Even though there are hundreds of different perfumes on sale, all of them can be divided into several major categories:

- floral

- fresh

- woody

- oriental

- fougere

When do you plan to wear your perfume - everyday or for special occasion?

When selecting a perfume it's very important to know where you are going to wear it. Not every fragrance can be worn at work. For daytime it's best to go for fresh or light floral scents. Many companies have a "no perfume" in their dress code all together. Never stopped me, from wearing one. A fresh scent applied moderately should be all right. Most retailers mention in the description whether a particular product is for day or evening wear.

For a romantic evening or a party, you can choose a completely different scent. Luxurious floral fragrances are just as suitable for the evening as they are for the day, and you can also wear something rich with woody or oriental notes.

Trying perfumes - testers and free samples

You, probably already have a good idea what kind of fragrance you are looking for. But you still shouldn't buy perfume relying only on its description. Trying it yourself is the best way to select a scent that is the best for you. You can do it in any department store or perfume shop - they always have testers.

Just sniffing the tester bottle won't give you the real idea of the scent, it's best to spray perfume on a little tester paper that the shops provide. Keep the paper with the fragrance and smell it in a few hours again. Most quality perfumes change their scent as you wear them, the scent might be quite different from the original.

Another great way to test perfumes is to ask for samples. Most department stores have free perfume samples and if they see, that you are interested in buying something, they will happily give you a couple of samples. Another way to get samples of perfume is online, there are many websites that will send you a free sample of perfumes hoping that you will buy from them later.

Finding discount perfumes online

An expensive department store is a good place to try and choose your perfumes, but is it the best place to buy? It's certainly not, because being a smart shopper you can find the very same brands of designer's perfumes much cheaper in specialized discount perfume shops and online.

Getting fragrances online is actually the easiest way to find cheap perfumes. Big online shops keep their prices significantly lower than department stores. They sell hundreds of perfume bottles a day and don't have to pay rent and stuff salaries, so online shops simply have less expenses and they pass the savings to you.

The quality of your perfume will be just the same as you would buy it directly from Lancome of Ester Lauder counter. But you have to make sure that the online shop you choose sells genuine designers brands. Some of them specialized in selling knockoffs - replicas of famous designer's perfumes. They say that it smells the same, but it doesn't, not after you wear it for a couple hours.

Carefully chosen perfume can be a great accessory. Surely it's expensive, but for all the hard work a modern women do, we deserve a little treat, wouldn't you agree?