Walking into a perfume shop: what to ask

The first thing is the air. A good perfume shop has a layered smell, one scent over another, soft where it meets the door and denser further in. Stand for a moment before you say anything. Your nose needs time to settle.

Then the shelves. Glass bottles, small oil vials, a tray of wooden sticks. Some shops keep burners and chips of bakhoor near the counter. None of it asks for your attention. You are allowed to look.

Start with what you like, not what you know

When someone comes to greet you, you do not need names. Say what you already enjoy: a clean laundry smell, a campfire, warm vanilla, fresh wood. A good seller will turn that into a family, usually oud, musk or amber, and bring a few examples.

If you are not sure, the beginner's guide to oud, musk and amber gives you the vocabulary in five minutes.

Questions that help

• Is this an oil, an attar or a spray? Oil and spray behave very differently on skin.
• How does it smell after an hour, and after four?
• What is the smallest size I can buy?
• Can I take a sample?

The difference between attar and spray is worth knowing before you go.

Where to try it

Put it on your wrist, not on the paper strip alone. Paper tells you the first impression. Skin tells you what you will live with. Try at most three. After that your nose stops telling you the truth, and the scents run together.

Then leave

Walk outside. Go and have a coffee. The scent on your wrist will change, and the last version is the one that matters. Come back if you still like it.

Staff can only tell you so much. Skin changes how a scent wears, and only you can tell whether you want to smell it all day. If you react to something, wash it off and do not buy it.

Rule to keep: never buy at the first sniff. Buy at the fourth hour.