Distillations, deductions, and the art of slamming a number on what can't be held; or, how I rate fragrances

Before I start posting my reviews on Parfumo, I wanted my first blog post to explain how I score perfumes and what these numbers mean to me personally. I know that without any reviews present this will not yet mean anything, but my hope is that in the future, if needed, it will be found in retrospect and be informative some day. I'm not sure if this is the best introduction to me as a person or even as a reviewer though, so let me start off with a few words about myself inasmuch as it's relevant to fragrance scoring.

Photo by Bundo Kim on Unsplash

I have been a silent member of Parfumo since the very beginning that I have started to actively explore perfumes, which was actually not a very long time ago... since about mid-2023. For a long time, it never even occurred to me to publish my thoughts... or more precisely, in the very beginning a fantasy occurred to me ONE time that I would make illustrated perfume reviews, but I didn't really feel confident enough in my skills yet, and then I kinda forgot about the whole thing for a while. However, I have made the resolution that 2026 will be the year when I stop painting and writing for only the metaphorical cabinet, so now here we are, and I will attempt to give life to this vision.

In spite of a few years passing, I think I still very much consider myself a beginner, but I wear the term "amateur" like a badge, proudly, and I will stick to it even as my knowledge expands. I started discovering the scent world with nothing but my nose to go by and I like keeping it that way - I think there is even a certain value in going in without any prior expectations. The history of perfumery fascinates me as well, but that is exactly why I enjoy taking the journey slowly. That's just how I like experiencing art, I guess. Let's say, I pick up a poetry book to read. I would really enjoy flipping it open right away without knowing anything about the poet or their era, forming my own opinions on what this means to me personally, and THEN do a bit of historical research to expand on the gathered experience. This is exactly how I discover perfumes as well, "nose first" as it were.

I have been thinking about whether I wanna go into what my perfume tastes are... should I start off by unleashing some hot takes? (One thing that you will immediately notice about me, I am the kind of person who pompously and incessantly fancies that their takes are hot. This is my toxic trait. But are we tasting true Buldak noodles here, or just barely prickly German chili ketchup? Only time will tell.) There is so much more ground to cover in this blog that I will either write about it separately one day, or I will just let my future reviews do the talking. There is one question however that we cannot move past without discussing. That is: What is a perfume, to me? What do I WANT out of a perfume?

My observation as I listen to people talk about fragrances, is that many, if not most, are on the journey of looking for the ONE scent that they want to wear ALL the time. People like this, when they encounter a scent that challenges them, they often ask, in outrage: "Who is this scent FOR?" I think I get the idea and this is completely valid, but I learned it very soon into the journey that this is somehow not my way. In the beginning, I thought I was looking for a signature scent for a while, but then I realized what I was TRULY looking for is something completely different.. and I had already found it. So if you ever asked yourself this question: "Who is this FOR?" I can actually answer that. It's for me. I am the problem. I know, I'm kinda making it sound like a special snowflake in a way even I don't like, but this is exactly why I'm here and that's just the reality of the situation. My one exuberant and unnecessarily expensive hobby (that's a lie. I have more than one) is to hoard little perfume decants, try them out, and then journal about the fantasy that I think they're giving; and while I don't necessarily want to be revolted, I like being challenged much more than being bored. I guess the best way to summarize it is that when I spray out a scent, one way or the other, what I want out of it is a transformation. I think a perfume should make me feel like a shapeshifter who just changed into a different person, and I'm always looking for the next identity that I can become tomorrow even if I really liked the person that I was yesterday. It would be disingenous of me to say that weirder is ALWAYS better but I have to admit, it's maybe like 60% applicable. I do understand (and experience) the difference between respecting a scent for what it's trying to do vs. actually wanting to wear it, but if I really like some kinda weird ass scent that brings something to me personally, I WILL find a way to make it work. It's became blatantly obvious right away that I will never be a signature scent type of person... I like switching things up a lot, and matching a scent not just to the season and the occasion but to a particular style of outfit or a specific place I'm going to. Not every "personality" that I encounter would I take on a second time, but if I feel like I have changed, I will always respect it even if I didn't particularly like it. Isn't this just a kind of thrill seeking behavior, you might ask, and truthfully... sure. It kinda is. But spiritually, as it were, I believe that I was given the gift of life to have as many mildly interesting experiences as humanly possible, and that's just how I choose to make sense of it. There you go... now you know something essential about me.

