Fragrance: A Buying Guide

Fragrance: A Buying Guide

Buying Tom Ford for Women comes down to a few checks you can do from the product page. Everything else is preference.

The short answer

Buying Tom Ford for Women comes down to a few checks you can do from the product page. Everything else is preference. Test on skin and wait an hour. The opening is not what you will smell like. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What actually decides it

What decides this is concentration, notes and how long it lasts. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: White Fox Boutique's Mango Perfume Mist at $25, and Tom Ford Beauty's Electric Cherry Eau de Parfum at $90. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. Test on skin and wait an hour. The opening is not what you will smell like. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

How to use it

Apply to pulse points and let it sit. Do not rub. From the second group, Manymoons's Mint Aromatherapy Roll On Perfume Oil ($25) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, fragrances, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

Our honest take

There are 20 fragrances here from 14 brands, $20 to $405, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. loveshackfancy.com's Velvet Sun Hair & Body Perfume Mist with Coconut Water at $20 is the low-risk way in, and tomfordbeauty.com's Rose Prick Eau de Parfum at $405 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Tom Ford for Women without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: the piece you reach for on a rushed morning is the one that was worth the money.