Perfume and Skin Chemistry

Is your skin changing your perfume?

Body chemistry, temperatures, and skin moisture all play a significant role in how a perfume performs on the skin. Interestingly, perfume travels better in the heat and our sense of smell is also better in warmer temperatures. This is why we usually apply perfume at our pulse points. It is also the reason why most people have different perfumes for summer and for winter. For winter, you want a “warmer”, heavier perfume that makes it easier for cold noses to smell. For summer, something light and spritzy. 

Also, fragrances last longer on moisturised skin than on dry skin. This is why it is a good idea to use lotion with fragrance in it, or even Vaseline on pulse points where perfume is applied. 

People’s skin chemistry and their environment play a major role in why perfume smells differently. You’ve spent ages finding your signature perfume, and it significantly improves your day every time you get a waft of it. 

However, you’ve probably found that your favourite perfume smells very different on your sister or your mother even, while you have shared genetics! So what is the true meaning behind skin chemistry?

How your signature scent behaves on your skin and body has a massive impact on how we feel, and hope to be understood and experienced in our world. 

First, is perfume and skin chemistry actually science?

While many species use scent to communicate, in humans, there is increasing evidence that chemistry and scent are of significant importance in interpersonal relationships. 

In recent decades, the role of olfactory cues in multisensory perception has been the subject of an explosion of research. A wide range of peer-reviewed studies have documented that a variety of olfactory stimuli, including ambient malodours, fragrant scents, and even chemosensory body odours, can influence how we view other peoples’ attractiveness, ages, moods, health status, and even their personalities!

As a neurologist and psychiatrist, Dr. Hirsch specialises in treating those who experience loss in smell and taste. In 2008, he published a large-scale study in the International Journal of Essential Oil Therapeutics on the effects that fragrance and scents have on behaviour, emotions, mood and/or interactions between people. 

In his paper he explains that bad smells tend to increase negative things and aggression, while pleasant smells make people more relaxed and positive. We are prone to switch up or stick to any signature scent based on both chemical and psychological factors, according to Dr. Hirsch. 

Perfume and age

How our bodies change with age also has an impact on how we view fragrance, and how it behaves with our skin.

Perfume audiences can be split into several categories. One could be called the “complex perfume lover,” and is usually someone who is intrigued by more “complicated” scent profiles. Other people are interested in scents related to food and vacation, such as vanilla or coconut.

Pre-teens and young adults almost always gravitate towards the food and vacation scents, like, say, DKNY’s Be Delicious. Those in the older part of the research lean towards nature and floral scents like Pleasures by Estee Lauder. However, it is a bit more difficult to pin down what older teens prefer. It varies from baby powder freshness like Ghost, to more unisex scents, like CK One by Calvin Klein. This might be because they keep changing preferences as their hormones and bodies change.

Gender and scent

Additionally, whether we are male or female can also have a physiological impact on perfume. For example, women have a keener sense of smell than men do, especially times of ovulation. 

Emotional fragrance

When it comes to how we feel about perfume, memory and smell are intimately connected. It is psychologically based on the way we first encountered a smell that we develop our reactions to it. That memory is then permanently stored in the cerebral cortex. It may be especially true for those who have sprayed the same signature scent for decades.

Why does perfume differ so much on different people?

Well, to answer that, let’s remember that skin is a complex organ. It is made up of water, fat, salts, sugars, proteins, fibres, and hairs. When you add perfume to any of these variables, you can see why perfumes behave differently from person to person. 

Compound that with environmental factors, such as heat and humidity, and you see how your signature scent is really YOUR signature scent. 

The effects of body chemistry on perfume

Body Chemistry determines how long and how well a perfume lasts and smells. Likewise, a fragrance will smell different on a card than it does on skin – that’s why it’s so important to try it out on your skin for a few hours.

Fragrance notes

There are typically 3 classes of fragrance notes.

• Top/head notes: You usually notice these notes first because they evaporate first.
• Middle/heart notes: These are the notes that are more noticeable after the top notes have evaporated. They are the “heart” of the fragrance. It helps to mask the base notes, which become more pleasant over time.
• Base notes: These are the smells that last the longest. Depending on their composition, these notes can also determine a fragrance’s longevity, and are typically its most rich component.

Fragrance families

Fragrances can be categorised into four major families: floral, spicy, woody and fresh. 

Check out this blog on how to layer perfumes that expands more on fragrance categories. 

Floral perfumes

If you love to smell the flowers, this fragrance family is for you.

• Jasmine Ara
• Flower by Kenzo
• Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf
• Britney Spears Curious
• My Burberry
• Anais Anais
• Eternity

Soft floral 

These perfumes can be described as soft, powdery, sweet, creamy, light musky.

• White Linen 
• Chanel #5 
• White Diamonds
• White Linen
• Safari 
• Amarige 
• Rose the One by D&G

Floral oriental

With a heart of sweet floral notes and subtle spicy, smoky, balsamic or amber notes, these perfumes have heavy, long-lasting base notes.

• Desire by Dunhill
• DKNY Be Tempted
• Flora by Gucci

Soft oriental 

Smooth, spicy, warm, sensual, these fragrances have a softer, more spicy style of oriental.

• Bvlgari Jasmin Noir 
• Versace Crystal Noir 
• Opium
• Youth Dew

Oriental

These fragrances are rich, warm, spicy, exotic and sensual.

• Bvlgari Omnia
• D&G The One
• Tom Ford Oud Fleur
• Angel (A*Men) 
• Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

Woody oriental

Woods and spices combine with rich, oriental notes with patchouli, sandalwood, cedar or vetiver.

• Angel 
• Desire 
• Burberry Brit 
• Bvlgari Black
• Obsession
• Allure 

Woods

Raw and simple, usually containing a few of the woodsy notes like sandalwood, cedar, vetiver. 

• Dunhill Fresh
• Tom Ford Oud Wood 
• Organza

Dry woods (leather)

With cedar, tobacco or burnt wood notes..

• Aramis Modern Leather 
• Bvlgari Man in Black
• Tom Ford Tuscan Leather

Aromatic

These fragrances are clean, fresh and easy to like.

• Paco Rabanne
• Dior Sauvage 

Citrus 

These perfumes have prominent citrus notes of lemon, bergamot, orange, grapefruit and/or mandarin. 

• Tom Ford Neroli Portofino
• Burberry Weekend 
• Chrome
• Boucheron 
• CK 1 
• Happy
• Green Tea Elizabeth Arden

Water 

These perfumes capture the scent of soft sea breeze, the air after a thunderstorm and the freshness of a waterfall. 

• Chrome Sport 
• D&G Le Bateleur 
• Paco Rabanne Invictus 
• Cool Water
• Acqua di Gio 
• Issey Miyake 

Green

For the smell of fresh cut grass and mint, basil or other leaves.

• Escape
• Hugo 
• Polo Sport 
• 212 Carolina Herrera 
• Polo 
• CK be (U)

Fruity

Smells good enough to eat. 

• DKNY Be Delicious
• My Burberry
• Island Kiss by Escada
• Coconut Passion

You can discover wonderful fragrances from fragrance families that you like, as well as fragrance notes that work well for your chemistry. You’ll find affordable, high quality perfumes that work on your skin for every season you’re in, on Perfumes for Africa!