I recently visited the perfume exhibition at Somerset House. Scents have always played a big part in my life – probably beginning with secondary school P.E. lessons where everyone used to compete to have the nicest smelling “So…” body spray (anyone else remember those?!).

I love how certain smells can trigger different memories. I often find myself smelling different perfumes and saying “I used to wear something like this when I was a teenager!” or “remember when you could get that 99p vanilla perfume from Boots?” – seriously though, what happened to that?

I am a big fan of perfume, and wear it every day. I love how we can use them to express our personalities, and how we can have different ones depending on the time of day, our mood or the occasion.

I usually play it quite safe when it comes to choosing my scent. I generally like the sweet, fruity and vanilla perfumes. My favourite place to buy perfume is Zara, every bottle they sell smells wonderful and they are an absolute steal – usually ranging from £5.99-£12.99.

I knew that this exhibition would be immersive, but I wasn’t ready for the sensory journey I was about to take.

Arriving at Somerset House you are introduced to a brief history of perfume and how both male and female scents have evolved throughout the years.

Next, we were sent on our journey through the various different rooms, each hosting a different perfume. Each room was set out so you experienced that particular scent in a unique way. We were then challenged to guess what was in each one, and write down our thoughts on a sheet of paper.

I loved the layout of these rooms. I wasn’t sure whether the way each one was presented was supposed to link to the ingredients used in the fragrance on display, or whether it was supposed to throw you off and make it harder to guess.

I thought I was a pretty big perfume enthusiast before visiting this exhibition, but I was pretty dumbfounded when it came to trying to name any of the ingredients that were in each one. I could only really decide if I liked or disliked the smell.. most of my guesses were totally wrong!

The whole experience was really interesting, and for £11 entry I would recommend to any fragrance enthusiast, or anyone who just loves smelling things like me!

The perfume exhibition will be on at Somerset House until the 23rd of September.

Where?

Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA

When?

Mon, Tue, Sat & Sun: 10am-6pm (last entry 5pm)
Wed, Thur & Fri: 11am-8pm (last entry 7pm)
Except 10, 11, 16, 17, 18 and 23 Aug when the exhibition is open 10am-6pm (last entry 5pm)