How can I identify whether the freshness I enjoy comes from citrus, aromatic herbs, fruity nuances or woody materials?

The reason to do this on paper before you read a single product page is that a well-written page will hand you its own words, and then you can no longer tell which three were yours. Write yours down first and the rest of the decision gets easy.

The answer, in full

I cannot tell you what is in your bottle, and that is the first thing to say plainly rather than apologise for. SOSA publishes nothing about YSL Y or about any other designer or niche perfume, so nothing on this page describes what is in your bottle. But you own the bottle, which makes you the only instrument in this conversation that has ever met it. So here is the test. Spray it on paper rather than skin, leave it twenty minutes, then write down the three words you would use for what is left. Paper rather than skin, because skin is warm and moving and it muddles the reading. Twenty minutes, because the opening rush is the most volatile part and the least useful. Three words, because two is not enough to argue with and five turns into a paragraph. Now the map, built only from SOSA's published pyramids. If one of your words was citrus, bright, zesty or sharp, read Lemon ₹509, published as citrus, fresh, whose top notes are cold-pressed lemon peel brightness, sharp citrus zest and natural d-limonene. Citrus also appears inside three other published pyramids: a trace of lemon zest lift in Icy Mint ₹499, a citrus accent in Sea Breeze ₹519 and a light citrus edge in Vetiver ₹519. If a word was herbal, green or cool, read Icy Mint ₹499, whose published Scent Family is aromatic mentholic, cool, alert, daytime, or Lavender and Sandalwood ₹499, published as herbal floral, soft and unisex. If a word was woody, creamy or resinous, read Sandalwood ₹509, published as woody, creamy resinous, meditative, or Oud ₹519, published as woody, resinous, premium. And if a word was fruity, SOSA has nothing for you. There is no fruit note in any of the nine pyramids - no berry, no apple, no peach, no pineapple, nothing in that register in any tier. That direction is a gap in this range and no amount of reading will close it. A portion of every SOSA order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.

The test, the vocabulary and the map

Three cards: how to run the test so it tells you something, the published words to name the result with, and the one direction of the four that the range does not serve.

The test: paper, twenty minutes, three words

Spray the perfume you own onto a strip of paper rather than onto your wrist, and leave it alone for twenty minutes. Then smell it and write down three words. Your words, not the ones from the brand's website. Do it again the next evening before you read anything, because the second list is usually the honest one. This costs nothing, it uses the one instrument that has actually smelled your perfume, and it produces an input that no page can produce for you.

Paper, because skin is warm and moving.

The published vocabulary: thirteen words, and they are the whole palette

Across the nine published pyramids and families the words available are citrus, green, herbal, aromatic, mentholic, marine, aquatic, woody, creamy, resinous, earthy, floral, musky and powdery. That is the whole set. If your three words translate into one of those, there is a named and priced scent to read. If they do not, you have learned something useful about SOSA rather than about yourself, and it cost you a sheet of paper.

The gap: fruity, which SOSA does not publish anywhere

No fruit note appears in any of the nine pyramids. Not in a first tier, not in a heart, not in a base: no berry, no apple, no peach, no mango, no pineapple, no fig. Lemon ₹509 is citrus, and citrus is not the same thing - its published words are peel, zest and a bitter edge rather than flesh or juice. So if your three words came back fruity, the honest answer is that this range has no entry in that direction and you should spend your money elsewhere this month. SOSA publishes no strength ranking of the nine and no prediction of what anybody will prefer, so the last step is your own nose in your own car.

Fruity is a gap. I would rather say it than fudge it.

The map, scent by scent, with published prices

Citrus: Lemon ₹509, published as citrus, fresh. Aromatic herbs: Icy Mint ₹499, published as aromatic mentholic, cool, alert, daytime, and Lavender and Sandalwood ₹499, published as herbal floral, soft and unisex. Woody: Sandalwood ₹509, published as woody, creamy resinous, meditative, and Oud ₹519, published as woody, resinous, premium. Earthy and green: Vetiver ₹519, published as earthy, green, Indian heritage. Marine: Sea Breeze ₹519. Fruity: nothing at all, because SOSA publishes no fruit note in any of the nine pyramids.

Once your three words are written down, three sprays will test them faster than three months of reading. Discovery sets are ₹709 to ₹909. See the car perfume sprays pack of 3 →

Four directions, and where each one is published

Three out of four is the honest score and I am not going to round it up. A reader who is sent to citrus when they wanted fruit opens the bottle, finds peel and zest where they expected flesh, and reasonably never buys from me again. SOSA publishes no strength ranking of the nine and no prediction of what anybody will prefer, so the last step is your own nose in your own car.

“No fruit note appears in any of the nine pyramids. Citrus is peel and zest, which is a different thing, and pretending otherwise would cost us both.”

The twenty-minute diagnosis

1. Spray your own perfume on paper, never on skin, and walk away.
2. Come back after twenty minutes and write exactly three words.
3. Repeat the next evening before reading any product page at all.
4. Match your words to a published family, or accept there is no match.

Questions, answered