How Do I Rate Perfumes On Parfumo

Hey there! Welcome back to another one of my (28F) internal musing. Last time, I talked about tips and ideas on writing a fragrance review, which many of you loved to read (and I want to thank all of you for your likes and comments). This time, I want to talk about rating perfumes on Parfumo. I love this website because it allows you to interact with the community in different ways, may that be by writing out a short review (called a statement) or a longer review. You can also classify a perfume based on a few parameters, suggest similar perfumes, propose other perfumes to layer, and, best of all, rate perfumes based on five qualities: scent, longevity, sillage, bottle, and value for money. This is what I'll be writing about today. 

Rating products are always subjective to each person. People might put more importance in one or two of the aforementioned qualities, while others won't have the same opinion. I think that what's important here is that you stay consistent when you review your perfumes. Parfumo already has a system when rating perfumes: a 0-2 is considered Very Poor; 2.5-4.5 is considered Poor; 5-7 is considered Average; 7.5-9.5 is considered Good and 10 is considered Very Good. You can use this system when starting out or you can also branch out and use your own. For example, I appreciate the fact that Parfumo allows .5 numbers, but I don't use them because I feel it adds another layer of complexity and complications. On the other hand, you might want to use this system to further the precision of your reviews and seperate distinctively each perfumes you rated. Remember: rating perfumes is subjective and what works for me might not work for you. I also want to reiterate that reviewing perfumes should be a fun activity and not a stressful one. It's important to take the time to enjoy the fragrances that are in your collections. Comparing your reviews with other people's opinion should not influence you negatively. If you love your perfume, that's the most important part of this hobby!

Now that I've talked a bit about how Parfumo works, I think it's time to get down to how I subjectively rate my perfumes based on each of the five qualities (scent, longevity, sillage, bottle, value for money) and the importance I give to each of those. Right off the bat, I'll always be evaluating the scent aspect and the bottle. If I'm keeping the perfume in my collection (may that be as a full bottle or a travel size), I'll also rate longevity and the value for money. I rarely rate the sillage (more information on that later). You can see below for a more detailes explanation for each aspect!

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Scent
I think we can all agree that scent is probably the most important aspect of perfumes out there (except if you collect bottles). We all want to smell good and we all have different tastes. Perfume is a little bit like aromatherapy and a nice fragrance can be a a great start to your day (or night). For my part, I've realized I really enjoy nice citrus (bergamot, mandarin, citron, grapefruits) perfumes, green freshies that feature a tea note somewhere and a hint of gentle spiciness (cardamom, petigrain, cinnamon, etc.). I also love florals as long as they do not go into the powdery territory (I'm not a fan of powdery notes either) and I love anything that's fruity, sweet and reminscient of food (gourmand perfumes). I tend to steer clear of synthetic / chemical notes or anything too musky (tends to come out dirty and not in a good way). I also avoid woody centric perfumes, fragrances that remind people of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, leather, incense, and strong chocolate notes. 

10:  A ten is an exquisite perfume, worthy of being a signature scent. It's a perfume I never want to part with or forget, a memorable scent to keep in my collection indefinetly. It's an automatic love at first sniff with no hesitation towards adding it to my collection. It's a perfume I know I won't ever find something comparable to it. I'll be buying a full bottle and then upgrading it to the next format (if available). Will be buying backups if I ever hear it getting discontinued.
9: A nine is a sublime perfume, although a little something is missing. It's a perfume I will gladly add as a full bottle to my collection because I love wearing and sniffing it. I'll be buying a full bottle, but will not be buying backups if it ever gets discontinued. It might get phased out from my collection later on if I find something better.
8: An eight is great perfume that I loved sniffing, but something is stopping me from getting a full bottle. It'll be one of those two reasons. (1) It's a scent that I objectively recognize as being great and well-blended (well-crafted), but might not be a perfume I want to wear daily (or on me). I might not see myself wearing it, but I recognize it could be a great fit for somebody else. (2) It might also be a perfume I want to keep as a decant or a travel size in my collection to revisit later if my nose and tastes change or if there's a season where the perfume might shine better. I may modify the score later on. 
7: A seven is a lovely perfum, but one I won't be adding to my collection. I'll have the impression I could get something better with the same notes and/or family from another brand. 
6: A six is a perfume that will not be added to my collection for various reasons, main one being that it's a meh: not good, not bad, just in between. Most synthetic-smelling perfume are in this category and perfumes from families I rarely like are often added here.
5 and lower: I usually don't like going lower than five because I know people have been behind the elaboration of the fragrance A five is usually a perfume I solidly disliked and will never be adding to my collection. Anything lower than 5 is a perfume I despised and had to scrub immediately off from my skin.

