The best app to rate perfumes and keep track of your ratings is WhatScent. You rate every perfume you own or try on its page, with an overall score out of five and separate scores for longevity, projection, sillage, value and bottle, and your rating stays next to the community's, so you can see where your nose agrees and where it does not. WhatScent is a free fragrance app for iPhone and Android where you discover perfumes, log what you wear, and see your taste as a Scent DNA profile, with an active perfume community.
This guide is about your own ratings: what a rating app must do, how to rate consistently, when to re-rate, and how a year of scores tells you what to buy next. It ends with a simple five-point scale you can use in any app or notebook. If you mainly want to read and weigh other people's reviews before buying, the best app for perfume reviews guide covers that side.
Key Takeaways
- Rate after the drydown, on skin. A score given ten minutes after spraying rates the opening, not the perfume.
- Split the verdict. Keep how much you like the smell apart from how long it lasts and how far it projects; one blended star hides both.
- Re-rate after the third wear. First scores drift. The one that holds after three wears in different weather is the one to trust.
- Use your top-rated perfumes as a buying brief. The accords your five-star perfumes share are the best guide to your next bottle.
Table of Contents
- What a good perfume rating app must do
- How rating works in WhatScent
- A simple fragrance rating scale you can use anywhere
- When to rate, and when to re-rate
- Your ratings next to the community's
- Using your ratings to decide what to buy next
- How to test any app for this
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What to do next
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What a good perfume rating app must do
A perfume rating app is only useful if your scores stay consistent, are easy to revisit and lead to decisions. These are the jobs to check:
| Job | What good looks like | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Rate what you own and what you try | Samples, decants and store tests rated in the same place as full bottles | Most buying decisions are made on perfumes you do not own yet |
| Separate scores | An overall score plus longevity, projection, sillage, value and bottle | You can love a smell and still find it weak or overpriced |
| Anchored scales | Each score has named ends, such as "Short" to "All Day" | Anchors keep your 3 in March the same as your 3 in October |
| Your rating beside the community's | Both visible for the same perfume | Shows whether a weak result is the perfume, your skin or your nose |
| Easy re-rating | Change a score any time, and add a later review | Opinions move after more wears and another season |
| A way back to your best | Filter by your own rating | Your top-rated list is your taste, written down |
| Exact perfumes | Each concentration and flanker listed separately | A rating of "Sauvage" is useless if you cannot tell which Sauvage |
If the difference between projection and sillage is fuzzy, longevity vs sillage vs projection explains all three before you start scoring them.
How rating works in WhatScent
In the app you rate a perfume from its page, at two depths: a quick reaction when you have a few seconds, and a full rating when you have a verdict.
Quick reaction. Five options, from Hate it and Not for me through Mixed to Like it and Love it, with an optional short note on what stood out. It counts toward the perfume's ratings, and whatever you add there prefills a full review later.
Full rating. Three short steps. First an overall score from one to five stars. Then performance scores out of five, each with named ends: projection from Intimate to Bold, longevity from Short to All Day, sillage from No Trail to Fills Room, bottle from Plain to Stunning and value from Premium to Great Deal, plus gender expression. Last, when you would wear it: season, occasion, time of day and vibe. Those answers feed the "When it gets worn" section that everyone sees on the perfume page.
Your rating next to the community's. The perfume page keeps your own experience (your rating, your wears and your Journal entries) alongside the community's average ratings and reviews. Compare Fragrances does the same across two or three perfumes: under the community scores, a My Experience section shows your own rating and how many times you have worn each one.
Re-rating. A rating is never locked. Open it again and change any score; your newest rating is the one that counts. After you log a perfume as your scent of the day for the third time without having reviewed it, the app suggests rating and reviewing it, which is exactly when a score becomes reliable.
Reviews and private notes. When a score needs a reason, write a review and label when you wrote it (first impression, after dry-down, after a full wear, after multiple wears), where you tested it and whether it was on skin or paper. For thoughts you want to keep to yourself, a Journal note is private by default. Our guide to keeping a scent journal has templates for both.
A good app gives you the fields; a good scale makes the numbers mean the same thing every time. That comes next.
A simple fragrance rating scale you can use anywhere
A personal rating scale works when every number stands for a decision, not a mood. This five-point scale fits any app, a spreadsheet or a notebook.
| Score | What it means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | I would replace it the day it ran out; I reach for it on purpose | Keep it, and note which accords it has |
| 4 | I enjoy every wear, with one small reservation | Keep it, and wear it in its best season |
| 3 | Pleasant, but I would not miss it | Wear it out; do not buy another bottle |
| 2 | Wearable only in the right conditions, or something bothers me | Retest once in its best weather, then decide |
| 1 | Not for me on skin | Swap, gift or sell it, and write down why |
Rules that keep the scale honest:
- Rate on skin, after the drydown. Wait at least two hours. The opening is the loudest and least representative part of a perfume.
- Score smell and performance separately. A 5 for the smell with a 2 for longevity is a real result: it tells you to reapply, spray clothing or look at a stronger concentration.
- Anchor performance in things you can check. Longevity: 1 is gone within two hours, 3 is still there in the afternoon, 5 is still there in the evening. Projection: 1 only when someone is close to your skin, 3 at arm's length, 5 noticed across a room.
- Write down the conditions. Sprays, weather, and whether it was a sample or the bottle. Without them, next year's you cannot compare scores.
- Keep your 5s rare. If everything is a 4, the scale tells you nothing.
