#121

Vintage Shaver
Seattle, WA
(12-02-2020, 09:26 PM)primotenore Wrote: Very, very informative, John. Thank you for the effort.

(12-02-2020, 10:48 PM)TommyCarioca Wrote: Great stuff. Love these posts. Thank you

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(12-02-2020, 11:29 PM)ischiapp Wrote: churchilllafemme 
I love this.
Thanks a lot.
Again.
Happy

Thank you for the comments, they're appreciated.

ischiapp likes this post
John
#122

Veni, vidi, vici
Vault 111
(12-03-2020, 07:49 PM)churchilllafemme Wrote:
(12-02-2020, 09:26 PM)primotenore Wrote: Very, very informative, John. Thank you for the effort.

(12-02-2020, 10:48 PM)TommyCarioca Wrote: Great stuff. Love these posts. Thank you

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

(12-02-2020, 11:29 PM)ischiapp Wrote: churchilllafemme 
I love this.
Thanks a lot.
Again.
Happy

Thank you for the comments, they're appreciated.

Because of your post, John, I just scored a vintage bottle of YSL Kouros to go with my C&S No. 88.

DanLaw likes this post
~~~~
Primo
Shaving since 1971; enjoying my shaves since 2014
A che bel vivere, che bel piacere, per un barbiere di qualità! Happy2
#123

Vintage Shaver
Seattle, WA
(12-03-2020, 09:50 PM)primotenore Wrote:
(12-03-2020, 07:49 PM)churchilllafemme Wrote:
(12-02-2020, 09:26 PM)primotenore Wrote: Very, very informative, John. Thank you for the effort.

(12-02-2020, 10:48 PM)TommyCarioca Wrote: Great stuff. Love these posts. Thank you

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

(12-02-2020, 11:29 PM)ischiapp Wrote: churchilllafemme 
I love this.
Thanks a lot.
Again.
Happy

Thank you for the comments, they're appreciated.

Because of your post, John, I just scored a vintage bottle of YSL Kouros to go with my C&S No. 88.

I'll look forward to your review. You could burn some incense on the counter while you shave, too...
John
#124

Veni, vidi, vici
Vault 111
(12-03-2020, 10:01 PM)churchilllafemme Wrote:
(12-03-2020, 09:50 PM)primotenore Wrote:
(12-03-2020, 07:49 PM)churchilllafemme Wrote: Thank you for the comments, they're appreciated.

Because of your post, John, I just scored a vintage bottle of YSL Kouros to go with my C&S No. 88.

I'll look forward to your review. You could burn some incense on the counter while you shave, too...

Big Grin
~~~~
Primo
Shaving since 1971; enjoying my shaves since 2014
A che bel vivere, che bel piacere, per un barbiere di qualità! Happy2
#125

Vintage Shaver
Seattle, WA
Cashmeran

Cashmeran (musk indanone or indomuscone) is a trademarked synthetic scent that was first developed by International Fragrance Foundation (IFF) in 1968, when a scientist there was researching impurities in a gas chromatogram. Since then its production process has been improved greatly, making it cost-effective. Among the first perfumes to use it significantly were Paco Rabanne Sport (1986) and Cacharel LouLou (1987).
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Cashsmeran sometimes is included in the group of polycyclic musks, although there is argument about this, and many place it between the wood and musk families. The IFF Compendium classifies it as an amber and says that it is "useful in creating spicy carnation florals, amber musk notes, Orientals, and woody accords." The scent has been compared to the abstract odor of city concrete being hit by rain and to the smell of 'sun-kissed skin.' At concentrations of less than 1% it has a salty, slightly animalic effect.

