There is a language associated with perfumes and perfumery. I like to call it the perfumery lingo. These words help describe, explain and understand what goes on before a perfume goes into a bottle, the workings inside the bottle and the aftermaths of the life of a perfume outside its bottle. Perfumers use this lingo to describe what they’ve composed and perfume aficionados alike use them to tell the stories of the journey their olfactory senses go through. Like the word olfactory, meaning related to the sense of smell. I could have written ‘… the journey their noses go through’, but using olfactory instead made me sound like a real perfumer *chi-ching! 😉

I have highlighted and explained three common words in the dictionary of perfumes to help you amp your perfume lingo.

Longevity

Longevity of a perfume is the life of a perfume. It is how long the perfume lasts when it is sprayed. It is how a perfumes opens from the top note, then gets to the middle note and how it closes up with the base note. Longevity can be considered as the timing it takes to still catch a whiff of that perfume on the skin. Longevity differs from bottle to bottle, fragrance to fragrance and from person to person. These differences are based on some factors like;

• Skin type. Perfumes tend to last more on some skin types than other skin types. This has to do with how the perfume interacts with the chemistry of the skin. Oily skin types tend to hold fragrances longer than dry skin types.
• Point of use. No, I don’t mean what point you stand when using your perfume😂 The points of your body you spritz your perfume on will determine how long they last on you. Perfumes last longer when spritz on points like your wrist, behind your ears, behind your elbows, back of knees, base of neck and some other points. These parts interact with scents properly and hold them for longer.
• Weather and Climate. Perfumes generally change with the temperature of your surroundings. Some perfumes scent longer and stronger in colder climates whilst others flourish in warmer climates.
• Perception of Smell. The degree of strength or weakness of our perception of smell can influence the longevity we perceive our perfume to last for. Our perfumes can last longer but we may not perceive it based on how weak our olfactory senses gets. This is quite common when you have been using a bottle of perfume for a while. You may not perceive it for longer anymore, but that doesn’t mean others can’t perceive it. Sometimes your olfactory senses gets used to and weak to that scent.

Projection

Projection is how far your perfume pushes into the air. It is the length your perfume gets to. Projection is an important factor to consider when picking a bottle of perfume. Some perfumes have a longer projection than others. Projection is known to change during the lifespan of a perfume. The projection is very loud at the beginning of the perfume and periodically dies down as the perfume wears off. Depending on your personality and personal choices, you may go for a perfume that rings a bell and announces your entry when you step into a room. As such, you’ll choose perfumes with stronger projections. Perfumes with weaker projections don’t push as much into the atmosphere. That’s doesn’t necessarily mean they are not good or that they have short longevity.

Sillage

This word is commonly pronounced as ‘see-lage’ but that is in-fact wrong. The proper pronunciation for this term is ‘see-arge’. Sillage and projection are often times confused with each other yet they mean different things. Sillage is the degree to which your perfume lingers in the air when it is worn. It is the trail your perfume leaves behind. As human beings, we have our individual sillage we leave behind as we go about. As a matter of fact, Rescue dogs and sniffer dogs pick up these scent and use it in their find missions. Sillage is the smell whiff your perfume leave behind in the atmosphere which may last even after you’ve left a place. That’s why you may enter a room and be able to tell a particular person was there, as their sillage still hangs in the air.

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Now, there goes three words associated with perfumes you can use to sound like a pro when next you visit a perfume store sampling and picking out your next bottle or when discussing with a perfume enthusiast. You can throw these words around and your listener(s) would be thinking “wow, he has this all figured out” 🙂 we have done our part to make you the hero of the day!