Photo by Pavel Polyakov on Pexels

General testing conditions

For testing purposes, unless otherwise specified, I always spray one singular time on the wrist at room temperature if I can help it. This is not how I would normally wear a perfume unless it's EXTREMELY strong, but it makes it easier to track the projection. I never test on paper strips, and don't use any longevity increasing techniques – the perfume will have to perform by itself. If the performance is suspiciously low on my wrist, I test it out one more time sprayed differently, like onto my hair (there seem to be some very specific perfume notes that do absolutely NOTHING on my skin but come out better on my hair for some reason). Reviews always describe my first impressions, usually lifted straight from my journal, but by the time a review has been posted, I almost always test the perfume at least twice if I have enough of it to do so (or maybe rather the other way around... I rarely post a review publicly of a perfume that I've tried only once). If I own a whole bottle and thus use it regularly, I will try to describe how it reacts to different times of day, weather conditions, etc. if I notice anything remarkable. I don't usually spray on clothes, not intentionally at least, but if it ever happens accidentally, I will report how long it lasted.

When I rate a perfume, I have my own list of attributes that I look at, five of which are pretty standard and are already included in Parfumo's scoring system. I would map these out as follows:

Scent

This number represents the extremely subjective value of whether I personally like the scent or not. 5 or lower is no, anything above a yes. I keep this brutally honest and this is the one number on the list that, unless you have the exact same taste in perfumes as I do, should under no circumstances be trusted. I deeply wish I were a sort of true everyman connossieur who finds something enjoyable in every bottle, but sadly that is not me. I am fairly opinionated and there are entire scent families that are physically irritating to me and therefore I ignore at all costs. That being said, I do try to keep an open mind as much as I possibly can and I will go into every perfume experience at least attempting to find something to enjoy.

If I experienced something and felt an emotion, that is a value. So, for a hypothetical score of 1, I would have to experience basically nothing, like water. A 2-3 is what I would supposedly consider a "scrubber" except that I will never scrub a perfume unless it causes me physical harm, and I sacrifice myself on the altar of science to try and explore the evolution and the performance of the scent at least once even if I hate it. An 5 would typically be a scent that I personally disliked but I feel like it has many good qualities that could be to someone else's liking, and I take that into account when giving my final score, where I'm usually a bit more lenient. A 6 I probably thought was all right but boring, and the final score of these fragrances is usually a bit lower too. 7 is for a scent that I wholeheartedly like, and a score of 8 or more signifies that I may be willing to purchase an amount for use if I had the funds and thought it was worth the price. A 10 is a scent that I would change absolutely nothing about, and has given me an experience that is at least a little bit unique to the perfume at hand and I would look forward to reliving it over and over again, every single time. These perfumes are usually on my decant wishlist at least. As you will notice, I am partial to giving a higher than maximum score for semi-comedic value. If I feel like a perfume smells not only fantastic but so unusual that it shattered my view of reality and permanently altered my brain chemistry, I may give it a 11/10. (Since you cannot rate anything higher than 10 on the official score you give, I file them as a "subcategory" of 10s.)

My scores may sound a little harsh on paper, but truthfully I'm a big softie when it comes to scoring. I give a score lower than 5 already quite rarely, and lower than 4 almost never. On the other hand, I give out 9s and 10s quite leniently. I compare perfumes a little bit less to each other and a little bit more to whether they managed to become what I think they could or should be. To me, that's like giving an A on a test. If ten students are in a room and they all do really well on the test, they all deserve an A, right?

