Some Simple Science

Tue, 24 November 2009 11:23AM

I have a friend. Let’s call her Dee. She has beautiful olive skin, brown hair and brown eyes. When she wears an oriental fragrance, like say, Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique, it smells incredible. When I, fair skinned and blonde, wear the same one, it’s borderline disaster. However when I wear Estee Lauder’s flower-power scent, Beautiful Love, it settles beautifully, whereas on Dee it turns ever so slightly rancid. But, I hear you all asking, why? The answer to this inordinately complicated riddle is simple; different skin types react to different fragrances … differently.

The simple science is this – our skin produces oils and acids according to several factors; skin tone, type, pigmentation, moisture levels and diet. These acids react to the different components of a fragrance and they either react well … or not so well. And so discrepancies in the scent and lifespan of the one fragrance arise.

There are those that scoff at the general rule of thumb that fair skin suits citrus and aquatic and darker skin woody orientals, but in my experience, there is some merit to it. The rich, heavy perfumes simply do better on skin with darker pigmentation. The theory largely works on the, albeit not always correct, assumption darker skin produces more oil, which technically doesn’t account for why one whole family of fragrances suits olive skin better than another. I personally think it’s a combination of both the oil levels of one’s skin and the types of acid naturally found in the various skin pigmentations. Keep in mind also that any changes to your diet, or indeed weight loss/gain will affect the reaction of your skin to your fragrance as your body changes its chemical production to adjust.

Regardless of actual tone, however, the difference in the longevity of a fragrance on oily versus dry skin, is easily explained. The skin’s natural moisture will assist in holding onto a fragrance, whereas dry skin has difficulty retaining it. So if you naturally have dry skin, there is an argument for using the fragrance’s matching body crème as an underlay to the perfume. Not only will it hydrate, but it will boost the overall impact of the scent.

Of course none of this is to say the porcelain skinned amongst us must never wear Thierry Mugler’s Angel or the olive complected are simply not allowed to touch Dolce and Gabbana’s Light Blue. But it is something to keep in mind during the trial and error process of searching for your next scent and a little theory to entertain when you discover something that smells beautiful on your best friend smells slightly off on you.

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Liv Hambrett

Posted by: Liv Hambrett

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Tags: body, floral, fragrance, fruity, oil, oriental, perfume, pigment, skin, woody