Let’s imagine this disappointing scenario for a moment.
You bought a new perfume from a store or an online shop and sprayed it before going out. You love the smell and it’s projecting well for the first hour or so.
But then, the perfume starts to fade away.
Remember, even if your scent smells heavenly, it is not going to provide any value if it doesn’t last for a long time.
That’s why I have researched and tried a range of perfumes to find out the ingredients that make a fragrance last more than other products on the market.
Read on to know about these ingredients and learn a few tricks to make your perfume last longer.
What Ingredient Makes Perfume Last Longer?
Perfumers use something called fixative to make a perfume last longer. They also use selected ingredients like oud, jasmine, or other essential oils that have better longevity to make the perfume last longer on skin and clothes.
You can also follow our guide to know Is Perfume Bad For You?
Best fixative for perfume making
Before finding the best perfume ingredients, I wanted to discuss fixatives in perfume and their role to make the scent last for a long time.
The word fixative refers to the ingredients used in perfumes that are meant to keep a scent together and help it last longer. Alcohol-based scents have shorter life spans than other types of scents, so they need stronger fixatives emulsified with the essential oils in order for them not to escape as quickly.
To make a perfume last for a long time, fixatives are used to hold the scent in place. This is most often done through alcohols and substances that lower the evaporation rate of other notes in the fragrance oils.
The thing is, Perfumes with larger amounts of fixed materials tend to be more long-lasting than those without any fixative at all. For better performance, fixatives are a must in the foundation for forming powerful fragrances later on.
By using perfume fixatives, Not only does the base note itself linger on the skin longer than middle notes, but it preserves all of the other ingredients in a perfume blend by slowing down evaporation.
Look, there are dozens of fixative ingredients from three major categories.
The first one is Natural fixatives like sandalwood and vanilla. They can also be extracts or tinctures made with plant-derived products and essential oils which help preserve scents for a long time.
These types of fixatives in the base notes keep other fragrance notes lingering despite their lack of lasting power and sillage.
Also, Base notes themselves stay on the skin longer than middle and top notes, but they also preserve the entire perfume blend by slowing evaporation.
For example, a perfumer can use frankincense, benzoin myrrh, or Peru balsam in his fragrance oil to prevent quick scent loss due to their molecular structure that slows down the evaporation rate for other ingredients.
What Ingredients Make Perfume Long-lasting?
I’m sure you have come across the phrase “beast mode perfume”.
These fragrances can last for a ridiculous amount of time on your skin and body. With just a few sprays of these perfumes, you can be sure that the scent will last till the end of the day and you won’t have to reapply again or worse, carry a decant.
Well, you must be asking, how can these perfumes last for this long and others simply fade away after a while.
The answer, my friend, lies in the ingredients.
Perfumers frequently use some carefully selected and precious elements to make the scent long-lasting and enduring. I am going to discuss these ingredients in detail.
You should keep these in mind while buying a new perfume and see if any ingredient is present in your chosen scent.
That way, you can be sure that the longevity of the fragrance will be better than other options.
Jasmine
There is no smell in the world that doesn’t have jasmine somewhere in its formation. The exquisite white flowers of this plant are widely used for a variety of purposes, but mainly it’s used in the fragrance industry.
The gentle scent of jasmine makes your senses feel mesmerized and they give an intense floral scent that is rich and elegant. Jasmin is called “Queen of Night” because they develop their full scent at night after the heat has simmered down leaving you feeling joy, happiness, and modesty.
Two types of Jasmine is mostly used to make perfumes:
- Jasminum grandiflorum, or ‘big-flowered jasmine’
- Sambac Jasmine, which is also referred to as Tuscan or Arabian jasmine.
Although Jasmine is an expensive hand-picked ingredient, it is frequently used more than other flowers because it can bloom in any season and has been cultivated throughout history. With its calm and pleasing aroma, jasmine flowers add their own special touch to celebrations, events, and beauty products like perfume or body spray.
One other reason behind the frequent use of jasmine is it’s longevity. Among the floral notes, jasmine can stay longer than the others, and thus, perfumers use it often to make the scent last for a long time.
So, look for jasmine note in your perfume if you want to be sure that it performs better than other scents.
Oud
An expensive perfume ingredient known as Agarwood or Oud has been used in perfumes for centuries as it has a unique smell that affects other notes of the perfume.
Oud is one of the most long-lasting perfume ingredients in the world!
The earthy tone of oud is heady and sexy, meant for daring personalities. This scent comes from real ingredients-natural agarwood resin found on tropical Agar (Aquilaria) trees.
But due to the expensive nature of this note, many perfumes use synthetic oud. Synthetic versions retain characteristics such as wood or leathery vibe but lack the real oud’s specific smooth balsamic and musky feel.
The delicious smell of Oud attracts people easily and causes other notes to stay longer than usual. Oud scent comes with sensuality and authority over others who may not be able to resist its irresistible pull.
Even though Oud is a strong and precious ingredient, you may love it or hate it. There are no in-betweens for the smell of oud – either you like its intense scent or not.
But you can be sure about one thing, Oud note in any perfume will last a long time.
Also, check out our separate post on Why Are Creed Perfumes So Expensive?
