Fragrances and Skin: Chemistry and Reactions | Cosmetics & Makeup

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Fragrances and Skin: Chemistry and Reactions

Fragrances are a multi-billion dollar industry. People love perfumes. They like scents in everything they use. In our society, we use perfumes in almost every product we make. Perfumes are in our soap and our cleaning products. We use perfumes to freshen our air, our bodies, and our pets. We cannot escape these scents in our society. People have used perfumes for thousands of years for a number of different reasons. In recent years, perfumes have become less expensive. As a result, more and more people are able to purchase them in a variety of products. Different fragrances, though, smell different on individuals, no matter what product the fragrance appears in. As a result, it is essential to choose your fragrances carefully.

Fragrances work when they are applied to the skin. As your body heat rises, the perfume starts its magic. Perfumes smell differently because of a difference in body chemistry. Several factors can play a role in this including diet, acid balance, medication, skin oil, pigmentation, mood, and environmental factor. For example, if you were on a higher fat intake diet, the scents placed on your skin would be far more powerful than they might be on a person's skin who were on a lower fat intake diet. Dramatic diet changes within your life can change the way your standard fragrances smell on you. Another good example is skin type. Folks with oily skin have perfumes that offer a more intense scent. People with dry skin have to reapply their fragrance often to get the same kinds of scent results. These factors not only change the actual scent on your skin, they can also have an influence over how long the perfume will last on your skin. If you notice that your favorite scent has undergone a change, you should think about what has changed in your life. Maybe you've just become so accustomed to your regular scent that you simply cannot smell it anymore. Whatever it is, it might be time for you to consider a new scent.

As you begin to choose the right fragrance, there are a few important things to remember. Everyone has an approximate circle around their body where people should be able to smell your scent. Hold your arm out directly in front of you. If people can smell your perfume from further away than that, you are either using the wrong perfume, (it is having a poor reaction with your body chemistry) or you are using the right perfume poorly. Remember that fragrance is supposed to be a personal message, not an announcement broadcast over a public address system. To use your fragrance correctly, layer it over your body. Build a foundation with eau de perfum. Spray it on your skin from your feet to your shoulders. Then use your perfume. Apply it to your pulse points. These are the areas of your body where you can feel your heartbeat. Some common pulse points are the wrists, behind the ears, the crook of your elbow, the base of your throat, behind your knees, and inside your ankles.

As you begin to try to process this information and shop for the right scent for you, make it a rule to never try out more than three scents at a time while you are shopping. Eventually, your nose with its sensitive olfactory receptors will no longer be able to appropriately process all of the signals you attempt to send to your brain with the various fragrances you have tried on. Moreover, you should apply the test fragrance directly to your skin. If you just smell it in the bottle, you will have no sense of how your body will work with the fragrance. Apply a few drops to your wrist. Wait a moment or two, and then smell it. If you want to try another, apply it to the other wrist. If you'd like to try a third, apply it to the inside of your elbow. Be sure to stop after the third one.

It might be best to create a wardrobe of fragrances, so you can accommodate the changes in your body chemistry. The inner workings of fragrances can be quite complex, and your body chemistry has everything to do with it.

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