Fragrances can make you smell like a million-dollar celebrity and captivate people with their lingering aroma. There are so many perfumes in the market, yet you struggle to find a unique scent that will make people think only of you when they smell it. What if I told you that by layering different perfumes, you can create a one-of-a-kind scent that just might become your signature?
What Is Layering & Why Do We Layer Perfumes?
Layering fragrances means you combine various fragrance or fragrance ingredients to create amazing fragrance blends. Layered fragrances give a complex and intoxicating aroma with various notes and multi-layered blends.
Fragrances are layered to increase longevity, enhance sillage, and elevate projection. In addition, layering fragrance allows you to create a scent that is unique to you and that you can alter according to season and occasion.
Things To Consider Before Layering Perfumes
Layering is not rocket science; it is all about creativity and fun. Getting a perfect olfactory match for yourself can take time because you may have to experiment with multiple blends and notes to achieve your favorite fragrance profile. While this might take time, it is still an enjoyable experimental process and will be worthwhile when you find that perfect combination! You just need to learn a couple of things about perfumes.
Fragrance Families:
To understand the basis of layering and getting a personalized scent, you need to understand the different types of fragrance families and the art of combining them. There are many fragrance families to choose from, but all you need to know for now are the four main ones:
- Floral
- Oriental
- Woody
- Fresh
Layering and combining notes from these families can give you a more personalized experience. For instance, if you want a fresh scent suitable for winter, you can mix notes from the woody fragrance family with fresh notes. Or you can mix Fresh notes with specific florals to create your ideal spring/summer. You can also play with the concentration of your preferred note by using more of it. You can also use a sandwiching method. This simply means you wear perfume A, perfume B over it, and then perfume A again, making it the prominent one of the two fragrances.
Combining various blends can create more complex and diverse aromas. Once you grasp the difference between the notes and figure out the vibe you want, fragrance layering will become your A game.
Fragrance Notes:
Notes describe the scent that hits your senses upon application of perfume. Some perfumes are simple and contain a few notes in each layer, while others are complex and contain anywhere from 3 to 6 notes. The three layers of notes in perfumes are top (opening), middle (heart), and base notes.
Top Notes: This is the initial aroma you sniff right after you spray the perfumes. The top notes are fresh, crisp, inviting, and usually taken from citrus, fruit, or fresh herb fragrance families.
Middle Notes: This is also known as the heart of the fragrance. After a few minutes of top notes, you experience a mild aroma of heart notes. These are often floral and full-bodied scents such as lavender, rose, geranium, spices, or neroli. Middle notes add warmth to the scent and balance it out.
Base Notes: The base of the perfumes is usually heavy and stays for a longer time. Base notes are the longest-lasting element of the perfume you experience after heart notes. These are usually long-lasting, heavy notes such as vanilla, patchouli, woody, and musk.
Fragrance Wheel
You can mix any type of olfactory ingredient you want. However, this informative and comprehensive fragrance wheel provides more exciting layering ideas. Notes from families that are closer together on the wheel complement each other more, and notes that are opposite each other tend to balance each other out.
Floral Notes:
Floral notes are feminine and romantic. They add a freshness and softness to any fragrance. These notes include rose, neroli, jasmine, geranium, lavender, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley, violet, and peony.
Woody Notes:
Woody notes add warmth to your fragrance blend. When mixed with lighter notes, they can create a well-balanced scent combination. Examples of woody notes include sandalwood, oud, cedarwood, and patchouli.
Fresh Notes:
Fresh notes are very airy and refreshing. They open the senses and complement the opening and heart notes. Citrus, fruity, green, aquatic, aromatic, or chypre elements can be fresh notes. Fresh fragrances include aquatic notes or notes of bergamot, cloves, tangerine, and others. Fresh perfumes make you think of summer, picnics, and the beach.
Oriental Notes:
Oriental elements give more intoxicating and complex auras with a stunning variety. Oriental fragrances can be floral, woody, spicy, sweet, or fresh. This fragrance family includes perfume options that go well in all seasons. Oriental fragrances include black pepper, cardamom, amber, musk, and vanilla.
Notes That Pair Well Together
| Note | Blends well with |
|---|---|
| Sandalwood | Santal, Celt, Attar of Roses, Tiare Tahiti, Tonka Bean, Vanilla |
| Vanilla | Tobacco, Leather, Patchouli, Tonka Bean, Coconut, Jasmine, Orange Blossom |
| Orange Blossom | Rose, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender |
| Lavender | Orange Blossom, Oakmoss, Patchouli, Pine, Rosemary, Sage |
| Sage | Cedar, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Bergamot, Lemon, Orange |
| Orange | Cedarwood, Juniper, Clove, Frankincense, Lavender, Sandalwood, Jasmine |
| Jasmine | Rose, Ylang-ylang, Tuberose, Lemon, Grapefruit |
| Grapefruit | Basil, Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin Orange, Cedarwood, Ylang-ylang, Rose |
| Rose | Sandalwood, Incense, Clary, Sage, Geranium, Frankincense, Patchouli, Honey |
| Honey | Basil, Cinnamon, Fruity notes, Licorice, Anise, Vanilla, Orange |
Browse V Perfumes for a collection of fragrances you can mix and match to create your dream scent.
