A welcomed emergence in the beauty content creators’ space, is fragrance content creators. For those of us who are avid consumers of beauty content, a rise in fragrance content creators means we finally have access to content that we can use not only look good but to smell even better! One such content creator is Zesipho.M, better known as “The OfficialPerfumePlug” on her social media where she regularly “plugs” her followers to all things fragrance. Nounouche asked her to “plug” our readers with an easy guide to fragrance shopping and collecting.

“Social Media has done so much to empower and connect the skincare and makeup communities, but fragrance always felt like an impenetrable sphere of the beauty industry. That, combined with the statistic that 70% of purchase decisions happen before we enter the retail-store inspired. Through The OfficialPerfumePlug, we have a safe and diverse space where people feel empowered to learn about this seemingly complex industry, so that they can more empowered to shop and build their fragrance collection”, she shares.

Zesipho is no ordinary fragrance content creator, as an award-winning brand manager in the Beauty & Personal Care and Luxury Goods sector(s), her understanding goes beyond just enthusiasm for all things beaut and with a wealth of experience as a Brand Manager on some of the biggest global luxury brands, Zesipho has transformed the passion for democratising luxury and niche beauty gained at her 9-5, into a mission to democratise the understanding and appreciation for fragrance.

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Here are three steps to follow when choosing a fragrance:

Decide on the fragrance family you most enjoy: Between floral scents, fresh fragrances, amber fragrances and woody fragrances. If you don’t know where to start, packaging and the colour of the fragrance juice are usually a great indication. For example, floral scents tend to have pink or rose colour-cues, whilst aquatic-fresh scents generally have blue or white colour-cues, and woodier scents will have deeper, brown or black colour-cues.

Within that fragrance family play around to discover which type of scent within that fragrance family you prefer. For example if you like fresh scents, there are green-fresh scents, citrus-fresh scents like lemon and orange, and water/aquatic-fresh scents – I think of these as the kind of cool refreshing scents you’d reach for on a hot summer day next to the pool like D&G Light Blue or Versace Eros.

Decide of the fragrance concentration you want: This usually is determined by your budget. The concentration generally determines how long the fragrance will last. This starts with colognes and mists which carry the least concentration and will therefore have shortest longevity. Then Eau de Toilette (EDT), followed by Eau de Parfums (EDP’s) and the highest concentration is the Parfum or Parfum Extrait which is generally most expensive and carried the strongest longevity and projection – these scents will last on your clothed for DAYS. The iteration of the scent between the different concentrations is often different, for example, an EDT fragrance may likely smell slightly different to an EDP.