Cashmeran's name comes from the comparison of its smell to the soft, smooth tactile impression of cashmere wool. Also known in perfume language as cashmere wood, cashmere musk, or blond wood, Cashmeran is complex and multifaceted. It has a warm, rich, clean, sharp, spicy component, a sweet balmy vanillic aspect (somewhat reminiscent of old paper), and distinct woody-resinous-coniferous and red fruity notes. Light powdery and velvety nuances, as well as leathery and earthy notes, are present. The scent has been described as radiant and vibrant but "whispering rather than screaming."
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Cashmeran's profile is quite pliable and versatile, and it can be used in practically all perfume genres, and it is nearly ubiquitous in ouds. As the amount of natural oud in compositions decreases and synthetic oud accords become more prominent, Cashmeran often makes up a significant part of the 'oud.' It is frequently used in small amounts in chypres, florals, dark woods, and Oriental accords, in which it adds depth and aids in expansion and diffusion. As a base note, it helps heavier wood molecules gel properly with more heady musk notes. It enriches otherwise linear compositions and has the effect of making them more complex. It blends especially well with jasmine, rose, neroli, tobacco, frankincense, patchouli, sage, saffron, vetiver, tonka bean, and woods, in addition to other modern synthetics such as ambroxan.

In the words of the authors of Scent and Chemistry, "Cashmeran is a unique synthetic odorant which combines floral-fruity musky with conifer-type woody aspects in perfect balance..." Master perfumer Arcadi Boix Camps, while acknowledging the difficulty of placing it in any specific category, classified Cashmeran as floral in 1985, saying that it is "a strong, floral, musky product of great diffusion and personality that combines very well with green grass... and such blends as amber, floral, coriaceous, and woody... It enhances, producing radiance."

Cashmeran is moderately projecting, quite diffusive, and long-lasting. It in addition to its own scent qualities, it has excellent rounding and smoothing properties for other ingredients. It most often is included in masculine blends. Its concentration in perfume rarely exceeds 2% because it is a slight skin and eye irritant and a mild skin sensitizer, although it is not listed as an allergen by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA). It is relatively inexpensive, and it has a shelf life of up to 36 months or longer.

In its pure form, Cashmeran is a white-yellow crystalline mass that melts at 27C, so for wholesale it is usually offered at 50% concentration. It is nearly insoluble in water and very hydrophobic, and it does not rinse out of fabrics easily, which makes it ideal for household products (detergents, fabric softeners, shampoos, etc.) that are meant to leave a lingering trace of scent.
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Other synthetics whose structure is close to that of Cashmeran include the following:
- Nebulone (IFF), an effort to make Cashmeran 'longer and heavier,' shifting it more to the musk group
- Trisamber (IFF), aka woody furan, has a dry, woody, amber smell and increased diffusivity and strength
- Amber Xtreme, a close relative of trisamber
- Cashmeran Velvet (IFF), a combination of Cashmeran and Iso E Super that contains Amber Xtreme in its base
- Quinazoline derivatives, more intense, ambery, woody, and powdery, and sweeter

Masculine fragrances with significant Cashmeran present include:
Adidas Born Original, UEFA Champions League
Aigner No. 1 Oud
Aramis Special Blend
Asgharali al Qasayad
Atelier d'Artistes by Alexandre.J Signature
Azzaro Chrome Extreme, Hot Pepper
Botica 214 Dark Mint
Burberry Brit Rhythm for Him
Byredo Black Saffron
Calvin Klein Obsessed Intense, Eternity
Carolina Herrera Beasts, Insignia
Coach Platinum
Colcci Neon
Comme des Garcons Wonderwood
David Beckham Classic Blue
Davidoff Cool Water Night Dive
Dolce & Gabbana The One (var.)
Harvey Prince Big
Henderson Sport Aviator
Houbigant Bois Mystique
Hugo Boss Bottled United, Cashmere Patchouli, Just Different
Issey Miyake L'Eau Majeure, Shades of Kolam
Jequiti Rodrigo Faro Unico
Joop! Wow! (var.)
Karl Lagerfeld Ocean View
Lacoste L.12.12. Noir, Match Point
Lionel Richie Hello
Mansfield Sortilege
MetaScent Shrine
M. Micallef Azure Crystal
Moschino Toy Boy
Natura Essencial Mirra, Homem Essence, Homem Verum, Kaiak Expedicao, Sintonia Impacto
O Boticario Egeo Blue, Horizonte, Malbec (var.)
Otto Kern Cool Contrast
Pace
Paco Rabanne 1 Million, Black XS Potion
Pal Zileri Essenza di Aoud
Panama 1924 Fefe
Pierre Guillaume Monsieur
Ralph Lauren Polo Supreme Cashmere
Roberto Cavalli Deep Desire
Roja Scandal
Yardley Bond St
Yeslam pour Homme
Yves St. Laurent l'Homme Libre. La Nuit de l'Homme Eau Eletrique
Zara 6.0, C4SHMER4N, Mexico Soul, Poplin Shirt

