Thread: Penhaligons Fragrance Profiling evening

So I got invited to a "fragrance profiling" evening at Penhaligons last night, which is basically an opportunity to go along and try out all their colognes, have a chat and a few glasses of bubbly.

I'd not actually been to Penhaligons before, despite living nearby, so this seemed like a good opportunity!

The store looks like an old apothcary from outside, but when you get inside its an interesting blend of olde worlde apothcary with big glass jars of fragrance and drug runs, and a more modern look. It sounds like an odd mix, but actually works very well. I might decorate the flat like that..!

We were greeted by one of their staff, handed a glass of cava and went to talk with one of their fragrance experts. What impressed me with this is that you can tell them the sort of thing you want, be it floral or citrus or whatever, and they will recommend a few colognes. But they pick them, and tell them all apart, by smell. I tested the girl who was with us by holding out one of those unmarked paper tester tabs and asking her which one it was. She smelled it and went "its that one", and got it right..! Kinda cool!

The thing they did differently to other places I've been to is to test the colognes on your skin, and then smell them again a bit later to see how they change.

What suprised me is that the one I liked the best at the start was actually my least favourite after five minutes on my skin. The scent didnt last and hadnt really matured in very well.

Interestingly, the scent I ended up buying (Endymion) was the same one my girlfriend, who was with me, liked as well. And that scent smells totally different on her as it does on me.

It was a very educational evening, and good fun, and it was interesting to see how to pick colognes not on how they smell in the bottle or on a tester tab, but how they smell on your skin and how they age in after they've been on you for a bit. It might sound obvious, but how many of us buy have bought aftershave in the airport duty free after sniffing a bottle? I know I have a fair few times..!

We ended up getting a couple of different bottles of cologne, a candle and I got some of the Endymion shaving cream as well.

Definately a fun evening and I got some great new colognes as well..!