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Longevity
I do expect to get my money's worth when buying perfumes and I want my perfumes to live on my skin for awhile. I'm not asking it to last a week as I love to rotate the perfumes I wear, but I do expect it to stick around on my skin and on my clothes. This is often why I avoid body mists (nothing against them though). I often use a day at work to draw comparison between my perfumes. 

10: A ten is nothing but perfection. This means that I sprayed it in the morning and it's still on my skin when I'm about to wash myself in the evening after a day of work. Sometimes it'll even last on me after I've washed myself and will still be on my clothes days later. I don't have a lot of perfumes that are currently in this category.
9: A nine is a perfume that I can still smell on my skin after a day of work without having to pull my nose up to my skin. I'll catch wafts of it at the end of the day when I move about, but it'll end just before bath time. I won't have any hints of it after washing myself. Might still be on my clothes.
8: An eight is a perfume that I can still smell on my skin after a day of work but I have to pull my nose up to my skin to catch a waft of it. It'll be leaving my skin soon, often during the time when I get home. 
7: A seven is a perfume that I can still smell in the afternoon (afternoon to me is anywhere between 1 p.m and 4 p.m), but it has started to wane. I won't be smelling it in the evening when going back home. It'll also have left my clothes for the most part.
6: A six is a perfume that lasts until around noon. It'll have left my skin completely in the afternoon. More often then not, perfumes that enter this territory are those that have volatile ingredients, hard to capture for a long time (delicate flowers, citruses). 
5 and lower: A five and lower numbers are for those perfumes that last an hour or two (and even less). They are fleeting, akin to a body mist. I usually don't keep these in my collection unless the scent is that good. I've found a few low-cost eau de toilette that are in this category.

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Sillage
Sillage is one of the parameters I do not rate. We all have different tastes in how perfumes should project and I think that our environment (and upbringing) has a lot to do with it. Where I live, perfume is low-key. People most often do not wear perfume and those that do often only have 1 or 2 bottles. Beast-mode fragrances are frowned upon. This is why I prefer not to rate sillage as my entourage is a bit more frisky concerning fragrances that create an enormous bubble around you. All in all, I wear perfumes for myself first and not anyone else, so as long as I can smell it on me, it's fine.

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Bottle
There is often a lot of arguing on forums and communities I lurk in about the number of perfumes people should own. Some people will argue that perfumes have an expiry date and it's useless to hoard a large number of fragrances which ends up creating waste. Others will argue that there are too many different beautiful perfumes out there and that life is too short to stick to only one or two scents. In my humble opinion, I'm somewhere in the middle of all of this. I do get that too much perfumes can be wasteful, but I also love collecting perfumes, not just for their scent, but also for their bottles. I love art and I find that there's a form of art in bottle designs and packaging. I think it's part of the luxurious experience. Design-wise, some perfumes have been recognized because of their distinct bottle design (think of Carolina Herrera's stiletto bottles) while others are considered more generic. Bottles do not influence whether I'll be purchasing a fragrance or not, but they are an added bonus. 

