Some women are loyal to one perfume fragrance. Other women own dozens of bottles and may spray on a different fragrance every day. But can a woman have too few or too many bottles of perfume?
It can help for a woman to own at least two bottles of perfume. One bottle for warmer temperatures and another one for colder temperatures can complement the seasons. It’s suggested that women own at least half a dozen bottles when considering social settings. But there are no hard and fast rules.
In this post, I’ll explain why you need at least two bottles and then propose situations where you might want to have an additional bottle or two.
Do You Have Too Few or Too Many Perfumes?
Let’s start by stating that you’re the only one who can answer this question.
Choosing a fragrance is a very personal process. The same scent can even smell different when sprayed on one person versus another person.
So only you can decide how many perfumes you should have. But if you want help considering how to go about making that decision, then keep reading.
How Should You Determine How Many Perfumes to Have?
You can take a few different approaches to determining how many bottles of perfume you want to own.
Some considerations include seasonal changes, the time of day that you’ll apply the perfume, what setting you’re in, how you’re feeling, whether or not you’re attending a special occasion, and more personal preferences.
Choosing Perfumes According to the Seasons
In the fragrance industry, there are four main scent families, and then subcategories within each one.
Fragrance categories include:
- Floral
- Fresh
- Oriental (Spicy)
- Woody
Oftentimes, many of these categories are combined to create top, middle, and base layers of fragrance notes. And there’s a lot of variance with regards to intensity.
I would say that at the very least, you need to have a spring/summer fragrance and a fall/winter perfume. Scents perform differently during warmer months than they do during colder months.
For example, a light citrus fragrance wouldn’t last long if worn during cooler months. Once sprayed on, it would not have much of a throw. Spray it on in warmer months, though, and you can enjoy the scent all day because the heat helps intensify the scent.
Similarly, if you wear a leathery vanilla perfume during warmer months, the heat will intensify the scent. It might be too strong and offensive, even when only wearing a squirt or two.
In general, you might want a light and airy perfume during warmer months, and a heavier scent during cooler months.
Considering the Time of Day
Daytime fragrances are usually softer than evening fragrances. Think of daytime scents as sort of floating on air and dancing with the wind. Evening scents draw you in and leave a lingering impression.
Daytime scent suggestions:
- Soft floral
- Fresh citrus
- Sweet and floral
- Light herbal
Evening scent suggestions:
- Spicy floral
- Woodsy oriental
- Mosslike wood scents
- Woodsy floral
These are only examples but it helps to consider the types of activities you might engage in during the day versus the evening, and then choose a fragrance accordingly.
Adapting to Your Settings
It’s polite to consider how your personal fragrance will affect those around you.
Consider being on an airplane, riding public transportation, or in another enclosed space, like an office. What about a trip to the museum, or even during a religious service?
Certain scents would not be welcomed or appropriate in every setting.
If you know that you’ll be in a specific setting at a given time, and you’re often in close proximity to other people, you might want to have a more subtle perfume on hand for use in those settings.
Every scent category offers a fragrance in different intensities, so if you dislike floral perfumes, you can choose a soft oriental scent, or a light fresh scent. But you would want to veer away from a strong fruity floral scent or an intense woodsy scent. You get the idea.
But having at least one perfume for public settings already on hand, can create a less stressful situation for you. And it can allow those who come in contact with you to feel more at ease as well.
Giving Voice to Your Moods
For some women, wearing the same fragrance every day is torture. They like to wear a different scent with every outfit that they have. In this scenario, you might have dozens or even hundreds of perfume bottles.
We’re all different, and if you decide which scent you’ll wear after you’ve showered and dressed and considered how you feel, then more power to you.
Choose scents that help carry your moods throughout the day. Whether floral, spicy, earthy, or fresh.
You would likely have at least three perfumes from each fragrance family, varying in intensity.
For Those Special Occasions
Whether it’s a holiday, wedding, graduation, or some other special event, you might consider wearing a different perfume reflective of the occasion.
For instance, if you’re used to wearing heavier, earthy scents, but have been invited to a spring wedding, you might want to switch to a different perfume to match the occasion.
You might still choose an earthy fragrance, but one that incorporates floral notes as well to lighten it up a bit. If you’re going out on a date, you’d probably wear an alluring scent.
Choosing a special occasion perfume would depend on how many and what types of celebrations you attend.
In Need of Something New?
Let’s face it, variety can actually spice up a person’s life. Every now and then it might help to add a new fragrance to your collection for no other reason than to try something new.
In such instances, you don’t have to purchase a large bottle of a given scent. You can order a sample, try a travel-sized version, or just get the smallest bottle available since you’re just trying it out.
Some women even try a new scent to accompany a new outfit. If you’ve purchased an outfit that puts you in a mood that isn’t reflected in your current fragrance collection, that might be a good time to get a new perfume.
Scent Category Preferences
Some women are drawn to specific scent categories. I lean more towards floral or woody with a bit of spice mixed in each one. And I tend not to choose the fresher scents.
You might solely like fresh scents, or you might only like woodsy fragrances.
In any case, remember that there are layers within each category. And sometimes categories are combined in the most interesting ways.
If you’re loyal to one category, though, you might choose to have a different perfume for the entire scent range of that category. For instance, you might want to have a subtle oriental scent, a mid-range fragrance, and then a heavier woodsy oriental perfume.
You can even assign these ranges to different times of the day or to specific occasions or settings as well.
Should You Dispose of Existing Perfume Bottles?
I think that selecting a light and a heavy scent is a good start when determining how many perfume bottles to own.
If you have a lot of high quality scents that you no longer want to wear, you don’t have to throw them away.
At some point you may consider alternating between your light and heavy fragrances. Instead of having a warm scent and a cool scent, you might want a separate fragrance for spring and summer. Then you may consider two different scents for fall and winter.
There’s no reason to feel guilty if you have a lot of fragrance bottles. You can test them one by one, assign them to a season, setting, or mood, and then set them aside or label them accordingly. If there are bottles left over, you have options in that respect as well.
You might give them away as a present, decant them for additional income, or store them in a cool, dark place for future use.
Have as Many or as Few Perfumes as You’d Like
Scents can help improve your mood and even boost confidence. Some women wear fragrances to make them more appealing and attractive. Others simply enjoy having a fragrance on them that they can smell throughout the day.
All in all, I think women should consider having four bottles of perfume – one each for morning and evening during colder months and the same for warmer months. Additional bottles can be added based on special occasions, settings, and even moods. But there’s nothing wrong with wearing one signature scent, either.
This post offers some guidelines for determining how many perfume bottles you might want to have. Whatever your reason for wearing perfume, you can choose to wear as many or as few scents as you’d like.
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