How to smell properly

Smelling like a professional

Fisfis Academy · 11 min read ·

How to smell properly

What you will learn

  • Apply the correct technique for smelling with a scent strip.
  • Explain why olfactory adaptation happens and how to guard against it.
  • Take organized notes when testing a perfume.

Our sense of smell tires quickly and is easily fooled. That is why professionals smell in a set routine. The habits in this lesson will help you both when choosing a perfume and, later on, when evaluating your own formulas.

Scent strips dipped in three different essences. Writing the names on the ends and keeping the strips from touching are the first rules of comparison.
Scent strips dipped in three different essences. Writing the names on the ends and keeping the strips from touching are the first rules of comparison.
  1. Prepare the strip Dip about 1 cm of the strip into the perfume or spray it once; write the name on the other end.
  2. Let the alcohol evaporate Wait 10–20 seconds; at first, the sharpness of the alcohol masks the scent.
  3. Smell from a distance, in short sniffs Hold the strip 2–3 cm from your nose without touching it; take a few short sniffs, then pause.
  4. Repeat over time Smell the same strip again after 15 minutes, 1 hour and 3 hours; note how it changes.
  5. Move to skin Apply the scent you like to your wrist; skin temperature and chemistry change the result.

Olfactory fatigue

After a while of exposure to the same smell, the brain treats it as “background” and perception decreases; this is called olfactory adaptation. That is why smelling many perfumes one after another is misleading. The scientific evidence that the coffee beans offered in stores relieve this fatigue is weak; taking a short break, getting some fresh air or smelling your own (unscented) skin are more practical options.

Scent strip

  • Neutral: shows every perfume under the same conditions
  • Lets you compare many perfumes side by side
  • Makes it easy to follow longevity and development

Skin

  • Shows how the perfume really wears
  • Temperature and skin type change the scent
  • At most two perfumes can be tried at once (two wrists)
  • Try no more than 3–4 perfumes in one session.
  • Write what each scent strip is on its end; don't let the strips touch.
  • Smell the strip from 2–3 cm away, without touching your nose, in short sniffs.
  • A strip and skin smell different; apply the ones you like to your skin and follow how they change over the hours.
  • Write down your impressions right away: first impression, after 30 minutes, after 3 hours.

Key points

  • Smell the scent strip from a distance in short sniffs; let the alcohol evaporate first.
  • Long exposure to the same smell dulls perception (olfactory adaptation).
  • 3–4 perfumes per session is enough; get fresh air in between.
  • The strip is for comparing, the skin is for deciding.

Sources

  • Rachel Herz, The Scent of Desire, William Morrow, 2007.
  • Avery Gilbert, What the Nose Knows, Crown, 2008.
  • Robert R. Calkin & J. Stephan Jellinek, Perfumery: Practice and Principles, Wiley, 1994.