How to Buy Fragrance Online Without a Smell Test First

A whopping £113 billion was spent online at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a 48% rise in shopping on the internet.

But while some items are simple to purchase over the web, things like perfume and cologne are trickier, as it's all about scent.

But as the pandemic keeps us restricted - and convenience requires us to shop digitally - it's certainly simpler to buy fragrance online.

Here's how to do it when smelling perfume is not an option...

Know What You Want

The best way to buy perfume online is to already have an idea of what you want. Going into it blind - without a clue of the kind of scent you're looking for - will make the process trickier.

For example, if you know you (or the person you're buying for) like a certain type of smell - such as floral or citric - it will be easier to narrow down your selection. This will be a simple matter of looking up the fragrance with the notes you're in the market for and narrowing it down from there.

This doesn't mean it's impossible to find a perfume or cologne online, even if you're unsure of the scents you'd like to purchase. It just takes a bit more research and thought.

Narrowing Down Types of Frangrance

The following is a brief description of the fragrance families out there. These descriptions should help you buy fragrances online.

Fresh

Fresh fragrances include fruity, green, floral, water, aromatic, and citrusy notes.

The clue is in the name - fresh scents are typically linked to natural scents. The scent of flowers and fruits gives a summertime, crisp feel, often evoking the ocean, the air, the garden, and the beach.

These scents are often pungent at first burst but require topping up more frequently. They're great for a daytime scent, as opposed to the more musky evening scent.

Fresh notes are often unisex, too. Citrus and ocean scents, in particular, are great fragrances for both men and women, while floral notes are perhaps a more feminine smell. The likes of mimosa, rose, jasmine and lavender tend to be worn by women more than men.

Woody

Again, woody notes can be unisex but are perhaps more associated with men.

Oaky, mossy notes include the likes of amber, oakmoss, and sandalwood. These are natural scents but are denser than the fresh fragrances mentioned above. Leathery notes are also included in this family.

There is also a crossover here with oriental scents.

Oriental

Sweet spice, orange blossom, resin, and patchouli - all of these are members of the oriental fragrance family.

As the category name suggests, these evoke the scents of the orient and combine variants of woody, natural and floral notes.

Oriental fragrances are often sweet, but the spicier notes tend to be a little heavier, used more for masculine products.

Floral

Floral fragrances are an extension of the fresh family, incorporating fresh-cut flowers, berries, blossoms, and powdery notes.

These tend to be used for perfumes rather than aftershaves and colognes, but more masculine floral scents are occasionally used in men's products.

Sweet

The scent of vanilla is commonly used as a base note in many fragrances. This is part of the sweet family.

Other sweet notes include cinnamon, ethyl maltol, coconut, and methyl anthranilate.

Subtlety and Fragrance

It's worth thinking about how strong you want your fragrance to be.

Look out for perfume ingredients such as vanilla, amber, and praline if you want a more obvious fragrance. These are not subtle notes. Neither are fragrances from the oriental family.

Powdery notes like coumarin are strong, as are some floral scents such as tuberose or lavender. Patchouli is the strongest of the woody family.

If these scents are mixed with lighter notes such as green or other floral ingredients, it's likely there will be a nice balance, and the strong will offset the subtle.

Judging a Book by its Cover

Despite the old saying 'don't judge a book by its cover,' this can actually be something you should do when fragrance shopping online. 

The bottle and the colour of the liquid can be indicators of what the product smells like, thanks to the designers and the marketing teams behind it.

A typical rule of thumb is that pink packaging is indicative of floral scents. Green links to natural scents; blue tends to be about freshness, water, the ocean. Yellow and orange tend to lean towards citric fragrances. Black and gold products point towards a deeper, intense feel, often aimed at denser, nighttime fragrances.

Read the Reviews and the Description

When you buy a bottle of wine, you cannot taste it in the supermarket. So reading the description on the label is what helps you choose.

Wine descriptions explain if the taste will be fruity, berry-like, full-bodied, jammy, light... Take this approach when shopping online for a fragrance. Read the description by the seller.

And read reviews. Most of us research before making a purchase, and so much can be gained from the reviews of other buyers. These are consumers, just like you, and they are likely looking for the same type of product you are.

Check out the star ratings and the descriptions from other consumers and use that to guide you.

Buy Fragrance Online

Shop digitally - it's certainly simpler to buy fragrance online! And Perfume Price is the place for you.

Covering products for both men and women, we offer over 1000 of the most popular high-street fragrances with big brand names sold within the UK.

The scents we stock are also constantly being updated, so we have the best products out there, ready for your perusal.

Feel free to check out our customer reviews and contact us should you have any questions. We are here to help.