dominicr, Kobayashi and primotenore like this post
John
#126
Relatively new here (at least in terms of frequency), THANK YOU for the very educational post!
#127

Vintage Shaver
Seattle, WA
(12-13-2020, 09:52 PM)kwickone Wrote: Relatively new here (at least in terms of frequency), THANK YOU for the very educational post!

Thank you, and welcome to the forum. I'll try to post one of these at least every couple weeks.
John
#128

Vintage Shaver
Seattle, WA
Describing a Perfume or Fragrance

Many of us have difficulty describing the scent of an aftershave or cologne or making sense of someone else's description of one. I frequently see statements such as, "I'm not good at describing a scent," but there is no real trick to description; it is just a matter of being careful and methodical. I would like to talk a bit here about how one can attempt to describe a fragrance. The discussion will not include any description of skin care qualities or of bottles or packaging. Those are complete subjects on their own.

Before creating a scent description, it is to identify your reason for describing it. Are you simply describing it for yourself or do you want to communicate your impression of it to someone else? This differentiation will determine whether you want to capture the overall nature or quality of a fragrance, name a certain meaning or feeling that it evokes, break it down technically into individual notes (ingredients), or simply find a way to tell its story. It helps to guide you mentally in approaching your step-by-step assessment.

The first step is to smell and evaluate the item briefly and repeatedly. Spritz or apply a couple drops to an absorbent blotter paper strip, or onto the skin on your hand or wrist, and then hold it about 1-2cm from your nostrils. Close your eyes to help filter out any outside stimuli. As with sipping wine to ascertain its flavor during a tasting, sniff once and then remove the perfume source from your nose area and mentally evaluate the odor. Repeat with short sniffing procedures, taking breaks between them for longer periods of evaluation. This allows the olfactory receptors to recover between sniffs, minimizing olfactory overload and fatigue. It also increases one's ability to 'hold' the smell in memory for longer periods. Also, as the notes in a perfume sample appear and disappear at different rates, separation of the notes can be detected.
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Next smell it through the mouth. Hold the scent source on the paper or skin about 2cm below the nose and about 1cm away from the mouth and gently breathe in through parted lips, enabling you to experience the odor in another manner. The vapor passes over the tongue, into the throat, and up the back of the nasal passage to the olfactory receptors. This longer route over wet mucous membranes alters the profile enough to give a somewhat different viewpoint and impression.
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While doing the sniffing, make written notes of your nasal and oral perceptions, placing them in order by time to illustrate the flow of the scent's evolution and to help in avoiding becoming stuck on any individual perception. Add notes of any mental connections and feelings that you experience during smelling, recording any words, images, emotions, memories, or associations that come to mind, regardless of whether or not they seem to make sense. 

