How do the scent of some perfumes/colognes stick longer to the skin than others?

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I have had some perfumes lose scent in an hour but some can stick on for a long time. What gives?

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5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Perfumes we’re first made with whale fat and that made them oily and stick, cheap perfumes made with alcohol just evaporate.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Besides the scent, they also contain chemical that “fix” the scent to the skin, so that it is released more slowly into the air. Traditionally, it was something called ambergris, which is from sperm whale vomit (literally). Now it’s just synthetic chemicals, since it is generally frowned upon to kill whales for their puke.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Two reasons:

1. Different perfume types have different concentrations of their scent ingredients. Your perfume bottle will say something like “Eau de Toilette” or “Eau de Parfum,” and that indicates the concentration level. A higher concentration will last longer — but it can also be easier to accidentally use too much, or waste it. In many cases, the same perfume can be purchased in many different concentrations, and higher concentrations are of course more expensive. [See more explanation here](https://www.theperfumeshop.com/blog/expertise/whats-the-difference-between-parfum-and-eau-de-parfum/). When in doubt, go with Eau de Toilette, as it’s the middle-range and most popular concentration level.
2. Different scent ingredients simply evaporate at different rates, so some perfumes will just last longer than others. Also, the human nose can detect certain types of scents much more sensitively than others, so some scents will fade off faster than others even if, scientifically, they are putting the same number of molecules into the air.

There’s a lot more specifics we could get into, of course, but that’s the basics. If you really wanna become a perfume geek, head over to [https://www.fragrantica.com/](https://www.fragrantica.com/), which has a massive database of just about every perfume you can imagine, with aggregated user ratings. So you can see how your favorite perfumes match up on longevity, learn about their top notes middle notes and base notes, sillage (how far away the scent travels), and lots of other stuff.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Money. My $80 cologne dies after 4 hrs. My $500 cologne last all week. Better ingredients I assume.