Am I too old for my aftershave - Jon asks the Perfume Shop experts?

 We have all seen it and maybe we have been guilty of it. That horrible situation where the desire to stay young has seen men over a certain age dress in fashion which quite frankly leaves them looking ridiculous.

Fashions change and what looks good on a teenager make a 30 something look well at best desperate. 

So with Christmas not that far away the stores are gearing up I thought I would ask whether fragrance sense follows fashion sense - in effect are their scents which needed to be abandoned with age?

Now I have my own views on what suits me I tend to favour Armani's Acqua di Gio, but what do I know: time to call in the experts and ask the question am I too old for my aftershave?

There is no one better then the Managing Director of The Perfume Shop Jo Walker.

Cue a visit to the West End and a tour of the range of new fragrances and some old favourites.

Firstly I was put in my place - aftershave is now effectively dead - it is now after shave balm  to treat the skin and not dry it out, and what's on the shelves is predominately eau de toilette (EDT).

Then the big questions: "Are fragrances age specific? Are there scents for the young and scents for the old?"

"Absolutely not" is the reply the scent depends on the lifestyle the particular preference but as Jo explains the smell is all too often not the deciding factor.

"We find that brand is the major purchase choice," she adds. "If you wear Hugo Boss clothes you gravitate to Boss Perfume and big brands.  Gucci, Armani, Marc Jacobs and YSL for instance are major names which the buyer will gravitate to."

Jo says second on the list of buying criteria is the packaging and then the bottle itself, with the actual smell coming in fourth.

Indeed the biggest selling men's fragrance is Paco Rabanne with the fragrance coming in a bottle shaped like a gold ingot.

The firms spend millions of pounds marketing and will use famous figures in an effort to lure in the buyer.

With women buying a fair amount of men's fragrances for their other halves it is not surprising brands which use David Beckham and Orlando Bloom to name but two.

Jo says there is also a resurgence for an old favourite in the form of Aramis, and there is a big reason for this.

"Aramis is a really good fragrance but what it also has is a 24-hour anti-perspirant which is something that the others don't do."

My personal choice of Acqua di Gio was described as the best seller in the United States and Jo says there are those who deliberately avoid the favourite brands in an effort stand out from the crowd.

The key factor is to go with something which suits you, If you prefer a heavier scent go for one but gym bunnies tend to go fore the "sport" scents which come in more gym-friendly bottles and are lighter as they tend of be used little and often.

EDT should only be used below the neck line and need to be applied in similar areas to our female counterparts with the chin now the domain of the after shave balms.

So the million dollar question for Jo which is her favourite men's scent?

For me it "It has to be Terre D'Hermes. It's simply the best smell on a man.

There you have it.