10: A ten to me is perfect in terms of bottle and packaging. I feel the luxurious experience when unpackaging my bottle and I feel proud displaying it for all to see. I feel that designers have put a lot of thought behind the elaboration of their bottle AND packaging. The bottle fits well into my hands (isn't awkward) and the spray nozzle evenly distributes perfume into a fine mist. 
9: A nine is a perfume that has a perfect bottle in terms of design and a lovely packaging (albeit a little less luxurious). There's more thought that has been put behind the elaboration of the bottle and less into the packaging. Nonetheless, it's a bottle I'll be happy to expose to everyone's eyes.
8: An eight is a nice bottle and a nice packaging. There's no luxurious feeling when using the bottle or unpacking the fragrance, but the bottle is still lovely to expose. There's a certain thought that has been given to the bottle in terms of ease of use, although there is a certain awkwardness and the spray nozzle distributes nicely the juice encased inside. 
7: A seven is a generic perfume of bottle that could be hidden among other beauty products and people wouldn't notice it's a perfume bottle. The packaging is standard, just enough to protect the fragrance when bought and when lugging it around. Even though it's generic, it's fine to use. There's no default, apart from the fact that everything screams generic.
6: A six is a perfume bottle that is clunky to use and/or the spray nozzle doesn't distribute the perfume evenly. It's a generic bottle that only serves as a container for the perfume inside, but nothing really more. I associate most of Zara's bottles with this score or any fragrance dupes. 
5 and lower: I usually don't go much lower as bottles need to be pretty atrocious not to be sorted into one of the above categories. If I ever put a bottle in this category, this means the bottle and/or packaging is really subpar. 

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Value for Money
Perfumes are undoubtedly an expensive hobby and I do want to get my money's worth when acquiring perfumes. This is why I always recommend getting samplers, before going to a travel size and then going for a full bottle. I know FOMO is real (I've fallen for it too), but money can be tight and people should always aim to get their money's worth. It's kind of hard to associate a quantitive aspect to a 1-10 rating which is why I associated qualitative aspect to my rating to better help me associate each perfume to a score.

10: A ten is a perfume for which I wouldn't paying more for. I find the price is reasonable and even a little bit unfair for the makers of the perfume. I won't mind if it increases in price because it's worth it to me. Very rarely do perfumes end up getting a ten (I can be difficult). 
9: A nine is a perfume that fits perfectly its pricepoint. I won't mind paying for more if the brand ever increases its prices (as long as it stays reasonable). 
8: An eight is perfume that is okay for it's price, although I would be more incentivized in paying for it with discounts, point perks, loyalty programs, etc.
7: A seven is a perfume that I'll only be buying if there is a discount or anything else that may lower its pricepoint. I'll only be getting it at a modified rate. 
6: A six is a perfume that isn't worth the price it's at and I'm sure there are better perfumes (may that be a dupe or another fragrance that's similar) out there with better prices. I'll maybe get it one day if it's discounted, but the price is a clear turn off.
5 and lower: Not worth it, definitely not getting it unless someone gifts it to me. I don't think I'd go lower that 5 for this aspect.

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As you may have seen I rarely rate under a 5.  So why not just turn a /10 into a /5 and fraction convert my scores? That's because people usually check the numbers when making researches and putting a perfume under 5/10 is quite harsh in my humble opinion. I don't think any perfumes deserves a 0 (or if it does, I haven't stumbled upon one yet). 

Now that I've laid out my own way of critiquing a perfume, I'd be curious to know how you rate your stuff and the methods you use to do it. After I've rated a perfume, I often go back to it later and check my ratings to see if they're still exact or if something has changed along the way. This lets me appreciate even more the fragrance that are in my possession. Anyways, this article has been long enough, so let me know how you rate your perfumes and how you go about doing that! Hit me up in the comments and don't forget to leave a like and follow if you loved this article. Thanks for reading!

*** Cover from Lubov Lisitsa