New York, July 17 (IANS): Women do not buy perfume for other women and they certainly do not share them, an interesting study has revealed.

Women who do buy or share fragrances with other women choose fragrances they do not like themselves - or no longer value, the findings showed.

Many women keep their perfume preferences a secret because they consider them an integral part of their personal identity, suggests the study published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.

"Women treasure fragrances as a vital pillar of their personal identity," said study co-author Bryan Howell, industrial design professor at Brigham Young University in the US.

"They may use the same fragrance for many years, and some women keep their fragrance choice a secret so their friends won't wear it," Howell said.

The study investigated fragrance-buying intentions of 146 women from the US and the Netherlands.

When it comes to scents, women like to sabotage their best female friends, the researchers found.

"When women like a fragrance, they will purchase it for themselves or a male friend, but not for a female friend," Howell said.

"When they dislike a scent, they won't purchase it for themselves or their boyfriend, but they will buy it for a female friend," Howell said.

Further interviews with 12 women about their fragrance buying behaviour revealed why women buy fragrances for men.

"While women hold fragrances as personally intimate and respect other women's intimate choices, they happily want to influence what fragrances men wear," Howell said.

"Assuming it is for a spouse or boyfriend, they want to pick fragrances they also like since they will be around that person often," Howell said.