Skin chemistry and scents

Here I am smelling like a stale glass of coke, or at least some beverage similar to coke. Of course I´m talking about Etro´s Messe de Minuit. I was so fascinated about the fact that this perfume smelled so very different on me compared to others (at the perfume meeting in Stockholm). All of us sprayed it on within the same minutes, and still it was developing so different on each of us.


Messe de Minuit was one of the first fragarances that i sprayed on that day, so even though i notice differences between several other perfumes such as Bond No 9´s Coney Island, Annick Goutal´s Ninfeo Mio and Byredo´s Baudeleire, the differences was most noticable when it comes to Messe de Minuit.


I become happy and a little flattered when one of my readers tell me that they have order samples of scents I have wrote about. Hopefully these scents will fit them as good as they fit me, but the worst scenario is that they will smell like shit on some of my readers. This is partly depending on each and everyones sense of smell, for some people the scent of flowers is the best smell in the world, while other prefer vanilla fudge, incense or leather. But most of all, these differences seem to depend on individual skin chemistry.


Every human´s skin is unique. The skin of men is different from the skin of women, and dark skin is different from light skin. Young people´s skin are usually more fat then skin of a little older people and so on. In the outmost layer of skin we all have an acid barrier that consist of amino acids, fat acids and milk acids. Fat skin have a ph value of about 4-5, while dry skin has a ph of about 6-7. There is big individual differences, but also the skin chemistry changes within the day, with lower ph at night. This influence both make-up and perfumes.


At Fragrantica we have talked a little about Xerjoff scents, which I love (not all of them, but some of them are so great), but not all do. On some they smell overly sweet and almost jucky. I do recommend you to find out what they are like on you, BEFORE you order a 25o euro big bottle of any of them!


A lot of folk talks positivly about the scents from Sonoma Scent Studio, but on me, non of them are working. The have a common in house note that on my skin become both sharp and stale at the same time. Well, with that said, still they can be gorgeous on someone else.


Everyone´s own skin chemistry has a really big part of how we like a scent. And also, everyone´s unique preferences, I know that most of us wonder how anyone could wear Etat Libre d'Orange´s Secretions Magnifique, but probably there is people out there thinking it smells nice, interesting and even cozy! We´re also influenced by trends and people around us. A young girl might like the smell of a scent, but still think of it as an old lady scent and refuse to wear it, while a women at 45 think of it as youthful and adventurous! A person that has spend a lot of time in stables and barnyards might find scents like Dzing! and Muscs Koublai Khan very attractive, while a person that´s afraid of horses or cows might find them utterly repulsive.


I can go on like this for ever, but isn´t it very interesting? So when you read my blog and become curious about something that I´ve wriote about, remember that it is like wanting to have a perfume that´s suitable for your co-worker, it might not suit you at all. Try to learn to know your very own skin chemistry instead. It is as unique as your finger prints. And think about your own scent preferences and how current trends inflict you, and if you care at all if a scent is old lady-like or girly...



Pic: chemistry uctvs