April 27, 2011 – There’s a day people kept telling me I smelled good but odd and I just couldn’t understand what they meant. In fact someone even told me that I smelled like a man. I realized later why that had been so, I had worn the wrong scent!
I wore an evening scent during the day (hence the odd). I guess I learnt a lesson the hard way. After that incident I decided to find out more about fragrances which I’ll share with you in a two-part article.

First things first, it is good to know what works for you (your signature scent) and one way to do this is to test what’s candy for your nose.

Testing perfume

When testing a new perfume, give the notes at least ten minutes to unfold.
Don’t sample, many scents at the same time. You can limit the sampling to three at a time. Your nose won’t be able pick up a perfume’s exact intensity if you test more than three fragrances at once.
To get that scent you like,it’s important to know that a lot goes into making it. So many ingredients are blended together and this entails mixing natural or synthetic fragrant oil extracts. These ingredients are then diluted in water and high grade alcohol.

Grading perfume
*Eau de parfum- about 15% perfume oil and lasts 3-4 hours
*Perfume or parfum classics contain 20% perfume oil and last 5-6 hours.
*Toilettes contain 3-8% perfume oil and last about 2 hours.
*Eau de colognes contain 3% perfume oil and will last about an hour.

For a fragrance to last longer wear it on oiled, moisturized skin. Using matching fragrant oil or cream,  the fragrance’s bath cream and maybe the line’s powder also helps.

When it comes to perfume notes, there’s the top, middle, and base.
-The top note is the initial impression which wears off in like 5 minutes. This explains why you sometimes try a perfume, love it, and then discover that you really don’t like it later.
-The middle and base notes emerge 10-15 minutes later.

Important to note

It is advisable to sample fragrances in the late afternoon. This is because the power of smell is stronger during that time of day.
Perfumes are strongest on pulse points as this is where the blood flows the strongest. The skin is also warmest on these parts of your body.
For the full effect, dab the perfume on inner wrists, behind the knee, near the ears, nape of the neck, chest, inside the elbow and below the jaw line.

Do not spray your clothes or jewelry as it may cause stains and destroy jewelry.
Also remember not to rub your wrists together as this will lessen the effect of the perfume.

 

 

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