6 min read
Make perfume last all day
Why fragrance vanishes on some people and not others, and the layering order that adds hours to any perfume.
Read article →Bases
Lotion and perfume layering
The base layer decides how long everything above it survives. This is where a routine is won, and it costs the least of any step.
Guides
Lotion + Perfume guides
Formulas
Routines from this collection
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Warm • Creamy • Addictive
Creamy vanilla + white musk
- BaseWarm Vanilla Sugar Body LotionBath & Body Works
- LayerEgyptian Musk Perfume OilNemat
- FinishVanilla 28 Eau de ParfumKayali
Musk sits between the sugar and the perfume and stops the vanilla from reading like a bakery. This is the combination most people mean when they say a scent smells expensive.
Rosy • Creamy • Feminine
Rose that stays soft
- BaseWarm Vanilla Sugar Body LotionBath & Body Works
- FinishRoses VanilleMancera
Roses Vanille is loud. A plain vanilla lotion underneath gives it somewhere to settle so it blooms instead of shouting.
Sugary • Grown-up • Balanced
Sweet, tamed
- BaseUnscented Shea Body LotionGeneric
- LayerEgyptian Musk Perfume OilNemat
- FinishPink Sugar Eau de ToiletteAquolina
Pink Sugar on bare skin reads very young. Musk underneath pushes it towards a warm skin scent instead.
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Products for this routine
Lotion$$
Unscented Shea Body LotionGeneric
Neutral • Rich • Invisible
When a combination is already busy, an unscented base adds hours without adding notes.
- Notes
- Shea butter
- Lasts
- Light
Lotion$$
Warm Vanilla Sugar Body LotionBath & Body Works
Creamy • Sweet • Comforting
The cheapest longevity upgrade there is — vanilla lotion gives musk and amber something to hold onto.
- Notes
- Vanilla, Sugar, Sandalwood
- Lasts
- Light
Lotion$$
Delícia Drench Body ButterSol de Janeiro
Rich • Nutty • Addictive
Use on damp skin. It turns thin gourmands into something dessert-like without extra spraying.
- Notes
- Salted caramel, Pistachio, Vanilla
- Lasts
- Moderate
Cheaper stand-in: Warm Vanilla Sugar Body Lotion
Questions
Unscented when the perfume is complex, scented when the perfume is simple and you want to amplify one note. A scented lotion under a busy fragrance usually makes both harder to read.
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