character.

Woody fragrances can be made more versatile by adding spicy and fruity notes. Both masculine and feminine fragrances belong to the woody family.

There are a whole host of sub families such as chypre (mossy), fruity (exotic fruits, berries), aromatic (herbs), aquatic (lotus, sea salt) and spicy (cinnamon, cloves), just to name a few.

Fragrance life cycle

Fragrances have a three-part life cycle. When you first spray your fragrance, you can initially smell the top notes, which later evaporate to reveal the middle notes and finally, the base notes.

Top notes

Also known as head notes, this is the initial scent of the fragrance. Top note scents tend to be light, floral, citrus or fruity. Example notes include lemon, peppermint, eucalyptus, pine and blood orange.

Middle notes

The middle note is often called the heart note because it is the main scent that you can smell once the top note evaporates. Fruity and floral scents make an appearance here such as rose and jasmine.

Base notes

The final part is called the base note and makes its appearance last due to its heavy molecules which evaporate slower. The scents in this note are deeper and richer, containing amber, musk and woody aromas.

Perfume concentrations

Fragrances are made up of a small amount of the actual fragrance such as an essential oil or synthetic fragrance which is then diluted in a solution of alcohol, oil or water to contain the fragrance and make it durable. Fragrance concentration percentages depict how much pure fragrance is in the concoction.

The higher the concentration percentage, the heavier and more fragrant the perfume will be - as well as more expensive.

The same fragrance can be available in multiple concentrations so you can choose how long-lasting you’d like your scent to be.

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Eau fraiche

Eau Fraiche sprays use water instead of alcohol and are the most diluted concentrations between 1-3%, and they can last for up to 2 hours. These are designed to be worn all over the body as opposed to pulse points. These are best known as body mists and sprays. Examples include Body Shop’s Satsuma Mist and Victoria’s Secret’s Bombshell Body Mist.

Eau de cologne

The next step up in terms of strength is an eau de cologne which uses 2-5% of fragrance. Scents in this range tend to contain herb and citrus notes. It’s a common misconception that eau de colognes are exclusively a male fragrance type - but this is not the case. It simply refers to the concentration percentage. Examples include Jo Malone’s English Pear & Freesia Cologne and Bulgari’s eau parfumée au thé blanc eau de cologne spray.

Eau de toilette

EDTs are one of the most popular concentrations of fragrance, particularly because they are affordable and come in light, fruity scents with easy top notes. The short lifespan means it’s a great choice for daily daytime wear. They contain a 5-15% fragrance concentration. Many popular fragrances come in both EDTs and EDPs

Eau de parfum

EDPs contain a fragrance concentration of 15-20% which lasts for 5-8 hours. They have dominant middle notes which makes them ideal for evening wear. It’s recommended to apply these types of perfumes directly to the skin on a few pulse points.

Parfum

Pure perfume has the highest concentration of fragrance per alcohol at 20-30%, making it the most expensive type. Because you only need very small amounts (applied on the pulse points), they come in small bottles. Usually, the scents are rich and complex with strong top, middle and bottom notes which carry on throughout the day.

How to apply perfume

As with anything, it’s best to start with a blank canvas. Apply your fragrance after you have showered and moisturised since the skin will absorb the fragrance better. Dry skin can lead to an acceleration in evaporation.

Contrary to popular belief, you shouldn’t rub your wrists together or rub your wrist on your neck after application since rubbing breaks the molecular bond which removes the top note and makes the scent weaker. Your perfume creates a unique and long-lasting scent when it is left to slowly mix with your skin’s natural oils.

So where should you apply perfume? You should dab a little bit in some or all of your pulse points depending on how strong you want your scent to be. Your pulse points include the inside of your wrists, inner elbows, neck, below your belly button, behind your ear lobes and on the inside of your knees. These points are where your veins sit so close to the skin that your pulse can be felt. They are also warm spots that will help diffuse the scent evenly around your body.

Things to consider

Longevity

When choosing a perfume, you’ll want to consider its longevity ranging from weak, moderate to long-lasting. You can also look at the concentration of pure perfume as an indicator.

Sillage

Pronounced “see-yage,” it refers to the trail of scent left behind from a perfume. Depending on how strong you want your trail to be, look out for reviews that mention the word and if the fragrance has an intimate, moderate, strong or enormous sillage.

Age group

Consider that different scents may suit different age groups. For instance, fragrances for teenagers and pre-teens tend to come in the form of body mists with very light floral and fruity scents. Mature scents tend to command more attention, coming in higher concentrations and complex, amber tones.

Vegan fragrances

Since a lot of fragrances use musk, honey, milk, ambergris or civet, they are not vegan-friendly. If you’re vegan or an advocate for animal welfare, it’s worth checking the brand’s animal-testing policy as well as the ingredients. Some well-rated vegan fragrance brands include Le Labo, Lush, Floral Street, Hermetica, Stella McCartney and Ellis Brooklyn.

Value for money

Two main elements contribute to a perfume’s price: the concentration percentage and the brand’s reputation. More expensive does not always mean better as designer brands may be priced very highly but may not deliver in terms of quality ingredients or longevity. It’s worth reading reviews to see how others reviewed the fragrance in terms of value for money.

Time of the day

Certain perfumes may be better suited for different times of the day with fresh, fruity and floral scents suiting a daytime event and evening fragrances containing more woody, spicy and oriental tones.

Season

Similarly to the point above, many people change fragrances to suit the seasons. Florals are popular for spring, with fresh notes complementing summer, woody tones pairing well with autumn and oriental, spicy tones suiting winter.

Other perfume products

Perfume oil uses oil as a dilutant instead of water or alcohol. It comes as a small bottle with a roll-on applicator that allows you to apply the fragrance to your pulse points easier. The scent tends to be subtle and only detectable at close distances.

Perfumed powder is a type of perfume that’s not very common but can be a great alternative for those who can’t use alcohol-based perfumes or have sensitive skin. It can be patted anywhere on the body, giving you a nice and subtle smell.

You can read reviews on the best women’s fragrances on our site to help you choose the best scent for you.