How to choose your perfume?

By Marie-Sophie Schaupp — Co-founder of Maison Diaphane

Choosing a perfume is never a trivial matter. It's an intimate sensory experience that reveals something about your personality, your emotions, and sometimes even a memory. This notebook brings together all the essential guidelines in one guide to help you find the niche perfume that truly reflects you: olfactory families, personality, season, testing techniques, concentration, price, and emotion.

To delve deeper into specific points, two other notebooks complement this guide: our article on mistakes to avoid when choosing your perfume, and our detailed exploration of the main olfactory families.

1. Know the Olfactory Families

Every perfume belongs to an olfactory family. Learning to recognize them helps you better target what you truly like, rather than buying based on random trends.

Florals: feminine, soft, elegant

Florals showcase flowers in all their freshness or density. Two examples from Maison Diaphane: L'Ombre dans l'Eau – Diptyque, blackcurrant and fresh rose, and Carnal Flower – Frédéric Malle, absolute and carnal tuberose.

Orientals: warm, sensual, spicy

Orientals focus on density and warmth. The Moon – Frédéric Malle combines oud and oriental rose in a dark, high-end creation, while Fortis – Liquides Imaginaires builds an almost incandescent material around saffron and oud.

Woody: deep, elegant, mysterious

Vétiver Extraordinaire – Frédéric Malle pushes vetiver to its peak of excellence, earthy and smoky. Tam Dao – Diptyque, on the other hand, offers a soft and soothing sandalwood, like a forest in Indochina.

Fruity: fresh, light, sparkling

Délicieusement Pétillante – Harold & Maude features lemon and blackcurrant in a lively and joyful citrus composition. Acne Studios – Frédéric Malle offers a brighter, muskier facet, clean without being cold.

Leathery: powerful, intense, sometimes animalic

Cuir Velours – Naomi Goodsir offers a supple and warm leather, almost tactile, between tobacco and rum. Lunatique – Liquides Imaginaires transitions from an electric freshness to a deep woody leather, like a chiaroscuro.

Citrus: lively, fresh, luminous

Médie – Trudon perfectly illustrates this family: a citrus light that never stays on the surface and descends into deeper woods.

To go further into each family, our notebook dedicated to the major olfactory families of perfume details the materials and universes more in depth.

2. Choose According to Your Personality

Beyond families, your temperament naturally guides your preferences:

• Romantic and gentle: floral or gourmand perfumes
• Bold and charismatic: oriental or woody
• Dynamic and sporty: citrus and fruity
• Elegant and sophisticated: woody, chypre, or refined citrus

3. Adapt Your Perfume to the Season

A perfume can also change with the time of year. In spring and summer, fresh, floral, or fruity fragrances, light and luminous, are preferred. In autumn and winter, rich and enveloping compositions take center stage: woody, oriental, amber, gourmand. Our notebook on changing perfume according to the seasons elaborates on this principle.

4. Test Perfumes According to the Rules of Art

Always test on your skin: the scent varies according to your body heat and pH. Do not test more than three perfumes at a time, and let them evolve before judging — a perfume changes over time, between top, heart, and base notes. For a successful in-store test, our guide on how to test a perfume in-store details each step.

5. Choose the Right Concentration

• Perfume (Extract): very concentrated (20 to 40%), intense and long-lasting (8 to 12 hours)
• Eau de Parfum: 15 to 20%, ideal for daily wear (6 to 8 hours)
• Eau de Toilette: 5 to 10%, lighter, perfect for daytime or summer (3 to 5 hours)
• Eau de Cologne: 3 to 5%, very fresh and ephemeral (2 to 3 hours)

Our notebook on the difference between eau de toilette, eau de parfum, and extract explains these concentrations in more detail.

6. Price and Presentation

The price depends on the quality of the materials, rarity, bottle, and brand. At Maison Diaphane, we offer a selection of niche perfumes combining excellence, beauty, and authenticity.

7. Emotion Above All

A perfume can rekindle a memory, an emotion, an ambiance. Listen to your instinct: a perfume should touch you, evoke something personal, rather than simply pleasing those around you.

In Summary

• Explore olfactory families to understand what you like
• Choose a perfume true to your personality
• Adapt it to the seasons
• Test it on your skin and let it evolve
• Select the right concentration
• Let your emotions guide you

At Maison Diaphane, a niche perfumery, we believe in the sincerity of a perfume. One that hits just right, one that moves you. We carefully select independent and inspired houses, true to their art. Whether you visit us in Angers or browse our website, we will be there to help you find the one that reflects you.

To Go Further...

• L'Ombre dans l'Eau – Diptyque
• Carnal Flower – Frédéric Malle
• The Moon – Frédéric Malle
• Fortis – Liquides Imaginaires
• Vétiver Extraordinaire – Frédéric Malle
• Tam Dao – Diptyque
• Délicieusement Pétillante – Harold & Maude
• Acne Studios – Frédéric Malle
• Cuir Velours – Naomi Goodsir
• Lunatique – Liquides Imaginaires
• Médie – Trudon