Next, use the basic qualities of the various fragrance families to begin to generally classify the scent being evaluated (romantic floral; exotic, warm Oriental or amber; earthy woody; fresh and green; dry or smoky leather; complex, rich chypre; natural, woodsy fougere; or fantasy, not fitting into any of these groups). If it is floral, is it soliflore (single flower) or a bouquet of flower notes? Try to identify which ingredients dominate or are most prominent and at which stages during your repeated smelling process they appeared and disappeared. What accord gives the perfume its 'backbone' (the main building block for it). At this point, assess generally what ingredients comprise the three note groups (top, heart, base) for the perfume as its scent evolves. The top notes, usually fresher and lighter, strike you first but do not last long, sometimes just a few minutes. The heart (middle) notes contain the most prominent or defining factors and can last up to a few hours. The base notes appear last, often feel deeper and heavier, and can last hours to a day or more. These note groups frequently are not sharply differentiated and instead blend into a 'flow,' but it is useful to try to separate them.
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Now refer to your mental and written notes and try to use adjectives to describe the overall quality or 'vibe' of the smell, such as airy, acrid, balmy, bubbly, clean, cool, delicate, exotic, fresh, green, gentle, heavy, light, mild, musty, natural, overpowering, powerful, pungent, refreshing, sweet, spicy, stale, strong, subtle, toxic, warm, wild, or zesty. Lists of such descriptive adjectives for reference can easily be found. In addition to adjectives (e.g. 'leathery') giving the scent effect, the words can take the form of an adverb (angrily, amusingly), gerund (driving, raging), or a noun ('the smell of leather') that defines or conjures a specific source. If you have images in your mind from smelling the fragrance, describe this mental picture, such as 'light and airy fresh in a blue sky after a light rain'). Be specific; for example, one can differentiate between cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke impressions and between those and the smell of burning rubber or oil. If something smells fruity or woody, try to identify the specific fruit(s) or wood(s). You can also use strong, active verbs in your description: does the smell permeate, confuse, distract, cool off, conjure, suggest, command, or calm? Or is it associated with activities such as baking, digging, sweating, lifting drifting, whispering? Notice and make note of any multi-dimensional or complex structure of the scent that implies a combination of these descriptive words. Try to identify also what it is not, such as 'no floral notes,' 'not sweet,' or 'not fruity,' in addition to what it is.
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In recording these descriptions, borrow words from other senses, such as sight (bright, dark, clear, purple, vivid, dull, multicolored), sound (harmonious, dissident, loud, quiet, fast, slow), touch (sharp, dull, smooth, rough, cool, hot, cottony, silky), and taste (sweet, sour, savory, salty, tart, bitter, refreshing, crisp). Use metaphors: "It was like a slow stroll down a shaded forest path in the early morning." For a pleasant scent, use alternate words such as aroma, aura, bouquet, or essence in the description. If the scent evokes negative responses, use antonyms such as odor, stench, stink, or reek.
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Visualize what the smell does to you subjectively, using creative imagery. Does it creep stealthily into your nose? Does it wrap around you gently? Does it follow or surprise you? Does it make you feel like you're flying? Is it startling or jarring, soothing or comforting? Does it make you feel better? If it makes you feel good, how? Does it evoke specific feelings and emotions, such as happiness, sadness, or melancholy, or conjure associations with past events? Write these down too.

