How to smell nice

[aloneinthenight]

I've decided I want to smell nice.

I have some perfume which must be about 20 years old which I wear on special occasions (you can tell how many there have been of those)

Do people still wear everyday perfume? Would I be better off with scented body lotion or something?

What do you wear?

I normally have a single squirt of something light for day to day use - Jo Malone Orange Blossom or 4160 Tuesdays. Sometimes I just use coco butter moisturiser which smells nice and not overpowering at all either.

Everyone has a different opinion on what smells good. I just try to wear stuff that I will very occasionally get a whiff of on myself that makes me think ‘that smells nice’ but which also (hopefully) isn’t really noticed by others unless they’re shagging me.

That's what I'm after. I don't want people to be able to tell I've been in the room!

Jimmy Chop Flash is a light fragrance

I strongly suspect your perfume will have gone off. The alcohols evaporate and the fragrance goes weird. Bin it. You can try scented body creams or buy a new fragrance to wear daily. It's kind of up to you how strong you want to smell. If you want to have scent all day, try a scented cream then layer with eau de parfum. Eau de toilette wears off in a very few hours.

Oh I love experimenting with perfume. I like light citrus / floral ones and "eau fraiche" type body sprays. I love a mooch on fragrantica (a perfume website that reviews them all) and ebay to pick up samples to try. It really lifted my mood during lockdown. My current favourite is L'occitane Grapefruit and Rhubarb, but of course it's very personal and you need to find what you love.

Think about some smells you like and start there - whether it's fruits, flowers, spices, woody smells or whatever. Fragrantica is great as you can search by different smells or notes. See what you like the sound of, then send off for a few samples, or go to a big department store to try some (if they're doing that yet? I'm not sure).

There are also perfume threads on S&B for perfume lovers - you might pick up tips there.

I too suspect your bottle will have gone off.

But you don't have to commit to one choice. In normal times I wear perfume whenever I leave the house, and more often than not it's from a sample rather than a full bottle. I like the constant discovery of buying sample sets and only buy full bottles of truly magical things. I rarely use scented body lotion as I have sensitive skin.

How about something like this to see what type of fragrance notes you prefer?

www.marksandspencer.com/discover-fragrance-eau-de-toilette-tester-set-6-2ml/p/hbp60483135

I wear perfume every day - I absolutely love it and have loads but I think a light body spray or scented body lotion are good alternatives. Try Rituals who have a lovely range of body mists

I use Molecule on a daily basis. It's a really light,barely there smell.
Smells different on everyone too.
I love it.
Either that or Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue.

If I'm out I usually use either Gucci Guilty or Coco Mademoiselle

I do have loads of scents on the go though so that I can change them up when I feel like it and I think that's important.
You can go nose blind/get sick of scent and never want to wear it again if you use it to often I find.

Perfume doesn't go off if correctly stored tbh. I've got some from the 1950s and 60s which are fine.
In some perfumes, volatile top notes (citrussy ones generally) can spoil, but the heart and base notes are still usually fine.

What's the perfume you've got? You can ask 100 people what they wear and get 100 answers (or ask me and I'll say well, in summer one of about 80 different ones and 80 different ones in winter )

The Perfume Society sell discovery boxes for approx £25, that's a nice way to sample a fair few perfumes and smell different each day, rather than committing to one perfume. And a nice natural soap/body lotion will help you feel ultra fresh and nice too.

I layer nuxe body oil and nuxe perfume. It smells gorgeous and is soft and not overpowering

I would try to get some little testers in the post and find out what will stay on your skin. I’ve had some that evaporated after an hour, but others will stay for 5/6 hours.

Penhaligons have a Scent Library
www.penhaligons.com/uk/en/categories/little-luxuries/shop-all/scent-library-000000000065151356?ipc=gb&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-8T41rDu6wIV2-3tCh0T5AyIEAQYASABEgIp-PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Your perfume, if looked after correctly, could well be fine. You would smell if it has turned or is on the turn. I have some Ivoire de Balmain that is decades old and smells delicious. I think a light scent every day is lovely. Don't rub your wrists together OP as that may bruise the scent and it won't last as long or as nice.

The main thing is always wear clean, fresh clothes. And wear anti perspirant. That way, you should always smell great, perfume or not.

Baby cologne from Spain or Italy is nice

@Sarafive

Ooh I just spent some money there!

Haha @30under - it's great isn't it?! I bought one discovery box and another perfume set and I love dabbling with them! Lasts ages too! Excellent value for money! Enjoy!!

I came back to mention clothes! Fabrics, to be precise. As someone who wears almost exclusively natural fabrics I'd had almost no experience of lingering odours on clothes. Borrowed a child's nasty acrylic school sweater (long story) and cooked while wearing it. It still stank the next day.

So, yeah - wear natural fabrics if you want to smell nice.

And eat less or no meat. I will never forget a short story I read, maybe forty years ago, in which a young woman returning from several months abroad in a vegetarian community, was assailed by the strongly meaty smell emanating from passers by outside the airport. (Was probably the start of my own turning away from meat eating.)

L’Occitaine verveine is beautifully lemony but subtle.
I often just use the body lotion.

I also love the L'Occitaine Verveine.

No-one has ever commented on my perfume til I started wearing Molecule 01. Now I often am asked what I'm wearing although I can only faintly smell it on me.

If you wash and use a nice body lotion you will smell nice without needing perfume. If ou have a favourite scent you could try to get that scent in a lotion or try somewhere like ESPA or Rituals.

Persephone that's so funny that you said that. A work colleague of mine has been smelling extremely lovely lately...no scent as such, just fresh. She mentioned to me yesterday that she had turned vegan at the start of Lockdown in March!

Oh goodness! That's extraordinary, IHeartSusanDey.

Googling "body odour and meat eating" brings up a good few "studies" and opinions that appear to support this.

Apparently we Westerners smell of sour milk.