SOFTWARE engineer Daniel Grimes is attempting to bring order to one of the most subjective consumer markets by building what he describes as a “Compare the Market for perfume”.
His website, ScentVerdict, allows shoppers to explore fragrances, compare prices and find scents based on their tastes. It also offers tools designed to help users choose gifts, discover complementary fragrances and understand how a perfume changes after it is applied.
The idea began with a present for Daniel’s partner, Bex, now his fiancée and ScentVerdict’s co-founder.
A long-time wearer of Penhaligon’s fragrances, Daniel wanted to buy her a perfume that would complement his own. He used AI to research fragrance notes and identify a suitable option before visiting a London store.
He then asked a member of staff for her recommendation. Of the two fragrances she suggested, her preferred choice matched the conclusion Daniel had reached through his research.
He bought it and Bex loved it.
Daniel said: “I told her how I had chosen it and she said: ‘You’re a geek, but I love that.’
“That sent me down a rabbit hole. I wanted to understand what makes up a perfume, why different scents work together and whether there was a way to make all that information easier for other people to use.”
Their shared interest deepened during a subsequent trip to Paris, where the couple attended a perfume-making workshop.
Rather than simply blending ingredients by instinct, they again used technology to examine what they were creating and understand the relationship between different notes.
The experience convinced Daniel that fragrance could be presented in a more organised and accessible way.
He began building ScentVerdict in January 2026 and launched it in March. What started as a side project has gradually taken up more of his time and become an increasingly serious business.
Messy
Daniel said: “I have been a software engineer for a long time, so I am always looking for patterns, structures and ways of organising things.
“Perfume is a particularly messy problem. There are thousands of fragrances and lots of different ways to describe what is in them. Everybody seems to use slightly different terminology.
“The aim is to organise that information in a way that makes sense and gives people useful tools rather than leaving them to scroll through endless descriptions.”
At its simplest, ScentVerdict is a catalogue, directory and price-comparison platform. Consumers can search for a perfume and see prices from different retailers rather than assuming the first price they encounter is competitive.
Every perfume also gets a verdict – Favourite, Statement or Acquired – judged by the same standard.
That matters because the cost of the same fragrance can vary considerably depending on the retailer, bottle size, packaging, delivery charge and availability.
Daniel is working to add more retailers to the platform, ranging from national chains to online specialists and independent perfume houses.
He said: “There can be dramatic price differences. People may assume a large and familiar retailer will automatically be cheapest, but that is not always true.
“You also have to account for delivery. A product may appear cheaper initially, but another retailer could include postage or offer faster delivery. The important thing is helping consumers see their options in one place.”
However, Daniel’s ambition goes beyond comparing prices.
ScentVerdict includes a tool that allows users to find a fragrance that complements one they or their partner already wears. Shoppers can search for something that shares similar characteristics or choose a contrasting scent designed to work alongside it.
A gift finder makes recommendations for someone buying for another person, while a layering tool helps more experienced fragrance enthusiasts identify perfumes that could be worn together.
Daniel said: “Perfume is difficult to buy online because people cannot smell what is on the screen. They are often relying on marketing language that might not mean much to them.
“I want to take some of the guesswork out of that process. If you know somebody already loves a particular perfume, that gives us information we can use to suggest something else they may enjoy.”
The platform also attempts to show users how fragrances develop over time.
Visual
A perfume can smell very different when first sprayed from how it smells several hours later. Its top notes are usually most noticeable initially, before giving way to its heart and base notes during what is known as the “dry-down”.
ScentVerdict presents that progression as a timeline, helping consumers understand how a fragrance may evolve on the skin rather than judging it entirely by the opening scent.
Daniel has also developed ScentArt, which translates fragrance profiles into visual designs.
He said: “The idea is to create a visual representation of a perfume. Smell is difficult to communicate digitally, but visuals can help people recognise patterns and understand the character of different fragrances.
“The artwork is more of an impression, while the dry-down timeline gives a more practical view of how the perfume develops.”
Building the system has required Daniel to create a taxonomy bringing together the different ways brands, retailers and perfume enthusiasts describe fragrances.
Rather than declaring one description correct and another wrong, he treats them as different perspectives on the same scent.
He said: “Two people can smell the same perfume and describe it differently, and both views can be valid.
“I am trying to create a structure that accommodates those perspectives and identifies what may be creating the smell people recognise.”
This has led him deeper into the science of perfume, including the relationship between notes, ingredients and allergens.
Exact formulas are generally closely guarded trade secrets, but brands publish fragrance notes and must disclose certain substances. By bringing together available information, Daniel hopes to offer consumers a clearer picture of what they are buying.
Samples and decants could also play a growing role by allowing people to test a fragrance before committing to a full bottle, potentially preventing expensive mistakes.
Daniel’s long-term objective is to build an international platform while retaining a strong focus on British brands, which he believes can be overlooked by larger overseas fragrance websites.
He added: “The simple description is ‘the Compare the Market for perfume’, because people immediately understand the price-comparison element.
“But the bigger vision is to create a complete toolkit for fragrance: somewhere people can compare prices, understand what they are smelling, discover something new and make a more informed decision.
“Perfume will always be personal and subjective. The challenge is not to remove that magic, but to organise the information around it so people can buy with more confidence.”
