This Is Why You Can No Longer Smell Your Perfume

We’ve always wondered why we can no longer smell our perfume, even if it has been only a few hours that we applied it. Is it our nose playing some tricks or what?  We asked a perfumer and an olfactory expert to give us some valid answers.

This may surprise you: a colleague or a friend can give you the “you smell good” compliment during the day, while you, yourself can’t even smell anything of your perfume since you applied it in the morning. It is indeed quite possible that our own nose no longer detects the fragrance that we applied sometimes in large quantities in the morning, but we still succeed in diffusing it. How is this explained? Should we blame it on the quality of the perfume? The composition? Or on the PH of the skin?

A matter of habit

In reality, the main reason is none other than habit. Like all senses, smell can adapt. In fact, we can still smell, but the information is no longer processed by the brain. Isabelle Ferrand, olfactory expert for Maison Cinquième Sens, explains: “Deep in our nasal cavity, in the sinuses, we have an olfactory mucosa filtered with receptors. When a scent molecule reaches them, the information is transmitted to the brain via the olfactory bulb" she says. However, after a while, the smell becomes an integral part of our daily life and of our environment, and the brain therefore decides to no longer pay attention to it. According to her “we do not become anosmic, but we no longer process the information”. This is called olfactory adaptation.

The environment at play

Several external factors can influence our perception of the smell. In general, you must first know that you feel better in the morning, for example. "It's a question of saturation: in the morning, the nose is empty of any scent molecule" comments Alienor Massenet, perfumer for Symrise. For example, the specialist generally waits for Monday morning to validate productions, knowing that her nose will be more receptive than on Friday afternoon. "The humidity, the outside temperature, the mood or even the hormones, affect us and make us smell more or less our own perfume", says the professional.

The quality of the perfume

The composition of the product, its scents, also play a role. “If the perfume is mainly composed of top notes (the ones you smell first when you spray), which are very volatile, the odorous molecules will disperse very quickly. On the other hand, if it is composed mainly of base notes, the evaporation will be less important, and the smell can remain until the next day, "says Isabelle Ferrand.

Thus, citrus notes, such as orange, lemon, bergamot or tangerine, will evaporate very quickly. "The scent of the notes of the floral family can last for up to 5 hours and that of the amber family can last up to three days," adds Alienor Massenet. This is why colognes and eau de toilette, the composition of which mainly includes citrus notes, evaporate more quickly than perfumes.

How can this be remedied?

The solution to smelling your scent again is to spend a few days without wearing your perfume, or to alternate it with others. You can also either change to another perfume, or temporarily replace it with the same one, but with different concentrations: Eau de Toilette, extracts, additional products such as shower gel, etc.

Still, not smelling your perfume on you is not always a bad thing. Isabelle Ferrand concludes:

“When you no longer feel it, it means that it has become part of you, that it is in complete harmony with you. This is your scent ".