Why Does Your Perfume Fade So Quickly?
There are several reasons why your perfume can fade too quickly:
- Body Chemistry
- Dry Skin
- Humidity/Hot Weather
- Low Perfume Concentration
- Cold Weather
- Nose Blindness
- Your Perfume Went Bad
Body Chemistry
Some people’s body chemistry “throws off scent,” meaning perfume evaporates quickly off the skin. This is a natural condition and can’t be changed, but there are a few things you can do to retain your scent longer.
- Apply perfume to your clothes, hair, and skin. Be sure to test your perfume on your clothes as some can stain fabrics.
- Apply unscented moisturizer to your skin before applying perfume. The moisturizer will retain the scent longer.
- Wear a perfume with a higher concentration of perfume oils. You’ll want to wear parfum, extract, or an eau de parfum.
Dry Skin
The natural oil in skin holds on to perfume. If you have dry skin, you might not have enough oil for your skin to hold on to your perfume, which will cause the scent to fade too quickly. Dry skin tends to absorb perfume.
Improving your skin’s moisture will keep your perfume from fading too quickly.
- Use an unscented moisturizer before applying your perfume.
- Use perfume oil because it doesn’t contain alcohol, which can dry skin.
- Don’t bathe in hot water because it strips away the skin’s natural moisture. Bathe in warm water instead.
Humidity and Hot Weather
Excess moisture in the air essentially dilutes perfume and makes its scent fade faster.
Hot weather makes us sweat and the moisture dilutes the perfume, making it fade more quickly. Hotter weather increases body temperature, which makes us sweat, but it also makes perfume evaporate faster.
Perfume on the skin relies on body heat to warm it up and make it evaporate, which releases scent into the air. This is a slow steady process if our bodies are at a comfortable temperature. If we’re overheated, the perfume will evaporate too quickly taking its lovely scent with it.
Humidity in the air and sweat on the body both make perfume evaporate faster which, in turn, makes your perfume’s scent fade too quickly.
Low Perfume Concentration
Perfumes with a lower concentration of perfume oil like eau fraiche, eau de cologne, and even eau de toilette, in some situations, will fade quickly. Higher concentrations of perfume oil make a perfume richer smelling, longer lasting, and more robust.
If you’re wearing an eau de cologne that doesn’t last long enough, try getting the same or a similar perfume in an eau de toilette concentration.
If you’re wearing an eau de toilette and its scent fades too fast, try wearing an eau de parfum or parfum.
*Perfumes that are the same scent but different concentrations will smell slightly different. For example, Shalimar is sold in a variety of concentrations. Shalimar eau de parfum has stronger spice and animalic notes than Shalimar eau de toilette, which is a more powdery-vanilla scent.
Cold Weather
Cool and cold weather lowers people’s body temperature, which prevents perfumes from evaporating and throwing off scent. A perfume that’s applied to the skin needs body heat to make it evaporate. That process of evaporation is what sends scent molecules into the air.
Cold weather also forces people to wear heavier clothing and/or layer their clothing to retain heat. Your perfume can’t push past all that fabric.
Some people get dry skin in the winter, and most people have drier skin than usual in the winter. Dry skin means less natural body oil, which will make your perfume fade away too quickly.
Here are a few things you can do to smell great all day in cold weather:
- Apply perfume to your hair, skin, and clothing. *Always test perfumes on clothing because some of them stain fabrics.
- Wear a higher perfume-dilution class like eau de parfum or parfum.
- Choose perfumes from the Oriental/Amber or Woody fragrance families. These perfumes tend to have very robust base notes that improve perfume longevity.
- Apply an unscented moisturizer before applying your perfume. The moisturizer will help improve the longevity of the scent by holding on to the perfume.
Nose Blindness
Nose Blindness is also known as nose fatigue and olfactory adaptation. Nose blindness is perfectly natural and happens to everyone.
The human brain constantly examines the environment via the human senses. If it doesn’t sense danger, it ignores the stimulus.
That’s what happens with nose blindness. The brain examines a scent, doesn’t find it dangerous, and then ignores it. That’s how we stop smelling fragrances.
Remember, just because you can’t smell your perfume anymore doesn’t mean that it’s faded away.
Your Perfume Went Bad
Yes, perfumes can go bad; they do expire. Generally speaking, lower-cost perfumes and colognes tend to have a shorter shelf life than higher-end perfumes and colognes.
High-end perfumes generally last 3 to 5 years when opened and properly stored. They’ll last longer if unopened. Lower-cost perfumes typically last less than 2 years after opening.
Many perfumes can be aged, but it must be done correctly or the scent will be ruined.
When perfumes go bad, the scent will change. It can become weaker, leaving you with a fainter scent that fades much too quickly. Typically though, perfumes tend to get stronger when they go bad, and the scent is often offensive.
