Neveen needs to know…I know a girl who wears exactly my same perfume (actually my body spray). You can tell she’s been there from how the place smells afterwards. So why doesn’t my perfume last long enough to be in my own room? Is there some sort of “way” to apply body spray or is it just skin types?
The Right Brain responds:
As Jami and EKD45 pointed out in our Forum, there could be several answers to your puzzling perfume question.
The dose does it
From your question, the problem could be simply a difference in fragrance intensity. If that’s the case, it could be the dose. If she’s applying a lot more it’s logical that there will be more residue when she leaves the room.
Concentrate on concentration
The type of fragrance is also important. Many brands make a “body spray” scent that’s a diluted version of the pure perfume. So two people could both be wearing Marc Jacobs Daisy
Olfactory oddness
Fragrances are notoriously unstable over time – especially if they are exposed to light or heat. If you just bought a new bottle of Vera Wang Princess
Site of the scent
Just like in real estate, location matters for fragrance. If you apply a scent to your pulse points, and other warm parts of your body, the fragrance will volatilize faster and smell stronger. Perfume that’s applied to cooler areas, like your hair or your sweater, may smell a little weaker.
Befuddling body odor
As Jamie said in the Forum your personal body chemistry could be a fragrance factor as well. Although we’ve never seen any specific research proving this, it does make sense that your body chemistry can affect fragrance. We see that effect all the time in formulating – the same fragrance oil will bloom differently in different bases. That’s because the chemicals in a shampoo or a skin lotion interact with the chemicals in the fragrance making the scent change, sometimes dramatically. In theory, the same mechanism could be happening on your skin.
What do YOU think? Have you noticed that perfumes changes on different people? Do you have a favorite fragrance that you can’t wear because it doesn’t smell right on you? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
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“In theory, the same mechanism could be happening on your skin.”
Not only in theory. This happens to me all the time. The difference is so dramatic that friends of mine that use the same perfume can’t recognize it. It changes very quickly some 10 or 15 min. after I spray it on me. I’ve always wondered why this happens but never had anyone to ask. It makes picking a perfume very difficult task because it usually turns whatever perfume I spray on me very sweet and I hate perfumes that smell like that. This is why I always try to get a sample first. If I can’t get a sample I don’t buy because no matter how much I like the fragrance in the bottle it will never smell the same way on me.
I agree that body chemistry is a huge component. I was traveling with my sister and cousin and they borrowed my perfume and it smelled completely different on all three of us, thanks to personal chemistry.
Also, skin dryness makes a difference in how long the fragrance lasts and how intense it will be. The dryer your skin is, the more quickly it will dissipate. That’s why people with dry skin should apply lotion first or even add a dab of vaseline on pulse points before applying.
Hey BBs, you spelled my name wrong the 2nd time.
No biggie, everyone does.
Anyway, I firmly believe BC has a lot to do with how perfumes smell. Like I said when I posted it – pre-puberty Love’s Baby Soft smelled great on me. Once I hit puberty it smelled AWFUL. It’s like if the stuff was formulated just for those who haven’t starting wearing bras and being visited by “Aunt Flo” yet. And I know other girls this happened to as well. I don’t know any post-puberty females who can wear LBS.
Typical slipshod editing job by Mid Brain! We’ll fix it Jami.
Have you noticed how your body chemistry change when you change your diet? Once upon a time, I became a vegetarian and all of the sudden perfumes smelled a lot better on me. Now, since I eat meat again, some of the perfumes with sugary notes smell less sweet than before. Also, before the period, perfumes start to smell very interesting on me, as if they come to life or something. I wonder if that’s because my sensory system becomes more attuned to scents during that time. However, I do notice the same perfume smelling differently on people.
Dao: My sense of smell kicks up a couple notches right before that time of month, so I’m guessing that’s why perfumes smell stronger to you too.
That’s a great point you bring up about meat. I’ve noticed that people tend to smell better when they cut down on meat (i.e. my dad, my bf, a friend), but I’ve never made the connection that perfume would also smell better. My favorite perfume smells great but then oxidizes funny, so I’ll try that to see if it makes it any better.
That’s interesting — unsurprising, but interesting.
I tend to wear perfume in an extremely limited way. So many personal care products like shampoo and soap are already fragranced that layering more scent on top of it can get a bit much. The most I do is when I use silicone serum on my hair, I will add a few drops of a floral oil. I don’t think that would be too affected by body chemistry though, since hair is fairly nonreactive.
That’s why I try to use unscented products in the first place. I want my perfume noticed, not my body wash!
Ye gods…I don’t want to know that you’ve been in the room! Take your scent with you! As someone who is not even very sensitive to perfumes, it still bothers me when I can smell people walking towards or away from me.
@Jami: My apologies for the name misspelling. I hate when people do that to me!
@Left Brain: Bite me.
All natural scents work best on me.
http://www.cracked.com/article/229_12-sexy-ads-that-will-give-you-nightmares/
The first ad in that article is for Love’s Baby Soft. It’s terrifying!
There are another factors too,
..like pH (Acidity) or oiliness
The pH variates from person to person
I´ve been using Britney´s Fantasy, and it smell strong, all day, many people says that it smell better on me.
I think that my skin´s pH is the thing…
I´m a cofee addict and it makes me sweat a lot.. i guess that it is involved too.
why to make perfume?