Nothing can induce a headache like scent shopping. Firstly, you end up smelling so many different fragrance notes in such a short space of time, that you quite literally get a throbbing headache. Secondly, there's often an abundance of overly keen shop assistants throughout beauty halls who want to spray your every part of showing flesh. Not to mention the intimidating amount of choice on offer.

With that in mind, and the fact that it's probably time to update your perfume (or exchange that dodgy one that Uncle Jeff gave you for Christmas), we've outlined the 12 crucial stages of scent shopping.

1. The realisation that you’ve been wearing the same scent for approximately 12.5 years, and that it was in fact the perfume you wore when you lost your virginity

2. This discovery means that you have to cancel all your plans and make a bee-line for your nearest fragrance hall

3. You make a concise plan of how you'll run the gauntlet between all the overly keen counter assistants that get in your way

4. But before you know it you've been sprayed all over, and smell like a tart’s boudoir 

6. You're angry, and ready yourself for the next counter girl who dares come within a three metre radius

7. The first scent you pick up smells like Aunt Betty’s washing basket

8. The second smells like that dodgy pot pourri that was in your dentist’s waiting room last week

9. But then you spot a third, over there in the pretty silver flacon, and it looks like it might just be ‘the one’ 

10. You run for your life towards it, letting nothing get in your way

10. And upon picking up the bottle realise there's nowhere left on your body to test it out on. You feel faint

11. The only option is to just spray the air, sniff like mad and hope for the best

12. It’s an out and out winner! You leave feeling like a whole new person. And vow never to return again. Well, at least not for another 12.5 years anyway.