 |
| Source: www.pixabay.com |
Hey, folks! I am glad you could join me once again. All of your support is greatly appreciated! Feel free to reach out to me if you ever have any questions or requests for me to do anything. No, before you ask I am not going to sing "...Baby one more time" by Britney Spears. That is the stuff of nightmares.
Lame jokes aside, this is something I see in the fragrance community quite often. People saying things like, "performance sucks", "it doesn't work with my skin chemistry", and all manners of other things in an effort to say "this fragrance doesn't last". Now, sometimes that is the case. However, when someone says they get terrible performance from a fragrance that is widely heralded as a good performer, then it makes me think there is a kink in the system. Maybe it is their skin chemistry or something else. I often see the phrase, "I can't smell it after 3 hours". That in itself indicates that the person hasn't been properly informed on how to judge the performance of their fragrance.
Have no fears! I am here to help. Well, sot of. This is mostly my opinion. I don't have any fancy scientifical data to back it up. Just raw experience. Let's get into it!
1. Never Trust Your Nose
Your nose is a very fickle organ. It gets tired very easily. You can go anosmic to many smells, but especially to spicy or sweet ones. It's also very easy to go anosmic to ambroxan. There are many notes that cause you to go nose blind, but those are a few examples.
Think of it like this...We all know a smoker. We can smell that a smoker smells like a rancid chimney, but they have no idea because their nose has gone anosmic to their own smell. Others can smell you, but you cannot.
Anosmia is very common among oversprays. When you heavily assault your olfactory senses with a huge load of that amazing juice you love it triggers your nose to shut off because it's just too much.
So, how do we judge the performance of a fragrance? We don't! We ask others if they can smell it. That is how you can determine whether or not you are still projecting or if the fragrance is still there. One very important thing is to make sure to ask someone who has not been around you all day. They could have gone anosmic to smelling you as well.
2. Don't Overspray
While it's true that overspraying will give you better projection, it might be at the cost of ruining the composition of your fragrance. When you spray so much that certain notes come out more strongly, then it messes up the small of the fragrance. Overspraying does not increase longevity, only the projection.
I find myself less likely to get compliments if I overspray. It seems like most people that compliment me do so when I am wearing less of a fragrance. People seem to enjoy getting a little waft here and there and not to be immersed in a gigantic scent cloud that they cannot escape.
Remember that overspraying causes you to go anosmic, so when you overspray you won't have much of an idea of what the people around you are smelling. So, I think it's better to start lighter and then figure out where the sweet spot for others is with a fragrance.
3. No One Night Stands
A fragrance needs to be tested for at least a week before you can properly gauge its strength and smell. Don't test a fragrance, smell the opening, and then put it up for sale. I see that all too often along with the words "longevity sucks". There is no way you were able to ask enough people if the performance was there if you only wore it once or twice. Test your fragrances properly before pungling them into the depths of the porcelain throne.
4. Hydration
A simple thing such as drinking more water will help your fragrances last longer. Why? Because your skin is an organ that needs fluid to perform at peak capacity, just like everything else in your body. Hydration has also been said to improve the function of your nose. That is not proven, but it sounds like it would be true.
So, drinking water could help your skin hold fragrances for longer and help your nose detect more smells.
5. The Lotion Debate
Earlier this year there was a lot of hype surrounding using unscented lotion. I never use lotion, but if you have dry skin, then I am sure that would help. For most of us, it doesn't really help. The idea is that the lotion creates a barrier between the fragrance and your skin and that allows the fragrance to sit on that barrier longer. In my experience, the lotion normally wears off before the fragrance does, so it doesn't help the performance at all. It might help projection a bit at the start though.
6. Take a Bath, Bro/Girl
Having clean skin is essential to getting the most out of your fragrances. This should go without saying, but it would surprise you how many people try to substitute fragrances to try to mask body odor. It just doesn't work. Don't try it. Take a bath.
Clean skin allows the fragrance to sit on your skin properly and do its job. Plus, taking a shower helps moisturize your skin, so the fragrance isn't soaked up. Always apply your fragrances after a shower.
Having other smells on you from not bathing can interfere with how others smell your fragrance as well.
7. Intimate Fragrances
Some fragrances are not designed to be massive projectors. Some date night fragrance or office-friendly fragrances are designed to sit closer to the skin. This works in an office environment that may have to make a no fragrance policy if people are choking others out with 14 sprays of Interlude. It also works for dates where you want the other person to get closer to smell you. It draws them in. Like a mysterious smell that draws them to you in order to find out more. I fthey can smell you from 10 feet away, then they have no need to get closer to smell it. It can work to your advantage, gents. Especially if you are looking for some cuddle time.
8. Skin Chemistry
I will be honest with you here. I know skin chemistry can vary greatly on certain people, but I don't think a beast mode fragrance would perform only for 30 minutes based on skin chemistry alone. Give or take an hour or two maybe. I think it's just an excuse that some people use to belittle a fragrance that doesn't live up to their personal expectations. I think the problem is more than likely one of the things I mentioned above and not skin chemistry.
Conclusion
Performance is a hard thing to judge. We must learn how to judge it properly so that we don't get rid of amazing fragrances because we were mistaken.
Don't take any of this as a law. This is merely my opinion and what I have experienced myself. I think there is a lot of misinformation in the fragrance community that is directly derived by posts that people want to agree with, so they take it as truth and don't figure it out for themselves.
If you do think you might agree with what I said, test them out and let me know how they worked for you.
I hope everyone has a great day. Stay smelling fantastic and keep telling people positive things! Until next time, be safe and humble!
Want to learn how to support my work? Click here
Want insider news as to what I am working on? What I am testing? Any giveaways I might hold? Want to decide what topics for me to cover on my blog? Then join the Musings of the Fragheads Facebook group here! I also post every article I write in here, so that might be an easier way for you to see every post I do!
Follow me on Instagram!
No comments:
Post a Comment