when i decided that i wanted to be serious about writing product reviews, i knew that i would have to lay down some ground rules to guide my approach going forward. these can be summed up under three main categories: honest reviews, transparency, and fair ratings.
when i started writing reviews, i was firm in my decision to never become an affiliate or accept payment for any of my work, to prevent the issue of perceived conflict of interest and any subconscious bias which could affect my review. most of my reviews are of my own purchases, with a small handful being gifts or sent to me by brands for review, and i never solicit review products from brands.
i believe that reviews must always provide a honest reflection of a reviewer's experience, otherwise there's no point in writing them at all. this is something that goes towards the credibility of a reviewer, respect for their audience, and fairness to the brands or products being reviewed.
to clarify, there's nothing wrong with writing favourable reviews only about products that a reviewer likes or negative reviews about products that a reviewer dislikes, as long as that reviewer is being honest about their own experience and not writing something different for the sake of pandering to brand expectations or audience demands.
it's difficult to understate how much pressure there is to 'only hear the good stuff' – brands can (understandably) be unhappy to receive less-than-glowing feedback publicly, and readers usually enjoy sharing in positive experiences. engagement and post shares by brands tend to be more in favour of posts that paint them in a good light, which is justifiable from a marketing perspective but also leads to pressure on reviewers to 'fall in line' even if a product doesn't appeal as much to them.
while i don't encourage the writing of non-favourable reviews purely for the sake of it, i believe that good brands and discerning readers need to encourage and support honest reviews that give accurate feedback on a product.
even with the nature of how personal and subjective scent experiences can be, only seeing positive reviews of products can create a trap of 'over-hype' when these products cannot meet the expectations of customers down the line, and a diversity of honest opinions is what prevents a community from devolving into an unrealistic echo chamber.
transparency is very important to me, and i strongly believe in full and frank disclosure of the circumstances in which i receive any products that i write about.
apart from being necessary for compliance with any applicable law on advertising, i believe that transparency is important to show respect to not just the brand and sender, but also everyone who reads the review.
there are two main descriptions i use in my review posts:
🕴undercover review of own purchase / gift
these are purchased incognito or received without expectation of review (and in some cases, the brand may not even have known that i was a reviewer when i purchased or received the product).
📝 product sent to me for review
these are when a brand reaches out to me (i don't solicit reviews) to request if i would like to receive their product for free on condition of review.
i found these descriptions to be my preferred balance between transparency and brevity, given that labels like 'sponsored post' or 'advertisement' without further details can be perceived differently by different people.
for instance, 'sponsored' accurately denotes that benefits were received by a reviewer, but this could mean anything from free products to payment for the post, and 'advertisements' could be anything from paid advertisements to affiliate marketing.
as part of my own journey to assess my own collection, and to make it easier for me to compare how much i 'like' different perfumes, i use a numbered rating system to ensure a fair and structured approach.
to keep my ratings fair, i only consider two questions: (1) do i like the scent, and (2) can i see myself wearing it enough to justify buying more, or would it just gather dust on my shelf?
it's usually easy to answer the first question but some level of nuance is needed for the second. this helps me to consciously exclude factors like whether that product was received for free, because i still have to evaluate it cost-wise from the perspective of whether i would purchase it on my own, rather than just how much i like it as-is. it also helps me to be more objective with products that i receive as a gift or for review, because it still boils down to whether i like it and whether i would buy it, regardless of the fact that i already have some amount of it.
my system runs from 1 to 10, as follows:
- 1 – i'm sorry but personally i really don't like it
- 2 – i'm sorry but personally i don't like it that much
- 3 – passable but i would need to deliberately force myself to use it
- 4 – okay but i wouldn’t consciously reach for this
- 5 – not bad and it's something i may use once in a while
- 6 – nice and it's something i'll enjoy finishing but won’t purchase a replacement
- 7 – lovely scent that i can see myself wearing, though on the fence about a potential purchase
- 8 – great scent that i can see myself wearing more often, may purchase a smaller size
- 9 – awesome scent and i would unhesitatingly purchase a full-size
- 10 – holy grail status, something i would automatically wear every day with no regrets
i deliberately planned my rating system to have 5 in the middle reflecting a pure neutral status, so that i could have an equal number of categories on either side (excluding my holy grail scent).
there's no denying that reviewing scents is both a personal and subjective endeavour, though having a structured system makes it much easier for me to compare my scent experiences and organise my collection.
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