Now that we’ve deepened your understanding of perfume in preparation for finding your signature scent (see part 1), it’s time to get down to strategy. Store shelves groan with perfume. How do you choose “the one”?

My guess is that most people duck into perfume shops and department stores and try whatever catches their fancy at the moment, hope they’ll be struck will love. That might work. Possibly. Maybe providence will toss a perfume in your path that will grab you and demand to be worn everyday.

But maybe it won’t. A surer path would be to explore the offerings of a single perfume house, then to apply whatever you learn to finding the fragrance that resonates with you most…

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When people learn that I write about perfume, I can usually count on two questions: “What’s your favorite perfume?” and “Can you recommend a fragrance for me? I want a signature scent.” Forget about naming a favorite perfume. That’s a moving target. But for everyone who’s asked me to recommend a fragrance, this post is for you.

Before heading off to a boutique to find a signature scent, it’s helpful to know a few things about perfume. To me, it’s most important to understand that perfume is an art, like music or painting. Just as you probably winced the first time you heard opera and puzzled at your first Jackson Pollack, there’s a good chance you won’t initially appreciate all of a fragrance’s subtleties. When a perfumista friend raves about Guerlain Mitsouko, all you might smell is “grandma” — or worse, “rotting grandma.” That’s okay. Part of the fun of finding perfume you love is exploring a whole new art form…

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