Often I hear the complaint that a scent doesn't last on a person's skin, or that it smells different than it does in the bottle, or on another person's skin. This is often phrased as a criticism of the scent. It is deemed as a "bad" product. In truth, this is an unfair judgement.
All scents change on your skin. That's every single scent. That's every single individual. Each one of us has our own body chemistry which is completely unique. When we apply fragrance, it mixes with our individual body chemistry and becomes something completely different. This is especially true of oil perfumes as they are lipophilic, which means they bond with the fat layer immediately under your skin.
Unlike alcohol based perfumes, which must air to evaporate the alcohol, the best way to test an oil perfume is to rub it into your skin. That way it will blend properly with your individual body chemistry. It is very important that you test out a new scent on your skin before buying it. The fact that it smells amazing on your best friend does not mean that it will smell the same on your skin. It will probably smell quite different on your skin than it does in the bottle as well.
A well designed perfume has three layers: a bottom, middle, and top. The top note is the initial impact of the scent; the instantaneous, almost subliminal first impression of the scent. The middle note is the basic personality of the scent: what you would describe as what you smell after a minute or so. The bottom note is what comes out on your skin at least 10-20 minutes later. The bottom note is the soul of a perfume, as it lasts much longer than the rest of the scent.
Ideally, when you are shopping for a personal perfume, you should sample from the bottle first, then try it on your skin and let it age there for at least 10 minutes. That is just long enough for each of the three layers to emerge on your skin. As you can see from this description, all scents change on your skin as each layer comes out. It is part of the alchemy of perfume. This is why you cannot rely on a friend or family member to select a scent for you. You must try it on yourself to experience the layers of the perfume and to see how it blends with your individual body chemistry.
When you experience Kamala's Own in person, we have testers of all our scents and encourage you to try them on. When you order on our website, we offer sample sizes of all our oils so that you don't have to spend a fortune in order to sample our perfumes. In addition, starting now, we are including a FREE sample of a popular oil blend with each web order.