Orange blossom/ Citrus Fruit
Citrus/Orange blossom is a top note, and this scent brings an aura of genuine cleanliness and elegance to any fragrance, as well as uplifting your mood.
The natural fragrance of Citrus is distinct and has a magical effect on people. It is often used in top notes because it compliments floral scents quite nicely, bringing down their sweetness while adding a tart flavor to make them more seductive.
Whenever you spray a fragrance with a citrus note, it’ll brighten your surrounding environment with the refreshing scent of citrus fruits like bergamot, mandarin, etc.
Citrus also pairs well with spicy notes such as herbs or spices like black pepper ginger or cinnamon for its zesty smell which infuses a seductive taste to perfumes.
Not only that, Orange blossom or other citrus notes can stay for a long time, even when they are used in the opening. Moreover, it can enhance other notes in that perfume as well.
Sandalwood
In addition to being a fixative, sandalwood is also an enduring base note. It blends well with other spices like clove and lavender. 50% of feminine perfumes contain the creamy sweetness of Sandalwood because it’s flexible enough to mix wonderfully with most floral notes!
Any perfume with a sandalwood base note comes with a promise of a lasting scent.
Sandalwood tangles wonderfully with clove, lavender, geranium, jasmine, and galbanum; it serves as a ‘fixative’ and retains the ‘real’ composition of other ingredients while boosting their longevity
Cedarwood
Cedarwood is one of the oldest perfume ingredients with a dark and masculine effect.
The dry woody smell of cedarwood complements any refreshing top and middle notes.
For example, Cedarwood pairs up with citrus, floral and spicy notes wonderfully; it is a balsamic scent that can balance the sharpness of any aromatic ingredient.
Cedar is a dependable note that can last all day without becoming too strong – perfect for any occasion!
Lavender and patchouli
The smell of lavender is just as pleasing as jasmine and other floral notes.
Lavender is frequently used among natural perfumes where it works as a strong but sensual base note. The scent varies between licorice and medicine notes, making it a clean aromatic odor that everyone recognizes.
Moreover, Lavender note is not gender-specific. Its use has become quite prevalent as a long-lasting ingredient in fragrances.
Another name on this list would be patchouli which comes from a leaf found primarily around India. Patchouli was popularized during Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign when he returned from his conquest in Europe.
Woody scents dominate perfume ingredients like patchouli, it still remains popular for their long-lasting effects on people.
Leather
Leather has a powerful, seductive effect. The scent often comes from black tea, patchouli, tobacco-all notes that can go together to give the essence of what makes up leather’s sensuality.
The dark and smoky leather smell is often considered to be one of the most ancient perfume ingredients – its use dates back to around the 15th century! Though often considered masculine in definition and presentation, leather can intertwine with woody and floral notes to create unique perfumes for women too.
Leather can also come with some sort of flower extracts such as black tea and patchouli to make it more enticing for the wearer.
The most common type used in synthetic fragrances today is artificial leather note-it’s dark yet exciting scent makes it one that has been around for centuries!
And to this day, it is one of the best long-lasting perfume ingredients in the world.
How to make Perfume Last Longer (5 Secrets)
Even if your existing perfume doesn’t have the ingredients that I analyzed, Don’t worry.
Here are some tips from myself and our expert team on how to make natural perfumes last for a long time on your skin and clothes.
1. Layer Your Perfume
This is a guaranteed way to enhance the lasting power of your fragrance. The trick is to use a lotion, body wash, or perfume oil from a complimentary fragrance family and then apply the cologne that you’re using. This will give the scent something to cling on and it’ll definitely stay longer than usual.
2. Take a Shower First
If you don’t want to use anything else with your scent, then you should take a shower before applying it. Moisturized skin will hold your fragrance much longer than dry skin.
3. Apply on Pulse Points
Pulse points work as enhancers that can make your perfume last for a longer period. As these points emote warmth when we move, so the perfume will project strongly too. If you want to know more about pulse points, check out this article.
4. Store Perfume Properly
Direct sunlight or heat can cause your perfume to break down faster and resulting in poor longevity. So you should keep it in a cool and dry place, away from the heat of the sun.
5. Use a Highly Concentrated Version
Various versions of a perfume blend will last for a different amount of time. For example, pure perfume oil or parfum will last a lot longer than a spray like Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum or Extrait de Parfum.
So if your existing fragrance is fading away after a few hours, you can try changing to a higher concentration and get e longer lasting perfume. Or you can opt for essential oils too.
The best thing is, you don’t even have to entirely change your favorite scent here.
Follow our guide to know Is Perfume Bad For Dogs?
Conclusion
I have listed the best perfume ingredients here that are used all over the world to make a fragrance last longer.
But remember, just because you can’t smell the scent on yourself after a while doesn’t mean others can’t smell it too. Our noses can get accustomed to a regularly used scent and create the illusion that it’s fading away after a while.
So before you decide to buy an entirely new perfume, make sure that the actual scent has poor longevity.
And if that’s the case, then I hope this blog will help to find a long-lasting perfume with any of these precious ingredients.
Finally, If you know any secrets that can make a cologne last longer, feel free to share it with the community in the comments.