To finish the evaluation, it is sometimes useful to distinguish whether a scent is most suitable for a particular gender, although this has become quite fluid. The gender distinction probably arose when women who had worked at jobs during World War II were replaced by men returning from combat, and the women were 'reassigned' to their designated role in the nuclear family (bearing children to replace the men killed and caring for the house and family). To expand the perfume market to men who previously just wore aftershave, marketers began to call some perfumes colognes and to give them macho descriptions. In current perfume discussion, this gender differentiation is just a simple prop to better understand the fragrance. Although one might say that an accord in masculine in style, women also might wear it and like it, and vice versa. In addition, at this point you can try to relate the fragrance to other scents historically to identify whether the particular one being evaluated is a development of any kind, an 'evolution' or a 'revolution,' or has unusual 'twists' or fresh approaches.
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Ideally, repeat your evaluation on other days, varying the time of day, whether or not you have eaten or drunk anything recently, your own mood, the lighting and temperature in the room, and the weather, since all of these have effects. However, it recommended that you always try to smell the fragrance in a generally peaceful and quiet environment so that your other senses do not distract your nose. And it is best that you do it alone, without being influenced at the time by the responses of others. However, after you have evaluated a scent, then you can listen to others' ideas, descriptions, and comments for comparison to your own and to make logical connections, but do not allow them to discourage your own sensory impressions.
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To increase your own ability to describe scents, try to pay attention to the smells of things in your daily life - in the rooms of your house, your workplace, the gym, retail stores and businesses, and in public places such as hospitals and airports. Each location has hundreds of different scent qualities, from fresh, stale, or air conditioned air, light bulbs and electrical appliances, roads and other surfaces and their vehicles, weather conditions, plants, and people and animals. Identifying and naming or describing the various smells to yourself will sharpen your talent for describing perfumes.
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Pay attention also to descriptions of smell when you hear them or see them in writing, such as in advertising, poems, or inspirational or motivational text. Compare these descriptions to your own, in order refine your own impressions of a particular product and to improve your own overall ability to describe fragrances. Note, however, that marketing descriptions often do not offer a specific accurate definition ('like orange and ginger'), but rather a broad, subjective impression ('a tropical sensation that a strong, natural man needs'). A good marketer can find many associations for a given ingredient. For example, Mugler Alien Flora Future has notes of citrus, Buddha wood, amber, and sandalwood, but it is presented in advertising as a product "whose color reminds you of the sky at dawn, hides a fragrance composed with a vision of light at the heart of a desert - strong and beautiful... It makes everything possible: loving, dreaming, being yourself." Such a description, of course, is more successful in encouraging the consumer to buy the product than a list of ingredients is, but it allows the customer to know the type of personality that it most likely suits (and which they might aspire to be), perhaps giving them the opportunity to use a fragrance which might help to make their self-image or image to others more positive and attractive.
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Finally, in formulating a fragrance description, keep in mind who your audience is if other than just yourself. Remember that what you intend to convey may not be exactly what someone else hears or sees, especially when you use subjective words such as manly, clean, fresh, tasteful, mature, elegant, modern, sexy, cheap, etc. It is important to tailor your description to the specific person or people who will be receiving it.

primotenore, Marko, Kobayashi and 1 others like this post
John
#129

Vintage Shaver
Seattle, WA
Drydown and Fixatives

When wearing a fragrance, the scent evolves in stages, with the smells immediately after application, half an hour later, then 2 hours later being quite different from each other. This is because the aromatic ingredients evaporate at different rates due to their varying volatilities. The first smell, the top notes, often lasts just 5-15 minutes. After the top note molecules evaporate, the middle notes comprising the 'heart' of the fragrance arise and usually last for 1/2-3 hours. The final stage of the development, after the perfume has dried on the skin and the top and heart notes have become less discernible, is called the drydown by most experts, with the base notes revealing the 'body' of the scent at that time. This drydown generally lasts around 2-6 hours, but can even persist for up to 12 hours. (Some writers define the drydown as the phase of the fragrance's evolution starting after the top notes have evaporated, and a few even use the term for the whole progression of the fragrance from immediately after application to the end.)

Compositions that contain more of deep or heavy-molecule base notes will generally have more 'tenacity' ( will last longer) than ones composed mainly of lighter, fresher notes that evaporate or oxidize more quickly. The scent longevity is affected by the species of plant used (the dozens of different jasmine extracts varying greatly in longevity, for example), the extraction method (steam distilled vs. CO2 extracted vs. cold pressed, etc.), and whether or not natural isolates (which make a perfume more linear, more dramatic and longer-lasting) are included. The skill of the perfumer also can have an influence, since a more skilled person can utilize specific blending techniques and types and concentrations of ingrdients to extend the drydown. In addition, the quality of the ingredients used has a significant impact on the depth and staying power. And finally, the higher the concentration, the longer the fragrance generally should last on the skin, although this is not always a direct correlation.

Essences usually found in the base note category include gourmand scents (vanilla, cocoa, brown sugar), woods (sandalwood, patchouli, cedarwood), resins, oakmoss, vetiver, clary sage, musks, pine, leather, and tobacco. Although the note structure of differing types of fragrance compositions may be the same, alcohol-based products reach drydown faster because of their fast evaporation speed; and they often contain less essential oil, so the drydown is shorter. Also, perfumes tend to cling to skin oils, so they last significantly longer on oilier-skinned people.