Photo by Stefano Zocca on Unsplash

Sillage

Since they are not separated on the site, I merge scent trail and projection for this into one number, and try to represent them with an objective, linear 1-10 value. To be completely honest... I personally don't care about either of these things very much, or at least I don't need them to be high - a perfume is first and foremost for me to smell. Regardless it's important to know how far away I wanna spray it from my nose and I don't wanna overwhelm other people with my scent either. Thus I try to keep close track and record it as accurately as I can. This is absolutely not a value judgement, whatever you think of this value, it's perfectly valid. Here is how I would rate it:
1 = I am only capable of smelling this if I put my nose directly to my skin.
3 = I cannot smell it from my wrist unless I raise it (about 20-40cm?) so if this is for my personal use, I would usually spray it into my hair or on my neck area. I would not be able to perceive this on someone else unless we hugged, and I wouldn't be able to perceive sillage yet (though I might not be the best person to ask). My preferred value starts at about 4 or higher because I like being able to perceive my own scent spontaneously as I go about my day without having to do anything, like lift the scent to my nose or something.
5 = Reaches my nose from my wrist while I'm typing (60cm-ish?). I go by the assumption that people I'm casually chatting with, with no obstacle between us, can smell a scent of about 6 in a real life situation.
8 = I can smell the perfume from my wrist while I'm standing (arm's length) and I occasionally notice the scent remaining in places where I had just been. People I'm talking to will be enveloped by it together with me and may potentially comment. This is where I would start getting a little cautious in using it in a closed space.
10 = The scent can be perceived intensely and continuously from a single spray on the wrist, and it leaves a distinct trail behind me. Someone who sits more than 1m away from me in a room can perceive it clearly (I enlist my loved ones for assistance on this hehe). I would be extremely wary to use this perfume in closed spaces unless I know that nobody has to stay close to me involuntarily. Perfumes that are capable of filling large rooms and linger long after you have left them may even get a 11/10 score here.

Photo by photoGraph by Pexels

Longevity

This is more or less an objective value, however I partially take it into consideration what the price of the perfume is. Unlike sillage and projection, longevity is extremely important to me and I'm willing to fork out good money for a nice scent that lasts all day. In the same vein, the more expensive the perfume is, the more strictly I take the matter of longevity as well. I understand the concept that some notes are just chemically more fleeting than others and I want everyone including perfume creators to know that to be quite frank I do not give a damn. That's my hot take for this particular section. If you're expecting me to pay in the realm of several hundreds, then figure it tf out. I don't know how to explain the scale for this, but... imagine the following: a hypothetical perfume that costs about 3€/ml (adjust for inflation in the future, if necessary) lasting for 8 hours total with 30-60 minutes of a top note phase and 2 additional hours of heart notes. I would consider this to be the bare minimum of doing "well" and would rate it a 7, whereas a cheap thing from the drugstore could easily get a 10 for the same thing. I generally start side eyeing perfumes if they can't make it past the 6 hour mark unless we are talking about a cheapie, and under 4 hours is an all around disappointment for me regardless of the price. Wherever I'm going, it usually takes a while to get to my destination, and I don't only wanna smell good on the way there, thank you very much.

Bottle

It should be known that as an enthusiast of fancy and unusually shaped bottles, I am a notoriously harsh judge to please. In my opinion the bottle is a part of the artwork of the scent, and in present day, now that the once thriving art of creative bottle design has all but died out, I am almost always disappointed, unimpressed, and loudly disgruntled. It is my firm opinion that we, The People, as a society need to bully perfume makers into actually putting the effort into those bottles and I will gladly do my part. Presentation and functionality will be judged. 7 of the points are for the artistic presentation, which should ALWAYS reflect the scent in some way and should NEVER be boring, or else the same hand that gave so many generous points away for a decent scent shall immediately taketh. This score is easily the least trustworthy (even less so than scent) because I will add or deduct points on a whim and mercilessly punish my arbitrary and opinionated bottle pet peeves (such as making your bottle look like a deodorant, not naming names coughMONTALEcough). The other 3 points come from the functionality which will not be deducted unless there is something physically wrong with the bottle (like an uneven spray). A lot of perfumes I own in decants, so if I don't actually own an original bottle I will usually refrain from giving an official score on Parfumo, but that will not stop me from unleashing my hot takes.

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

Price (a.k.a.Value for money)

I think that before we go into it, this section calls for a little bit of transparency. Be aware that an overwhelming majority of my collection is second hand, and even those that I bought new, I have NEVER. NEVER EVER paid the full price for a bottle. I automatically assume that you will do the same thing. I hope that's self-explanatory, but I treat this section more like a hypothetical, like, if I had an almost unlimited budget for perfumes, would I allow this to take space up in my house, and would I actually use it a reasonable amount?

