Sarah McCartney - The Perfume Companion: The Definitive Guide to Choosing Your Next Scent

Walking through the perfume department of a large store or the vast acres of a duty-free shop can be totally overwhelming. Which is exactly why we wrote this book.

Perfumes fall into different styles, and you might find that some groups appeal to you more than others. We have divided our book into different fragrance types, though some perfumes could fit into more than one section: a fruity floral could also be a floral musk (with some fruit), for example. We have also chosen some popular examples, and taken the if you like that, then you might like these approach, sometimes recommending some more adventurous options for you to track down.

Categorizing perfumes as masculine or feminine is a bit like saying women arent allowed to eat cheese and men arent supposed to have croissants. Most niche fragrances dont impose these rules, allowing their customers to decide for themselves. We believe that you should wear whatever you like, and if you want to cross the big blue-brown/pink-purple divide in the scent department, you are free to do so.

Take your time, explore some brands youve never dreamed of trying. When you find one for you, youll know.

There are around 500 perfumes featured in this book, so of the 20,000 available globally in high street shops right now let alone all the local brands that dont make it on to English language websites theres a fair chance your favourite isnt here. As weve had to miss so many out, we focus only on those we recommend trying, because our parents taught us that if you cant say something nice, you dont say anything at all (at least not in public). Some are an acquired taste and come with an advance warning, but we prefer to review those we enjoy wearing and quietly ignore those we dont.

Weve described many fragrances that you can buy on every high street, and some that you can only find in one specific shop. Where there were two similar fragrances one accessibly priced and one exclusively so weve opted for the affordable one. There are dozens of blogs, online channels and social media groups devoted to the more luxurious brands, and were happy to direct you there too (see ).

Weve added a loose price guide running from to , based on how much youd expect to pay for a 50ml bottle. We appreciate that people have different budgets, but these basically run at:

We chose not to write about fragrances that we know are discontinued, and never to write anything along the lines of You cant buy this any more, but it was lovely. We take the view that like buses therell be another one along soon. A handful of those weve included were discontinued while we were writing the book, but you might still be able to snap one up in a discount shop.

Weve also had to miss out some much-loved special editions, as they are only available for a season and will be gone before you see this; this is one of the ways that perfume is becoming more like fashion. Humans love exploring new things, and brands love to launch them, but we can get attached to a fragrance as we do to a friend. If you do fall in love with this years special version of a fragrance, buy several bottles before it disappears for ever.

The perfume industry as we know it came into being around the 1870s when scientists created new materials to add to the plant- and animal-based fragrances which have existed since prehistoric times. We take a short look at how we got from there to here, and how the significance of wearing perfume has altered over time.