Perfume Tip : Improving the staying power of your perfume

Most of the perfumes I wear are strong enough to not require layering to improve their sillage and staying power. Yet others, are so soft and subtle I can barely smell them half an hour after application. I normally do not layer products; not only because of sometimes being unable to find matching body products for the perfumes I’d like to enhance, but also because oftentimes I suspect the matching body lotion or powder alters the fragrance in a subtle yet important way. Of course, this could very well be my imagination, but there you have it. A tip we often hear is to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize, for well-moisturized skin will hold perfume longer. The opposite is also true: perfume will disappear quickly from dry skin. That is a good piece of advice, but what is the right moisturizer to use? If you are like me, you won’t find the idea of using a scented lotion appealing. I always fear the perfume will be altered in some way due to the scent of my moisturizer. The solution then has to be unscented moisturizer, and today I’d like to offer a couple of suggestions, in case you’ve been having trouble finding one.

The one I swear by is Enydrial Emollient Body Balm by Roc. This is a completely scent-free body balm that nourishes and repairs. It is also recommended for very dry skin and is gentle enough even for babies. Clinique also offers a fragrance-free moisturizer, but I do not recommend that one because I find it is (paradoxically) not completely scent-free. Another solution is to buy Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. You need to make sure it is refined. Unrefined coconut oil retains the smell of coconut and will lightly perfume your body, so you definitely need refined coconut oil, which is completely odorless. Conversely, coconut oil does wonders for the hair, as it is one of the few oils that can penetrate the hair shaft, nourishing it from within. It is also excellent for rubbing into nails. If you do decide to use it on your hair, make sure you use the right amount – a little goes a long way. You only need to scrape a tiny bit with your thumbnail and melt it between your hands by rubbing them together before oiling your hair. Using a bigger amount will result in oily hair, which is probably not the outcome you were looking for. Do share with me if you have any extra tips for fragrance-free moisturizing products!

Coconut picture courtesy of www.primorski.net

Wrappings by Clinique : Perfume Review

Clinique launched Wrappings in 1990 as their second fragrance for women in the line. Visiting beauty counters as a very young girl at the time, I remember thinking that Clinique was the epitome of good taste and elegance when seeing Aromatics Elixir and Wrappings lined together under the rows upon rows of pastel, tastefully simple-packaged cosmetics. It was the time before all the “Happies”. Clinique was clean, austere, a step above the rest. The magazine ads for Clinique fragrances presented the two as twin sisters in their almost identical bottles and logo designs, but even then, I knew which one I preferred: Wrappings, the difficult sister, the one most people would shy away from due to her tenaciously challenging character. It was certainly not marketed towards pre-adolescent young girls, but I was in love. Wrappings has the same dry and sour character as L’eau Trois by Diptyque, but whereas L’Eau Trois can be seen as almost rural and evocative of bucolic, pastoral scenes, Wrappings reeks of good breeding. In that sense, it is a refined, elegant choice with the same air as Private Collection, smelling of privilege and money. It is a green, aldehydic chypre, with many flowery, marine and herbal notes. Most notably one can revel in its pine-like green accord, held together masterfully by nutmeg and lavender oils. Roses, cyclamens, jasmine and of course carnations form the flowery heart of the perfume, with beautiful moss and cedar acting as the base. But the notes say almost nothing of the creation itself; It is so expertly blended, none of them pop out sharply. One would be hard-pressed to define Wrappings as an explicitly sexy perfume – it is not. It is a scent a woman chooses for herself and not for others. But if she chooses it for the right reasons, Wrappings can become inexplicably alluring on her, a true signature scent. Chic sophistication and self-assuredness in a bottle. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued here in Europe, but thankfully it can still be purchased online. For how long, I wonder?

Pictures courtesy of www.fragrancenow.net and www.1stperfume.com respectively.