Abstract:

This paper discusses the prevalence of sniff-testing in the fragrance industry, and suggests that the over-use of this methodology, in place of home-use testing, often prevents clients from receiving the superior fragrances that they are expecting from fragrance houses. Comparisons are made between sniff test and home-use test results, showing that the two methods can sometimes produce quite different conclusions. It is recommended that, despite the higher investment necessary, the industry should use home-use tests more, and sniff tests less, in particular when the specific research objective is to accurately identify a winning fragrance.