Polly is an eau de parfum in Faberlic's women's range. Its notes are described in the catalogue; this page is about choosing a fragrance when you have no reference point yet.
Start by narrowing the family
Fragrance families are the useful first cut, because they eliminate most of a catalogue immediately:
- Fresh and clean → citrus, aquatic, light floral
- Warm and cosy → oriental, gourmand, woody
- Green and cool → green, chypre
- Soft and quiet → musk, powdery
- Sweet → fruity, gourmand
You do not need to know perfumery to answer which of those appeals. Start there.
What makes a good first fragrance
Moderate rather than extreme. The strongly characterful families — heavy orientals, oud, leather, tuberose — are the ones people grow into. Starting there frequently produces a bottle worn twice.
Wearable in daylight and at work. Your first fragrance will be worn most often in ordinary situations.
Eau de parfum or eau de toilette, not parfum. The highest concentration is harder to apply well.
What a first fragrance is actually for
Learning what you respond to. Whatever you choose, wearing it for a few months teaches you more than any amount of reading — you discover whether you want to be noticed or not, whether sweetness suits you, whether you like the drydown more than the opening.
The second purchase is always better informed than the first, so do not agonise over the first.
Testing
- On skin, never on a paper strip
- Thirty minutes minimum — the opening disappears fast and is not what you will be wearing
- One at a time. Three at once is three you cannot judge
- A full day before deciding
Application
Two or three sprays at the pulse points — wrists, base of the throat, behind the ears. Do not rub the wrists together.
If it fades quickly, apply to moisturised skin; dry skin holds fragrance poorly.
Storage
Cool, dark, in the box. The full note structure is in the Faberlic catalogue.