Tips on wearing natural perfume
Tips on wearing natural perfume
A common complaint for natural perfumes is that some of them don’t last as long as synthetic perfumes. We want to dive into this so you can work out which naturals to buy for a long lasting effect and give you some tips on how to use your perfume to maximise its longevity. Something you should also be aware of are the effects are of using a perfume that has chemicals that do not organically break down over time.
Why chemicals that don’t break down aren’t your friend
100% natural perfumes are created using organic natural ingredients and as a result have a natural lifecycle which includes breaking down over time. Anyone who has left their fruit and vegetables at home and gone on a holiday has likely seen the end of this lifecycle when they returned home!
Conversely synthetic fragrances are often engineered to now break down over time organically. We all know that chemist perfume that you spray on your clothes and it is still able to be smelled after you’ve washed your clothes several times! These synthetic notes do not degrade quickly over time (and sometimes do not degrade at all). What this means is that the chemicals in your perfumes rather than organically breaking down, instead are relocated elsewhere whether this is bio-accumulating in your body or polluting the external environment. The Environmental Working Group has even found synthetic musk notes in the cord blood of new born babies when the mother’s wear synthetic fragrances! In addition to these lab made synthetics, mass fragrance also often use phthalates to hold the scent to your skin for longer. Phthalates are associated with some very serious health conditions like endocrine disruption and reproductive issues.
Tips on wearing natural fragrance
To help your stunning natural fragrance last the distance, we have the following tips:
- First, second and third is pick a natural perfume that is classified as long lasting.
- Moisturise the areas you intend to spritz to help lock in the scent to your skin.
- Spray your natural perfume on the areas that are not the hottest parts of your body. For example, the nape of your neck, knees, elbows and hair. We also love a natural fragrance cloud walk through for your clothes.
- Don’t rub your perfume, this dulls the top notes and can also shorten the life of your delicious scent.
- Layer your scents and keep a refreshing spritz on you for throughout the day (our 2ml vials are perfect for this and give off over 35 sprays).
Perfumes to buy for a long lasting effect
When it comes to natural fragrances not all perfumes are created equally. One of the finer points of the craft of a natural perfumer is to create a sophisticated scent that not only smells phenomenal but also can be classified as long lasting (meaning it lasts reasonably strong in scent for 6+ hours). The factors that play into whether a scent is long lasting are:
- Concentration: The concentration of the scent affects how long any perfume lasts. Eau de Parfums are usually 15%, Eau de Toilettes are usually 5% to 15%. At Vahy, all scents are 17.5% in strength to ensure longevity.
- Scent Note Profile: In the natural world, certain notes burn off quickly (top notes like citrus, fruits) and others can be used to ensure a longer lasting effect (like heart and base notes of woods, vanilla and ambery tones).
- Experience: Skilled perfumers will be able to craft a sophisticated scent that carefully curates the notes to ensure the right mix of heart and base notes without the perfume drastically changing in scent throughout its lifecycle.
- Quality of Ingredients: Using high quality unadulterated natural ingredients provides a depth and complexity that synthetic notes simply cannot replicate (similar to the way reconstituted orange juice just never tastes the same as freshly squeezed juice). In addition, using pure, high quality ingredients also enhances the scent silage and longevity.
One hot tip is to ask the perfume brand whether they have been clinically tested to be long lasting. At Vahy, you can have confidence that all natural perfumes have been lab tested over 6 hours on a machine that is maintained at usual skin temperature to ensure their scents can be classified as long lasting.