Scent Friday: How to Make Your Scent Last Longer
Welcome to Fragrance Friday, where each week we’ll update you on the most iconic new releases from the dynamic world of men’s fragrances. Born out of a desire to showcase one of the most overlooked, yet versatile elements of any discerning man’s style, this weekly column will help you polish your own signature scent.
Strong, divisive scents are sometimes fun in the way they work. I had no idea how last week’s Fragrance Friday on Kilian Rolling In Love would pan out, both among readers and in the office, but the consensus was that this gourmand amber floral scent is a clear winner. To give some space between this and the next scent I want to highlight in this column, I thought it would be nice to do something a little different and focus on a bigger idea. to help you get the most out of any signature scent. you choose to build. As such, here are some tips for making your perfume last longer, regardless of the concentration of perfume oils in the formula.
Here’s a quick primer on the different types of strengths and the longevity you can generally expect from each.
- Perfume or Extract – This concentration typically contains between 15% and 40% fragrance essential oils with a noted longevity of around six to eight hours.
- Eau de Parfum (EDP) – This concentration typically contains between 15% and 20% fragrance essential oils with a noted longevity of around four to five hours.
- Toilet water (EDT) – This concentration typically contains between 5% and 15% fragrance essential oils with a noted longevity of approximately two to three hours.
- Cologne (Cologne) – This concentration typically contains fragrance essential oils between 3% and 8% with a noted longevity of approximately two hours.
There is a fifth type, Eau Fraiche, but it’s the weakest of them all and is rarely something to consider. Most of what you’ll find if you revisit the pages of Fragrance Friday are eau de parfum given that they’re generally the most common type in the growing niche fragrance market. If an EDT and an EDP are popular enough, you’ll usually find that brands will eventually release a “stronger” version of the extract (or elixir). A good example of this would be Maison Crivelli Hibiscus Mahajad, which I looked at a few weeks ago.
But concentration isn’t the only thing that determines how long a fragrance lasts. It also depends on your individual skin as well as various other factors like whether or not it is alcohol or oil based. Alcohol-based scents tend to be more pronounced and crisp, but oil-based ones tend to last longer as they cling a little tighter to the skin, trading a sharper, shorter scent for something longer but more subtle.
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How to make your perfume last longer
There are a few things you can do to make your scent last longer throughout the day, regardless of any of the factors above. It all helps in the end, and if you’ve decided you want something that particularly resonates with the style you’re going for to last a little longer, it’s worth trying these techniques.
To help you out, I asked Michael Marzano, National Education Manager for the Agence de Parfum, some pro tips I could pass on to BH readers to help them realize that if you want your signature scent tough, these are the simple things you should do. .
1. It’s all about heat
If you want to start thinking a little more strategically about how best to incorporate perfumery into your personal style, then you need to think about body heat. The reason you will usually be told to apply your perfume to pulse points is because these parts of the body retain the most heat. They are the warmest and the body heat generated here can help intensify your scent. This will hold your scent longer than dry skin, which brings us to the next tip.
As such, scents will generally be stronger and longer lasting on people with good circulation who heat up a bit more than others.
The best places to apply perfume are the warmest areas, i.e. the wrists, the inside of the elbow, the upper abdomen and the back of the knees. Marzano also adds that people should avoid applying to the neck and upper chest, as these areas feed aromas directly into the nose throughout the day and you may experience what Michael calls “long-term olfactory fatigue.” term”.
2. Stay hydrated
Obvious for various reasons, of course. But you should know that the level of hydration in the skin has a significant impact on your scent and how it looks on you. This is one of the many reasons why perfume smells so different from others. If he’s weak to you but strong to someone else, you might be a little dehydrated. You can maximize the life of your fragrance by keeping your skin as hydrated as possible.
3. Apply after shower
One of the easiest ways to make your perfume last longer is to apply your perfume after drying immediately after a shower. Body heat will help absorb and transmit fragrances more efficiently, meaning you’ll get a lot more out of that expensive bottle of niche perfume and won’t need to reapply throughout the day.
4. Use matching products
Finally, and probably the most interesting point, is to use auxiliary elements. Many popular perfumes like Juliette Has A Gun’s Not A Perfume, Creed’s Aventus, Santa Maria Novella’s Melograno, Dior’s Sauvage and Penhaligon’s Halfeti also have complementary products on the market that you can use to add extra moisture to the skin.
As above, dry skin is also fragrance free because adding extra moisture will do a lot to prolong your fragrance as your skin binds to the oils and humectants found in something as a body moisturizer.
Of course, that means an extra investment, so you want to make sure it’s a scent you already deeply love before you take the plunge. A bottle of Creed Aventus shower gel, for example, will set you back $129 for 200ml.
Along with buying complementary products to match, these tips are easy and effortless ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of your scent so you don’t feel a little out of change the next time you drop in. $400 on a premium bottle. scent.
There are many expensive perfumes that end up disappointing due to how quickly they fade or poor projection, but hopefully some of the above will give you an idea that your body plays just as much of a role. in the performance of the perfume. If you make these easy changes like being careful where you apply your perfume, staying hydrated, and applying immediately after showering, you should see a difference.