And suddenly I am a chemist

My formula for layering perfumes

The only thing more devastating than being told a beautiful garment is vintage is hearing that a lingering perfume isn’t just a perfume- it’s a combination of three. Not only do you have to contend with the fact that their skin will dance with the scents differently, but now you’re playing with ratios.

On the receiving side, you can’t get much better than getting countless questions and compliments on how you smell. I might not be able to give you a perfect click-here, shop-now recipe because perfume is so personal, but I’ll walk you through my formula for devising the perfect trio.

Disclaimer: This obviously isn’t an economical approach. You could do a 33-33-33% approach when applying your scents, but I tend to get trigger-happy and go full application on each scent. That being said, curating my perfect fragrance is something I choose to spend my money on. Alas.

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On any given day, I wear three perfumes. I start with a base scent on my skin + two perfumes on my clothes.

THE BASE: SKIN

The base scent is designed to emulate what I wish my skin smelled like naturally. We all, obviously, have natural pheromones, so our skin indeed does have its own scent, but I’m going to micromanage mine, and that is that!

Your base is the scent people will get when they go in for a hug. My boyfriend goes crazy for Maya Fragrances’ Base perfume, so much so that I got him a matching candle (long-distance hack).

You can go in a few directions here, but I’ll look for either a warm, musky scent or a fresh laundry scent. I’m putting this perfume directly onto my skin, so bonus points for non-toxic options.

My favorite warm scents:

THE LAYERS: NOTES

Once your base is sorted, you can have fun with your layering notes. This takes some time to work out since scents can play together in a really beautiful - or overbearing - way. Here’s my secret combination that literally gets me stopped on the daily with compliments and questions.

I love these two because of how different, yet complimentary they are. I think it works because they are both warm and flirty:

I love musky scents, so I knew any combination I was leaning into had to incorporate that earthiness, hence Woodphoria. I fell in love with On a Date when I was introduced to it by the brand at a wine-tasting event. I actually think Maison Margiela Replica does a great job of making a wide range of aptly named scents so anyone could find a good match. (My runner-up favorites from the brand are Fireplace and From the Garden.)

I love that Woodphoria and On A Date are two different perfumes so I can play with the ratio depending on what I’m doing or who I’m seeing. They both have good staying power which is very important to me, and they both work independently.

When creating a “custom blend,” look for notes you’re naturally drawn to —citrus, vanilla, floral, oud, spices, gourmand... There are incredible websites like Fragrantica that let you search based on notes, but it's obviously always best to try them in person. I haven’t been to Scentbar but have heard great things, so I’ll have to make a trip there eventually.

Some of my other favorite scents include:

Have fun with your concoctions! Drop your favorite combinations below, and don’t worry about gatekeeping fragrances because they will smell different on everyone. Plus, what’s the harm in sending more women out into the world smelling amazing? It will only make our commutes just that much sweeter.

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P.S. My algorithm just introduced me to this incredible business, The Perfumer’s Story, a perfumery primarily designed to help actors get into character. What a genius, creative business model. I need them to post more.

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