This is a difficult topic to be objective about, but I try as much as humanly possible; thus, for the sake of this score I will always assume the position that I am loving the scent even if it's not true, and the price that I'm looking at is always that of the /ml price of the 100ml bottle (if available, or the closest one to it that is possible). The ONLY values that I take into consideration are the performance (mostly longevity, sillage to an extent) and the bottle (only in terms of functionality - as long as the cap is not falling off or something, no points will be deducted in that regard). Perfumes that I feel are doing something unique that you cannot get anywhere else tend to get an extra point or two, since in my opinion it's always worth having a new and unusual experience. The perceived versatility I also take into consideration a little bit. No points will be deducted but an extra point or two may be awarded to a versatile fragrance as that might be more likely to be worth than a highly specialized perfume. Similarly to scent, 5 or below is a no, while above is a yes. 6 I would only recommend if it's a scent you can't live without. 8 is genuinely worth it, in my opinion. 10 is a must have regardless of price (more often than not in spite of the price). As you can guess, this is the one category where I'm rather stingy with the maximum scores. If I rated the perfume 11/10, then it's probably a hidden gem from the drugstore.

I have added three more numerical values that are not on the site but I just made them up for fun and profit:

Intensity

Not to toot my own horn, but as silly as some of the other categories are, I think this one value SHOULD be included on the site. This is maybe the second most important thing I need to know before buying a perfume – just how STRONG is it really while I AM smelling it? - and although they are usually related, it's not always possible to infer it from sillage alone. Sometimes perfumes project far but are just not strong enough for me. On the other hand there are some fragrances that I've come across that somehow barely project at all but from up close they smell very intense. For this I always test the perfume decently from the inside of its perceived projection bubble but not completely up close (unless it's a skin scent we are talking about). On this scale a 1 would be literally not being able to smell anything at all, a 6 would be subtle but distinctly noticeable, and a 10 would almost completely fill my sense of smell from one spray without overwhelming it... comparable to the aroma of a freshly made warm meal near me.

I try to be objective about this score as much as possible, but it should be known that based on what I read from other people's scent perception, my sense of smell might be a little weak in comparison? - I rarely rate perfumes lower than 4 because at that point it becomes challenging for me to perceive them at all. Please don't hate me but I actually prefer my fragrances pretty strong if possible, basically as strong as they make them. (In turn I spray them very sparsely however.) My ideal strength of perfume is a 8-10, which most likely puts me in the minority so you may wanna be a little cautious with perfumes that I describe the intensity of as "perfect". Fragrances that I need to be cautious spraying with as to not become overwhelmed I rate as a 11, and those that genuinely challenge me will get a 12, but that is such a thing that I have encountered only a handful of times in my life so far.

Shapeshifter score

This score represents some sort of transformation that the scent undergoes during its course. This is not a value judgement in the sense that more or less shapeshifting doesn't necessarily make the perfume worse or better, but I DO love storytelling, and a transforming scent is always inherently interesting to me. This is the score where such a thing will be appreciated. Take it as a bonus category, a sort of gold star.

This is the only score that goes in theory as low as 0, for a fragrance that doesn't change in a way that I can perceive (very rare, but sometimes happens). A score of 1 is a perfume that stays mostly the same with maybe a soft, slight shift over time (most perfumes that I've smelled are like this) whereas 5 oscillates between notes rapidly for a long time and/or undergoes more than one transformation that changes the scent drastically. The shapeshifter score only goes up to a maximum of 5 instead of 10 because I felt like that would suffice to convey every necessary detail that I could possibly need. In this section, a score of 4 should already be considered unusually high, and 5/5s are extremely rare. I have yet to find a perfume that could only be accurately represented with a 6/5 score. I feel like that would probably have to switch scent families three times midway through or something. If you have ever smelled such a thing, ABSOLUTELY do let me know.

