Get nosy: 4 tips for selecting your perfect perfume

Interested in picking out a new signature scent? Here's how to select the right perfume for your personality and lifestyle.

Wearing perfume is a great way to smell fresh and feel put together, but there are so many varieties on the market that it can be overwhelming to choose one.

It might seem strange, but your scent can be inextricably linked to your personality. Before choosing a signature scent, think about the things you want to communicate about yourself when you first encounter someone.

• Do you want them to perceive you as serious and mature?
• Do you want to come across as girly and fun?
• Would you rather seem like a nature lover and outdoor aficionado?

Pick the part of your personality that you want to showcase and then use these elements to pick the right family of scent elements that you want your perfume to possess.

If you have a more serious side, think about using mature, complex scents like oak or musk. If you tend to be more cheery and jovial, think about picking a scent in the spring flowers or sweet citrus realm.

• If you're picking a new scent for a specific season or event, keep those in mind when shopping for a perfume.
• Typically, when the weather is cold and the layers pile on, perfumes with stronger, spicier scents are more appropriate, since their scent is still discernible through sweaters, coats and scarves.
• If it's winter, opt for something heavier like a woodsy or chypre scent.
• Alternatively, when people wear fewer layers, lighter scents reminiscent of citrus fruit or flowers are more appropriate.

When you go to a department store or perfumery, make sure you go as free of extra scents as possible.

Don't wear any hair products, lotions or other perfumes that you can smell when you shop, so that you can direct your nose's attention strictly to your prospective new perfumes — not a mixture of that smell and the smell of the products you're wearing.

• Lots of stores that sell perfumes offer samples, so head to ones that will let you test the scents before you buy.
• Don't just test perfumes by putting them on a strip and smelling them in the store — find a perfume or two you like in a store, then apply them to your wrists and leave.
• Walk around with the scent on for the day, and see if you continue to like it several hours later. Scents can change as their components break down and mix with your body's chemicals, so choose a perfume only after you know that it will smell good on you all day long.