How to choose a fragrance for yourself or for a gift?

The great news is that home fragrance is much easier to buy than personal fragrance because you don’t have to contend with body chemistry changing the scent as it contacts the skin. This makes gifts of home fragrance much more desirable and foolproof.

There are 6 popular scent families and almost all fragrances fit into one or more of these families. We’ve cross-referenced with popular Cologne and recommended Barcelona Bath & Body scents for each family:

Floral

• The largest, most popular fragrance family makes up more than half of Cologne sold
• Cologne: Beautiful, Miracle, D&G Pour Femme, Joy, Pleasures, Island Michael Kors, Ungaro
• Personality/Lifestyle Traits: Light-hearted, romantic, youthful, playful
• Time/Season: Round the clock, Spring/Summer to Year Round
• Barcelona Bath & Body: Vanilla Lavender, Grapefruit Ylang Ylang

Woodsy-Mossy/Chypre (sounds like SHIP-ruh)

• Dry fragrance with minimal sweetness
• Cologne: Lovely, Cashmere Mist, Pure Turquoise, Fendi for Him, Envy, Romance, Narciso Rodriguez, Prada, Green Irish Tweed, Aramis
• Personality/Lifestyle Traits: Classicly elegant with a twist, sophisticated, unconventional, uninhibited, natural
• Time/Season: Round the Clock, Fall/Winter
• Barcelona Bath & Body: Cinnamon Sandalwood

Oriental/Spicy

• The heaviest of the scent families includes cloves, amber and musk
• Cologne: Le Feu D'Issey, Escada, Gucci, Bijan, Shalimar, Obsession, Opium, Youth Dew, Princess, Paco Rabanne for Men, Joop! Homme
• Personality/Lifestyle Traits: Sensuous, decadent, exotic, daring, independent
• Time/Season: Evening, Fall/Winter
• Barcelona Bath & Body: Cinnamon Sandalwood, Coconut Bay Rum

Citrus/Fruity

• Tangy, refreshing and gender neutral—these are among the oldest known scents
• Cologne: Happy, Burberry Brit, Acqua di Parma, D&G Light Blue, DKNY Red Delicious, Acqua Di Gio, D&G, Armani, Drakkar Noir
• Personality/Lifestyle Traits: Creative, decisive, honorable, irresistible, tantalizing
• Time/Season: Round the Clock, Spring/Summer
• Barcelona Bath & Body: Grapefruit Ylang Ylang, Lemongrass Fennel

Food

• Eat dessert first! Research has shown that men are particularly drawn to food scents
• Cologne: Angel, Pink Sugar, Hanae Mori Butterfly, Chocolovers, Serendipitous, Angel Men
• Personality/Lifestyle Traits: hedonistic, adventurous, alluring, innocent, sweet, sassy, welcoming
• Time/Season: After dark, year round
• Barcelona Bath & Body: Cinnamon Sandalwood, Vanilla Lavender, Coconut Bay Rum

Green

• Clean herbal, grassy, leafy scents
• Cologne: Green Tea, Jess, Escape, Sung, Safari, Chanel No. 19
• Personality/Lifestyle Traits: Energetic, sporty, outdoorsy, down to earth, fresh
• Time/Season: Daytime, Spring/Summer
• Barcelona Bath & Body: Lemongrass Fennel

Fragrance blending notes: We often get comments from customers that they usually don’t like vanilla, but in our combination with lavender, they love it. Frequently, we get the same type of comment about lavender, fennel, coconut and ylang ylang. This is no accident, and therefore one of our favorite compliments to receive. The sweetness of vanilla knocks the sharp edge off lavender and vice versa. Founder Rachel Lane did the first round of scent blending based on the principles of aromachology, but took it the next step further working with a master perfumer until the scents exactly matched her vision—mood balancing scents with wide appeal.

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