Not my spritz of perfume

I have been thinking of buying a perfume for my sister for a really long time, not that she stinks or anything. Just that I thought a nice, expensive perfume would be a decent, if not a fitting gift for her wedding. So I dragged along my friend, who I believe is the closest I'll come to anyone who can distinguish between a CK and a Chanel, and we went to Shopper's Stop to test our sense of smell.
'Would you like to try a Chanel No. 5?' said the woman who's face I cannot recall. Before I could say a yes, with a single swift movement she shook the bottle and sprayed from it on a strip of paper and shoved the strip beneath my nose.
I took a deep sniff and let the scent fill my head, gave a profound, thoughtful expression and said in the most sophisticated voice I could muster, 'Smells like an amrood'.
Lipika, my friend, took the strip from my hand and nodded in approval. Yesss! I wasnt as unskilled as I thought in perfume identification.
Over the next hour or so, we allowed perfumed strips of paper along with beans of coffee to be stuck under our noses. The coffee beans were meant to ensure that we dont confuse the subtle fruity woodiness of 'Sentiments' by Escada with the flowery woodiness of 'Signature' by the same brand.
Unfortunately, my not so trained nose could only pick up the guava smell from each scent, that none actually claimed to offer..
Looking at our (read, my) perplexed expressions, the salesperson asked me if I would '.. like to see AC me aake?'. 'What the hell is the dude talking about, we're in Shopper's Stop and the AC is working just fine!' Lipika, unfortunately did not look as startled as me and said yes we'd like to.
Maybe thats some perfume code that you need to crack before they let you buy any branded fragrance, i thought. So he took us to another corner and even as I was wondering that the AC is no better here than it was where we were earlier... he took out a bottle, 'Issey Miyake'.. " a 40 yr old classic perfume". I was ashamed at my ignorance, but did not let out a hint of it to the salesperson. We dont want perfume that is that old, I thought and asked him if he could us something new, flowery and woody. The last two words having being added to my vocabulary only in the last hour or so.
We finally came down to two choices, both by Escada, one very expensive, the other not so frugal a purchase either. Time was now to make a decision. Something I've always been terrible at, especially when it demands me shelling out a lot of money to purchase something whose value I will perpetually question.
To make my job simpler, I called my mom and asked her if my sister needed a perfume, and would appreciate it amongst all the other gifts she's recieve.. (hoping throughout that she'd say no!) But my mom said, sure a perfume is nice, just dont buy something too expensive.
Bingo! The golden words had been uttered and as much as I told my mom that she should stop being miserly and let me buy something expensive and flamboyant for my only sister's wedding... somewhere I was happy that I will be have to pay 700 rupees less.
I know its cheap and I know I shouldnt be so stingy, but I think the stench of the money-counting Gujju genes in my blood far surpasses any fragrance I will ever decide to buy.