FINDING A NEW perfume can be intimidating at best and nauseating at worst. But Sephora's new Scentsa Fragrance Finder (Tysons Corner Center and Georgetown stores) makes it that much easier to avoid sensory overload.

Its new touch-pad screens provide easily accessible information on anything you could ever imagine about perfume.

Written by Express contributor Danielle Parnass

IN D.C., A LAND sans waterfalls, where can one go to smell the natural wonder? No need to stick your nose in a thousand tons of rushing water just yet. Try a perfume that encompasses fragrant falls. L'Eau D'Issey by Issey Miyake ($60, Sephora.com) has a truly aquatic appeal. It's light enough to wear at work or at home. Floral scents — including lotus, freesia, carnations and white lilies — add to Issey's feminine bouquet.

It's the perfect accompaniment to the upcoming summer dress season. L'Eau D'Issey isn't all innocence though. Like waterfalls, there's a hint of danger. Woody and musky undertones give this perfume a sexy tone that pairs well with sexy stilettos.

Written by Express contributor Robyn Mincher

APRIL 20 HAS COME and gone, but you can still celebrate its patron herb, legally. Fresh Cannabis Rose perfume ($75, Fresh.com) smells like roses, not pot. It's a darker scent that makes us think of Miss Havisham's overgrown garden.

So, go ahead — inhale. And while the bath and shower gel ($28) may raise some eyebrows, we'll have you know that cannabis seed oil is known for its nourishing properties. Plus, you won't even have to put a towel under the bathroom door.

Written by Express contributor Stephanie Jones

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN those people in the J. Crew catalogs, with their floppy hats and their madras belts and their perfect bodies that apparently lack sweat glands, and think, "I want to smell like that?" Well, those people are probably wearing Ralph Lauren Romance Eau Fraiche ($72, Ralphlauren.com), which smells like rich people.

It's vaguely floral and not too committed to anything. But, remember, those people in the J. Crew catalogs aren't happy because THEY AREN'T REAL. If they were real, they would probably be incredibly depressed about how boring their perfume is. This scent is pretty but dull.

OK, SO YOU KNOW how sometimes you'll be on a date with a guy and he's pretty boring and you're not sure why you like him, but then you realize it's because he smells really good? Has that happened to other people? Certain men just have this scent that's expensive and woodsy and delicious.

Apparently, it turns out they've all been wearing women's perfume, because that's the scent of Yves Saint Laurent's Elle ($61, Sephora.com) — upscale, a little outdoorsy and manly. Definitely for the woman who wants to send a Katharine Hepburn gender-bending vibe. Just don't let anyone see the girly pink bottle.

AROMATHERAPY HASN'T EVER rung true for us, for whom the sense of smell has but two purposes: to detect the presence of food and to detect whether milk has gone bad.

But we're willing to buy that, for some, a hearty spray of Bath & Body Works' lightly sweet (and slightly cloying) vanilla-chamomile Sleep Pillow Mist ($10) could seem soothing, especially if one's bedroom has an unpleasant odor, perhaps because one owns a territorial cat.

Its companion, Sleep Body Lotion ($13), is similarly light; we enjoyed the bracing lavender chamomile.

AWW ... LOOK AT the little lopsided ornament. Just kidding. One little whiff (because really who doesn't deeply inhale when decorating Christmas trees these days?) and it becomes pungently clear this is a Missoni Eau de Parfum Fringe Spray ($115, Nordstrom).

Trust us, darlings: Wearing expensive fragrances on the nape of your neck is one thing, but when you can afford a blingy bottle, too, it's clear you're a big deal. When the vessel is empty, why not hang it on an evergreen?

VICTORIA'S SECRET'S BOLDLY LABELED Super Model perfume ($39-49), reminds one of Gisele Bundchen. After all, she sent Bridget Moynahan, the ex-girlfriend of her current beau, Tom Brady, a onesie for her newborn with "Supermodel" emblazoned on it.

Glamazons these days are hardly subtle. So, it was no surprise before the top was popped that we got that tingly feeling before we sneeze. A whiff was taken with trepidation and ... what a sneeze. The mix of sandalwood and peach was nice, but hardly as dramatic as the catwalkers it honors.

ONCE WE WRAPPED our minds around the concept of solid perfume, we had to admit we kind of liked Lush's scents. (The company's big on saving packaging by turning improbable beauty products into solids — for example, shampoo and bubble bath.)

The vegan, non-animal-tested fragrances ($12, Lush.com) come in recycled metal tins the size of a pot of lip balm, which means we could toss it in our bag and reapply on the go. Which we needed to do; the stuff's decently long-lasting but isn't going to hang on for a full day. We tried two of the waxy formulations: "Silky Underwear" smelled somehow like candles, but "Fever" was pleasantly piquant.

Written by Express contributor Rachel Kaufman