Buying perfume dupes online - successfully
Buying an perfume dupe online can be a bit hit and miss. After all, we ultimately decide on a perfume by smelling it.
With Match Perfumes you can try our inspired fragrances first before deciding if it’s for you.
Included with every bottle purchased is a ‘Try before you Buy’ sample tester, so you don't have to be worried about buying a perfume and not liking it.
You will also receive a scent blotter, also known as Mouillette, pronounced 'Moo - Yet' or smelling strip. The blotter is porous enough to absorb the perfume and give you a fairly accurate reading of how the fragrance smells.
How to test the fragrance with a Blotter
Before you start, bend the blotter 90 degrees on the end you are going to spritz, this will allow you to place the blotter down on the table without contaminating the fragrance.
To test the perfume hold the ‘Try Me’ tester about 10-15cm away from the blotter and quickly spray the fragrance in a downward motion in front of you. You’ll only need to spritz a couple of times to sample the fragrance properly.
Once sprayed, give the smelling strip time to absorb the scent before sniffing it several times. When first spritzed, your initial impression will typically be the 'top notes' but you will need to give it time to really appreciate how the fragrance develops.
Wait 20 - 30 minutes before returning back to the smelling strip for another test. You will notice how the fragrance has gradually changed, bringing the 'heart' and 'base notes' more to the fore.
Avoid touching your nose with the blotter, when sniffing the perfume, as this will influence every other perfume you may test thereafter.
It is recommended not to try more than 3 fragrances at a time, as your ability to capture the true nature of a fragrance diminishes significantly.
Consider the smelling strip as only the initial stage of unwrapping the scent, offering just a glimpse of the fragrance’s character.
How to test the perfume on your skin
If your chosen fragrance has passed the blotter test, it's now time to test the
scent on your skin. We recommend spraying your wrist, not too close and not too far. Leave the perfume to dry naturally, avoiding rubbing you wrists together, as this will warm up the scent, causing it to evaporate quicker.
Wait a full 30 minutes
Here is the secret to finding your perfect coycat fragrance. Wait a full 30 minutes before you smell the scent on your wrist again. This will give you a true reading of how the perfume works with your body chemistry. The heart and base notes will come out at different times, so don’t rush it!
Perfume is very personal, the same fragrance can smell very different on different people.
Because of the higher concentration levels in Match Perfumes, we recommend our fragrance’s are given time to develop, as its heart notes and lingering base notes that stay with you.
What is fragrance Sillage
Sillage is the fragrance’s trail left by the wearer when they walk by. Sillage is usually closely related to the fragrance’s concentration.
To test your fragrance’s sillage, simply find a relatively empty and clean room and make sure all windows are closed. Spray twice into the room, leave and close the door behind you.
Check back every few minutes and you will be able to figure out the sillage strength. If you can still smell the fragrance after 10 minutes, the fragrance is probably quite strong.
Minimal sillage fragrance's are ones that stay close to the skin and create a more intimate scented aura.
Sillage is often confused with projection. Projection is another term for how your perfume can radiate off your skin, while it can be related to sillage, it’s slightly different.