Photo by photos_frompasttofuture on Unsplash

Commitment to the bit

This category is very much a value judgement and more important to me personally that it may seem. I think – and this is certainly not a hot take – that ALL perfumery is art, but there are a lot of perfumes out there that are more like 10% art and 90% product. And please don't get me wrong, I don't wanna pose myself as some sort of a snob... It's completely OKAY for a perfume to just "smell good" in the same way as all food is good enough as long as it gives healthy nourishment and tastes good. However, if an artist attempted to express and communicate something through the medium of scent, I think that ALWAYS has an inherent value that should be elevated, and celebrated. While I will not turn down a scent that just "smells good," I personally prefer the perfumes that I actually go out of my way to buy to be about 50-90% art if possible and that's what I am truly on the prowl for as I hunt new decants to try. I don't even care what anyone says. Straight up, bring me all the gimmicks. The rusted copper, horsehair note, electrostatic accord(? Wtf even is that)... all of that. Bring it right over here. Of course, like in all art, a gimmick alone is not enough if it doesn't say anything, but I will hear out every single one of them at least once.

"Commitment to the bit" includes three facets, of which the perfume will have to do well in at least two to score highly.
1. Is the scent itself unusual and original (or was it at the time of its release?)
2. Is there an artistic concept behind this scent that is even a little bit interesting?
And 3. Did the perfumer manage to convey that artistic concept in scent form?
If it's possible, I try to do a little bit of research on what the perfumers had to say about the artistic intent, but sometimes I only have the name of the perfume and the bottle to go off of, so I will make my judgement based on that. Perfumes with a cool bottle and a weird concept will be appreciated highly in this category even if I don't think they smell good. This will not be influential enough to significantly raise their overall score, but they will at least be rewarded with a miniature literary-olfactory analysis for their effort. Perfumes that trailblazed, (re)invented their own genre or put something truly unique on the table will be honored with a higher than 10 score.

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

Lastly, I have three categories for you that have no numerical value attached, but I added them for a little bit of lightheartedness and I hope they will aid you in deciding whether this scent may be for you or not.

Occasion and Who this is for

These are exactly what it says on the tin. With occasions, instead of just giving you "Fall evening" or "Date night" I try to give something hyperspecific to the point of comical, whereas "who this is for" is usually advice that is more grounded in reality and practical. Sometimes it's the other way around, or I even merge them into one, but basically these are the essence of my recommendations, which always come as a double sided coin - one joke and one serious. I believe every perfume is for somebody, so I try come up with something genuine even if I don't like the perfume myself. If you recognize yourself in these or you think that sounds cool, I believe it from the bottom of my heart that this is your thing. If you recognize yourself a little bit too much, please don't be upset, it is extremely likely that I'm roasting myself as well. We are in this together.

Fictional character that I imagine smells like this

I treat the word "fictional character" extremely loosely here for the sole reason to make the already verbiose idea as brief as possible; but this may include entities that are technically not characters (like people from the past who have a certain fictionalized narrative surrounding them, but they did exist) or not universally considered fictional (like subjects of mythology and religion). At any rate, I apologize for any offense caused and/or inaccuracy.

Finally, the most important one:

Overall score

This takes into consideration basically every value except for the bottle (only the fragrance is judged, the packaging isn't) but it should be said that they are not all made equal. The score is basically 50% the scent, 25% whether I was satisfied with the performance for the price I was paying or not and 15% commitment to the bit, the rest at that point is almost inconsequential. This will always be unfair to perfumes that I think are well crafted but I subjectively disliked the scent of, or perfumes that I thought smelled beautiful but performed terribly on me for some reason. In this case I may be willing to give an extra pity point or two, because my heart is not made of stone after all.

Like Columbo would ostensibly say, just one more thing.

If you like this, also try:

If I have any dupe recommendations, I will absolutely share them, but this section is usually not for direct dupes - rather a scent that, although smelling completely differently, I feel in my heart and soul tries to do something similar in spirit. (Or, occasionally, the same but completely opposite in spirit?) It is secretly my dream to make perfume recommendations for people, if only someone asked... so if you tried out whatever I suggested, PLEASE tell me what you thought of it. Your opinions will be highly valued, and I will use the data to make my recommendations better.

Thank you for allowing me to take you on this lengthy tour through my thought process. I hope this will be informative for you at the time of you reading it, and you found some enjoyment. I would be very happy to see what points you agree or disagree with and what you would do differently. How a person rates perfumes is a topic that sounds like it should be dry but I find myself enthralled by it. I have read a good number of articles on this topic and no two of them were ever the same.

(As farewell, here's a drawing of me enjoying some scents with great longevity and above average projection. This is 100% photorealistic of me in real life.)