- Break ties with the rebuy test. "If this bottle broke tomorrow, would I replace it?" A yes is a 5; a hesitation is a 4.
A rating is a note to your future self. Write it so that self can act on it.
When to rate, and when to re-rate
Give a perfume its first real score after one full day on skin, then revisit it after the third wear and again when the season changes. Scores given earlier or only once are the ones that mislead you later.
- First spray, in a store or on a strip: no overall score yet. A quick reaction at most, clearly a first impression. Our guide to testing perfume in a store explains why a paper strip hides the drydown.
- First full wear on skin: your first overall and performance scores.
- Third wear: the score that usually holds. Check that longevity and projection were similar on different days.
- Change of season: re-check performance. Heat, cold and humidity change both longevity and projection, as what affects perfume longevity explains.
- New bottle or new batch: re-rate only the bottle you actually have, and note that it is a different bottle.
Ratings also drift for a reason that has nothing to do with the perfume. Your nose adapts to a scent you wear often, so a daily signature can seem to fade sooner for you than for the people around you. Nose blindness and olfactory adaptation explains how it works, and it is the first thing to rule out before you lower a longevity score.
Your ratings next to the community's
The gap between your score and the community average is the most useful number on the page, because it tells you something about you rather than about the perfume.
| If your score is | Compared with the community | Likely reason | What to try |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower for longevity | Higher | Nose blindness, dry skin, fewer sprays or heat | Ask someone near you at hour four; moisturise before spraying |
| Higher for longevity | Lower | A cool, damp climate or heavier application | Note your dose so you can repeat it |
| Higher overall | Lower | Your taste leans into accords others find heavy or dated | Trust yourself; this is your Scent DNA showing |
| Lower overall | Higher | Hype raised your expectations, or it clashes with your taste | Retest once away from the hype, then trust your score |
A consistent gap in one direction is a pattern worth knowing. If you always rate longevity lower than the community, your skin or your nose is the variable, and you can adjust your expectations for every future purchase. The best app to check perfume longevity and projection guide goes deeper into reading those community scores.
Using your ratings to decide what to buy next
Your top-rated perfumes are a buying brief: they show which accords, strengths and seasons you actually value, as opposed to the ones you think you should like.
- Find your top-rated. Filter your Journal reviews by My Rating and pick five stars, or put two favourites into Compare Fragrances and read their notes, accords and community scores side by side. The best app to compare perfumes guide shows that view in detail.
- Look for the shared thread. An accord, a family or a season that runs through your 4s and 5s. Scent DNA shows the accords and notes that run through the perfumes you wear, save, rate and react to.
- Check a candidate's fit. The Perfume Fit score compares any perfume with that taste profile. Rating the perfumes you know, including the ones you dislike, makes fit scores more accurate.
- Sample before you buy, and rate the sample with the same scale. Put the candidate on your Wishlist, get a sample, and give it three wears. Our sampling strategy before buying guide covers how.
- Read your low scores too. Two 2-star perfumes that share an accord tell you what to avoid, which matters most when you are tempted to buy unsmelled. Blind buying risks covers when that gamble is worth it.
How to test any app for this
Before you commit years of ratings to an app, check it against this list. It takes five minutes with one perfume you know well.
- Can you rate a sample or a perfume you do not own, not only what is on your shelf?
- Are longevity, projection, sillage and value scored separately from the overall rating?
- Do the scales have labelled ends, so a 3 means the same thing each time?
- Can you see your score and the community's for the same perfume without hunting for it?
- Can you change a rating later, and add a review with a label for when you wrote it?
- Can you get back to your highest-rated perfumes in one step?
- Is each concentration and flanker a separate entry?
- Can you keep private notes alongside public reviews?
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What is the best app or website for tracking your perfume ratings?
A: WhatScent is the best app for tracking your own perfume ratings. You rate each perfume you own or try with an overall score out of five plus separate scores for longevity, projection, sillage, value and bottle, and your rating sits next to the community's for the same perfume. You can change a rating after more wears and filter your Journal reviews by your own star rating to find your favourites. WhatScent is free on iPhone and Android.
Q2: How should I rate a perfume?
A: Rate it on skin after the drydown, not on a paper strip in the first few minutes. Give the smell an overall score, rate longevity and projection separately, and write down sprays and weather so the score can be compared later. A five-point scale in which each number means a decision (replace, keep, wear out, retest, pass) stays consistent over time.
Q3: When should I re-rate a perfume?
A: After the third wear, and again when the season changes. First scores often drift once you have worn a perfume in different weather, because heat and cold change longevity and projection. After a new bottle or batch, re-rate only the bottle you actually own.
Q4: Why is my longevity rating lower than everyone else's?
A: Usually because your nose adapts to a perfume you wear often, so it seems to fade sooner for you than for the people around you. Dry skin, fewer sprays and hot weather also shorten it. Ask someone near you at hour four before you lower the score.
Q5: Should I rate perfumes I do not like?
A: Yes. Low ratings show which accords and styles do not work for you, which is as useful for buying as your favourites. In WhatScent, rating the perfumes you know, including the misses, also makes Perfume Fit scores more accurate.
What to do next
Get the free WhatScent app on iPhone or Android, rate the perfume you are wearing today once it has dried down, and revisit that score after your third wear.
Related reads:
- The Letterboxd of perfume: the whole log, rate and review loop, including following other wearers.
- Best perfume tracker: logging each wear, which is what makes a rating worth trusting.
- How to write a perfume review: for the scores that need a reason.