With the use of added fixatives (aromatic ingredients that fix or prolong the scent), this phase can last for several hours. As the scent molecules react with each other and the air of the environment, they also react in a unique way with your skin, with some being absorbed. Your skin's particular absorption rate affects how a fragrance smells on you as it moves through its stages, and the absorption is affected by age, diet, general health, body and skin chemistry, and hormone levels. Therefore, although the drydown of a perfume may have some general qualities for everyone, its body unfolds in a singular way on each person.

Synthetic ingredients are engineered to maintain their scent for longer without changing, and they often contain chemical additives (such as phthalates and synthetic musks) designed to help the scent adhere to the skin, so synthetic fragrances generally last longer, but they usually don't expose as many different nuances as natural ones.

Although a perfume's drydown should have a strong influence on a decision to purchase, it frequently does not. As the expert Kate Foster said, "When you buy any fragrance, it's usually based on the top note since it's the first thing you smell. We'll all heard you should walk around and see how the fragrance reacts and changes over time, but most people don't do that. It's the first impression that sells us."

Smell Longevity vs. Intensity

A common misconception is that if a fragrance lasts a long time it will have strong smell. But as noted previously, this is not always true. For example, synthetic blends of orange notes generally have a low scent impact and have a life of under 8 hours. Natural sweet orange essential oil has a moderate strength and longevity of around 8 hours or more. Synthetic orange fixative has a high strength, as well as lasting up to 60 hours. On the other hand, orange peel-like aldehyde C-10 decanal has extremely high odor strength but only last about 10 hours. These various materials can be blended in different proportions to produce a wide range of scent outcomes, and this approach is used frequently by experienced master perfumers.


Extending the Drydown

There are several tricks that can help to make the drydown phase of a fragrance last longer:
- Don't shake the fragrance bottle. Shaking just mixes in air that reduces the overall quality.
- Apply right after showering, when the skin is moist and your pores are most open, and then wait a few minutes for the scent to dry before dressing.
- Moisturize first with an unscented oil-based moisturizer lotion or body oil, applying the perfume after the moisturizer or oil is absorbed; or apply petroleum jelly, which will hold the fragrance longer, to pulse points.
- Layer the fragrance, using matching products (aftershave, body lotion, cologne, etc.) if available.
- Switch to a stronger formulation, such as eau de parfum, pure parfum, or extrait. Cologne or eau de toilette will generally last 2-3 hours, eau de parfum 4-5 hours, and parfum concentrates 5+ hours.
- Apply at other skin areas in addition to pulse points (insides of elbows, nape of neck, wrists). Fragrance rises, so application to the lower part of the body, such as the back of the knees, will make the scent last longer. Some recommend spraying your hairbrush or comb as well as your skin: hair is porous and can sometimes release the scent more slowly than the skin. However, direct application of alcohol-based products can dry out the hair.
- Spritz a 'mist' of the scent onto a scarf or your shirt, and your body heat will make the fragrance emerge gradually. But be aware that some products can stain or damage garments.
- Don't get overheated soon after application, for example by working out at the gym, since body heat and sweat will wear out the scent more quickly.
- Don't rub the perfume into your skin; rubbing 'bruises' the scent and breaks down some of the notes. Just spray or dab it on and gently pat.
- Keep your bottled fragrance out of direct sunlight and heat, which can decrease the overall longevity. A cool, dark, and dry environment is best. Storing the fragrance in its original box can be helpful.

Fixatives

Fixatives are natural or synthetic materials added to a fragrance that may:
- slow down the rate of evaporation and/or oxidation of the more volatile or delicate materials in the composition, making aroma changes more gradual
- lend a particular note throughout all the sages of evaporation without affecting the evaporation rates of other materials (although many have no aroma of their own)
- improve, fortify or transport the vapors, lending a retentive effect
- add a stabilizing action by holding the odors of the volatile ingredients

