Finding a new perfume: Top fragrances to try

There’s nothing quite like a splash of perfume to make me feel a little girly. It gives me a spark of confidence as I enter the day or step out in heels at night. To me, perfume is a fine mist of personality. I love wearing it but I’ve been using the same perfume for 15 years. Trying different perfumes is far down the priority list so I always fall back on my steady staple, Red Door by Elizabeth Arden. When I started using it, the perfume was packed as per the left, and now the bottle has a new sleeker design.

I was reading a blog post from Smaggle about finding a signature fragrance (great tips) and it reminded me of an interview I did with with international perfume expert Chandler Burr in 2011.  You see, I would love to find a new signature fragrance but don’t know where to start!

Perfume is a little luxury. A little flounce of femininity. A little bit of personality. A little something for me. Smaggle’s post was timely, and I compiled the Chandler’s top 9 perfumes to try in this list if anyone else wants to raid the perfume section and do a test. 

Perfume expert Chandler Burr is the Curator of the Centre of Olfactory Art the the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. We were primarily talking about home fragrance, which was fascinating, and I was interested to hear about Chandler’s favourite fine fragrances (to help me get out of this perfume rut). When I asked Chandler where to start when looking for a new fragrance, he said it comes down to these two things:

1. Trying different perfumes
2. Asking for recommendations from others

Chandler gave me a wonderful list of fragrances and a glimpse into what makes them special.

Frederic Malle

Frederic Malle: What he does is goes to the best perfumers in the world and says, “I want you to create a perfume that you dream of, and we are going to work on it. Use any amount of money that you want.”

Lipstick Rose

Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle: It’s very fun. It is the smell of rose scented lipstick. It’s absolutely ingenious.

L’eau D’Hiver

L’eau D’Hiver by Frederic Malle: This one is beautiful and very subtle. It’s like the smell of the fog in San Francisco, absolute silence, with a very, very faint astringent aspect of the unseen eucalyptus trees. It’s brilliant. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Tom Ford Black Orchid

Tom Ford Black Orchid: It’s strong. You just don’t use a lot. Put a little on and wait 10 minutes for it to calm down.

Missoni by Missoni

Missoni by Missoni: You will love this! This is a perfume is a hazelnut gnash chocolate, surrounded by fruit floral potpurri and it’s incredible.

Pleasures by Estee Lauder

Pleasures by Estee Lauder: It’s brilliant. Absolutely great.

Michael Kors Original

Michael Kors Original: It’s a tuberose. It’s absolutely wonderful.

Marc Jacobs Original

Marc Jacobs Original: It’s like Michael Kors but it’s more of an invert floral that I think is very well done.

Mark Jacobs Lola

Mark Jacobs Lola: This is if you like a fruity floral. It’s more overt. It’s more of a statement.

Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana

Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana: It’s teriffic.

Chandler tells me “all of these are easy to wear”. The only potentially difficult one is Tom Ford — Black Orchid. The trick is to only use a very small amount.

Do you use perfume everyday? What perfume do you wear?