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Perfume layering chart
A reference chart for layering by scent family, with the pairings that work and the two that never do.
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Perfume layering charts and guides
Save-worthy reference material: which scent families blend, which fight, and the order that makes a routine last. Built to be pinned and used at the dressing table.
Guides
Charts & Guides 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.
Woody • Rosy • Ceremonial
Rose over oud
- BaseDahn Al Oudh Perfume OilAjmal
- FinishAngham Eau de ParfumLattafa
The classic Arabic order: oil first, spray second. Oud oil anchors the rose so it lasts through a long evening.
Fresh • Soft • Just-showered
Clean skin, three ways
- BaseUnscented Shea Body LotionGeneric
- LayerReplica Lazy Sunday MorningMaison Margiela
- FinishYou Eau de ParfumGlossier
Two skin-scents stacked read as clean rather than perfumed. Nobody can name what you are wearing, which is the whole point.
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Products for this routine
Perfume oil$$
Egyptian Musk Perfume OilNemat
Skin-like • Clean • Warm
One dab on each wrist under any sweet perfume. It makes gourmands read expensive instead of candy.
- Notes
- White musk, Powder, Soft amber
- Lasts
- Strong
Perfume oil$$
Amber Perfume OilNemat
Golden • Resinous • Long-lasting
Apply to pulse points before spraying. Amber oil is the "expensive" note most cheap perfumes are missing.
- Notes
- Amber, Resin, Warm vanilla
- Lasts
- Very strong
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
Questions
Citrus over gourmand, and green or aquatic notes over oud. Both pairings turn sharp within twenty minutes as the lighter notes burn off.
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