A fixative restricts and equalizes the vapor pressures of the ingredients, and thus their volatilities. Fixatives include natural resinoids (benzoin, labdanum, frankincense, myrrh, olibanum, storax, tolu balsam) or molecules originally obtained from animals but now synthesized (ambroxide, civetone, muscone). The animal products contained pheromones that were 'designed' by nature to be long-lasting and resistant to time and weather for marking a male's territory. Natural fixatives used now can be in the form of tinctures, gums, resins, powders, or oils. Other synthetic fixatives include substances with low volatility (diphenymethane, cyclopentadecanolide, benzyl salicylate) and virtually odorless solvents with very low vapor pressures (benzyl benzoate, diethyl phthalate, triethyl citrate). Although oils and oil mixes have been used on the skin since ancient Egypt, with employment of base notes for longevity, actual fixatives have been added only since 'modern' perfumes have been used on the skin (rather than just on handkerchiefs, scarves, and gloves to mask body odors resulting from infrequent bathing), i.e. since the 18th century.

Fixative strength of a material is determined objectively by a procedure in which 1mg each of an aroma compound and a fixative are applied to perfume blotters, allowed to evaporate in controlled conditions for specified periods of time, extracted into methanol at the end of each time period, and then analyzed by chromatography.

For convenience, some perfumers use what are called fixative bases, wholesale long-lasting accord blends that help to anchor the perfume and add overall longevity; they sometimes have a scent profile that provides the complete base notes for the scent. These products often have names like 'amber animal base accord' or 'wood base accord.'

Perfumers do not always agree about the value or use of fixatives. Says Guy Robert, the perfumer for Madame Rochas, "The durability of a perfume is not easy to acieve, and nobody knows how to do it. I hate and find stupid the idea of fixatives."

Remember that fixative qualities of an oil and the tenacity of the oil are not the same thing. A perfume ingredient may have immense tenacity, lingering for a very long time on the skin, but might have little impact on the evaporation rate of the other ingredients. Fixatives may make up a small or large percentage of the overall blend depending on the technology used and type of fragrance. Expense can sometimes limit the use of fixatives.

Some common non-scenting fixatives are:
Glucam P20
Isopropyl palmitate
Diethyl Pthalate
Glycerin
Benzyl benzoate (weak odor)
PVP
Hydroyethyl cellulose
Vitamin E isomers (slight smell)

Fixatives that also add a smell include the following:
Fixolide
Vanillin and vanilla
Cinnamic alcohol
Benzophenone
Musk ketone
Fixative 505
Balsam of Peru
Benzoin
Tonka bean
Rosemary
Sandalwood
Amyris oil
Copaiba oil

Men's fragrances reputed to have greatest longevity:

Amouage Man, Jubilation XXV
Armaf Club de Nuit Intense
Armani Acqua di Gio, Stronger by You
Azzaro Wanted
Bvlgari Man in Black
Byredo Sundazed
Chanel Bleu, Allure Homme Sport, Antaeus, Egoiste
Christian Dior Homme Intense
Creed Aventus, Green Irish Tweed
Dior Eau Sauvage, Fahrenheit, Homme Intense
Dolce & Gabbana K, The One
Dunhill Icon
Estee Lauder Aramis
Givenchy Gentleman
Gucci Oud, Guilty
Guerlain l'Homme Ideal, Habit Rouge
Hermes Terre d'Hermes, Eau d'Orange Verte
Hugo Boss The Scent, Bottled
Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male
John Varvatos Artisan
Lalique Encre Noire
Le Labo Santal 33
Marly Herod
Montale Black Musk, Red Vetiver
Mont Blanc Legend
Narciso Rodriguez For Him
Nasomatto Duro
Nautica Blue
Paco Rabanne pour Homme, 1 Million, Invictus
Perry Ellis 360 Red
Prada Amber
Ralph Lauren Polo Black
Roja Elysium
Thierry Mugler A*Men
Tom Ford Noir, Tobacco Vanille, Oud Wood, Tuscan Leather
Versace Eros
Victor & Rolf Spicebomb
Yves St. Laurent Rive Gauche, La Nuit de l'Homme, Noir, The Man

Kobayashi, primotenore, Bouki and 1 others like this post
John
#130

Merchant
St. Louis, MO
Dry down. Where the trickery really happens.

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