You Won't Believe What You Didn't Know About Fragrance!

 Article by BR Amelia

We know pretty much every member here loves her perfume collection - whether you have 1 bottle or 20, our perfumes are our little luxuries.  One spritz and you're transformed into the woman you want to be!

We also know that when you write your perfume reviews many of our members are unsure of perfume terms - how on earth to you review a smell?!

When it comes to fragrance,  your knowledge of  perfume  may be limited to knowing what you like and what you don’t; but never fear, Beauty Review is here to explain all those 'fancy-nose' terms like Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette, top notes and base notes.  

What does Eau De Toilette, Eau De Parfum, refer to?

Basically all these fancy, romantic sounding French words refer to the strength of the perfume.  Perfumes consist of essential oils, alcohol and a little bit of water, and depending on the percentages; you get Eau de Toilette or Eau de Parfum.

Parfum or perfume is the generally strongest you can buy and has 15-25% perfume oil, followed by Soie de Parfum or more commonly, Eau de Parfum (8-15% perfume oil), Eau de Toilette (4-10% perfume oil), Eau de Cologne (2-5% perfume oil) and finally Eau Fraiche (less than 2%)

What are top, middle, and base notes?

Top, middle and base notes refer to the scents within the perfume.  The top notes are those lighter scents which are generally the first ones we notice when we smell a fragrance so therefore are the most important to the fragrance houses in the selling of the perfume,  they are also the first part of the scent to fade.

The middle notes are those scents which make up the ‘body’ of the perfume, also called ‘heart notes’,  this is what you smell when the top notes start to dissapear, the heart notes generally take from 10-30 minutes to develop on the skin.

Finally base notes, as you may imagine, how those which last the longest, and have the ‘heaviest’ smell,  this is the note you smell on your clothes several days later, they not only serve the purpose of smelling good but also slow down the rate of evaporation of the top notes!

Why do perfumes smell different on different people?

We all know that we’re different, some more different than others....but that aside, our chemical differences impacts upon how our perfumes smell.  Stress, hormone changes, medications and even if you are on a diet can change your body chemistry and thus change how perfumes smell on your skin.

Do perfumes have expiration dates?

General rule of thumb is that your perfume should last you several years, however, if you keep your perfume away from light and heat you can increase the longevity of your perfume and with the price of some perfumes you want it to last as long as possible!

Perfume Facts:

-        Some perfumes contain over 800 different ingredients...got to hope they write the recipe down! 

-        An oily skin type can maintain the smell of a perfume longer than other skin types. 

-        You can generally try a maximum of 3 perfumes before you will confuse your senses

Smelly facts:

-        Everyone has a unique “smellprint” – No two people smell the same way because we all have indivdual smell “blindspots” meaning there are specific smell points each person can’t pick up on.  So that explains why a fragrance can smell completely different to different people. 

-        We actually really smell with our brain – to identify the smell of a rose the brain has to identify over 300 odor molecules 

Perfume Q&A*

I can’t smell my perfume on myself so how do I know if it’s overpowering?

Ask a friend. Often we can’t smell perfume on ourselves this is because your senses tire after constant stimulation and you become used to it, this doesn’t mean that others can’t smell it though and if you regularly receive compliments from the fragrance you’re wearing then you’re on the right track.

Why doesn’t a fragrance last on me?

Your individual body’s chemistry can “throw” some fragrances off you, meaning your perfume will evaporate more quickly from your skin.

Instead of an Eau de Toilette lasting a number of hours – it disappears within the hour, why? Well the acidity of your skin is possibly the culprit.  Lick your wrist, if it has a sharp tangy taste then acidity is almost definitely the culprit. The more acidic your skin, the more it will tend to throw off perfume.

However before you bundle up your favourite frangrance ready to gift it to aunt Martha, we’ve good news, layering your perfume can really help, try getting a body wash in the same fragrance and a body lotion. Building up layers will really help slow the speed of evaporation.

Why did a perfume I tried on in the store, smell so different when I got home?

A number of reasons, often there are other environmental factors that impact how the fragrance will smell.  The department store also often has a mix of fragrances hanging in the air, air conditioning can generated different humidity levels from what we have at home. But most likely the reason why is that you’ve sprayed and left the counter while the perfume is still developing through its different stages.

So there you go,  hopefully that's answered some questions you may have had about perfume but never knew the answer to.  Don't forget to refer to our Fragrance Review Guidelines for more help writing your fragrance reviews - you're helping make our fragrance database a huge resource for Kiwi Women!

*BR would like to acknowledge help from www.fragrancesoftheworld.com for information used in this article and if you want to know more fascinating facts about perfume, this is the place to go.