Learning the lingo of the beauty industry can take some time, but it’s definitely worth it.

So, what are the top perfume lingo words you need to know? Glad you asked!

Words that seem to come up all the time include base notes, which refer to what you smell during the last phase of a perfume’s life on the skin before it’s evaporated away. If someone mentioned a perfume that had base notes of cashmere wood and cinnamon, those would be the last things you smell before the perfume vanishes away.

Knowing the difference between eau de cologne, eau de parfum, and eau de toilette is very important. Why are these items usually different in price? There’s a quick reason: they represent different percentages of actual perfume compound. The rest is an alcohol/water base. Sometimes you will want a more light perfume and other times you want more concentration.

So eau de cologne is the lightest, at about 3 percent perfume. Eau de toilette comes next at 3-8 percent perfume compound, and eau de parfum is the top at 10-15 percent. The more you know, right?

Essential oils are the super concentrated aromatic essence of plants. Some of these essential oils can be downright toxic in large amounts, so they can diluted down to just a little bit. If you try to make your own perfume, you will need to be very careful handling these items!

Top notes refer to the scents that are first smelled or applied to the skin. These are going to be the primary ingredients in a perfume, and are often considered the most volatile.

Keep in mind that the purest perfumes are still 20 – 50 percent, even higher than the eau de parfum mentioned above. These are the highest concentrations of perfume, and they last on the skin for a long time. You might fare better spraying it on your clothes.

Overall, the world of perfume is definitely a fun place to be — why not delve into it more on your own, now that you know what all of the terms mean for you?

Well, as mentioned before — it’s all about knowing what you know. For example, if you’re looking for a woodsy scent, then you want notes of bark, moss, and even a little patchouli. Some women avoid woodsy scents because they think that it’s going to be considered too masculine, but that’s really not the case at all. In fact some people really do like woody (chypre) scents because it’s a no-nonsense feminine scent.

Let’s pick out a few perfumes for you to shop for!

The first would have to be Knowing Perfume for Women by Estee Lauder. Estee Lauder is one of the big players in the perfume market, and they design every last one of their scents to really last the long run. You’re not going to be dealing with some flash in the pan scent. This is a scent that will be on your shelf for a long time.

Many fans of Knowing Perfume for Women report that they wear it when they really want to feel pretty confident and in control — it brings back memories of the “big power era” of women in the 80′s, which isn’t always a bad thing. A lot of progress was made back then!

If you’re looking for something still bold but a little more modern, you might want to go for Citizen Queen Perfume for Women by Juliette has a Gun. Now, we know the perfume line has a funky and crazy name, but there’s a story behind it. The line was actually created by Romano Ricci, who is the great grandson to the Nina Ricci. If you know beauty at all, Nina Ricci’s name should definitely be pretty familiar.

Citizen Queen includes scents of moss, sweet flowers, leather, amber, and musk. Some women like it because it blends together to create an aroma that reminds one immediately of sexy bare skin, flushed from heat. Wow!

Our final perfume that we had to mention would have to be Amber Splash by Marc Jacobs. This is a designer that just brings a sense of “cool” to everything he does. This perfume has plenty of amber, cashmere wood, cinnamon and even bark notes. Wear it to work to still feel sexy while doing your big power grabs!

Overall, there are plenty of bold fragrances out there in the woodsy category. Take these three as examples of what’s possible — you’ll be glad that you did!

So, what can fit into both categories effortlessly? Perfume, of course! If you really want to make sure that you have the best chances of actually getting something that you’re going to enjoy for a long time, then this guide is exactly what you need to focus on.

If you’re trying to develop a signature scent, then you need to make sure that you’re focusing on something that you really want to smell like. You will most likely wear this scent so much that it’ll be associated with you.

For women, flowery scents are very nice. For men, musk-oriented scents that remind people of the great outdoors can be the best bet. It just depends on what you’re trying to accomplish in the long run. After all, your signature scene it something that you’ll be wearing for a long time.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about getting the best perfume for your own needs. You might feel like it’s selfish, but there are a lot of things that we do just to make our lives a little brighter. If these are the things that make life feel more livable for you, why not do them?

That’s why we defend perfume so much because it really does make the perfect gift. Even though we refer to both genders through the site, perfume is a term is that is most often used for women’s fragrances. Cologne is the proper term for fragrances designed for men. of course, there are unisex fragrances that are floating out there. Many celebrities like to release these in order to get their name out to a larger audience than what they would have.

You can find good perfume just about anywhere. Boutique stores online will sell the most popular items, while offline stores will let you actually smell the fragrance for yourself. Of course, you could always combine both tactics and smell the scents for yourself and see what you really like!