Why Are Natural Perfumes Short Lived?

After over 10 years in the business, you get used to waking up to emails like this one. This time, I though I'd post it here for the benefits of anyone else doubtful of natural perfumes' supposedly short-lived appearance on the skin etc. Also, I will be updating my FAQ page to cover that as well with this info.

On 23-Feb-12, at 6:11 AM, Ms. C. Wrote:

Hi! First of all, I just want to say that I absolutely LOVE your perfumes and am more than
pleased with almost every single one of the samples I received as a birthday gift. I am unable to wear synthetic fragrances, and would rather go organic / natural anyway, so have recently been avidly searching for “my new scent”.

I would love to be a loyal customer and only buy Ayala Moriel Parfumes from this point on, but my one concern is that none of the perfumes have staying power on me whatsoever.
After 2 hours of applying them, they fade away into nothing. I don’t know if you have any
answers or solutions for me, but I’m very disappointed that after spending so much money on my attempt to find a great organic perfume, that they’re already almost all gone because I have to reapply constantly in order to smell them at all. Please let me know if you have any solutions, because there are several of the sample scents that I’d love to order, but simply can’t spend that kind of money to be inconvenienced by having to reapply all day long.

Thank you,

Miss C.

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Dear Miss C:

Thank you for your email and your feedback.
I'm glad you liked the perfumes, and am sorry that they didn't last long enough on your skin.

Since my perfumes are 100% pure natural, they do not contain synthetic fixatives. Therefore, their lasting power varies greatly among individuals - depending on your skin type (dry or oily) and colour (fair or dark, or if it can easily tan) as well as your diet - the perfume will last longer or for lesser amount of time. If your skin is fair and dry, it will last for the shortest amount of time, in which case I recommend you use my oil based perfumes, which are in jojoba oil and also more concentrated (keep in mind that the samples you tried are my EDP - which are between 10-15% essence; while the perfume oils are as high as 30-40%). You can read more on why jojoba oil is so great in making a perfume longer lasting in this article on my SmellyBlog.

Likewise, the type of composition also makes a huge difference. For example: Tamya and Fetish are very light scents, and last even on my skin last only 4-6 hours. Immortelle l'Amour, however, lasts as long as 18hrs (or even more, but that's as long as I've gone without a shower when testing my fragrances).

The last factor I'd like to bring to your attention is the different in quality and personality between mainstream synthetic-packed perfumes and pure natural ones. If you are used to wearing or smelling synthetic perfumes, you probably learned to expect them to pack a punch and leave a strong trail of scent wherever you go. This is now how naturals work, and this is, in my opinion, part of their beauty - they have a softer and gentler sillage (diffusive power) and don't take over elevators, board rooms or any space for that matter. People who are used to a strong perfume will need some time to "wean" themselves from that and get used to the subtlety of natural fragrance. The process can be likened to getting used to eat food with less salt and appreciate the natural flavour of the food on its own; or switching between strong black coffee to ethereal green and white teas; or getting used to eat food with no MSG... You will have to wait a few weeks to get used to the new experience and regain the sensitivity of your sense of smell.

As for the "inconvenience" or re-applying: it's all in the nose of the beholder, so to speak. Some ladies absolutely love the ritual of applying a scent and wouldn't leave the house without a little flask of perfume for touch-ups throughout the day. This is precisely why I offer my perfumes in small packaging - that is easy to transport, and is no larger than a lipstick.

Lastly - re the pricing: Our 8 sample packages go for $50. If you look at the website and the pricing you will see that it's very reasonable, considering that these are made from top quality pure botanical essences and are all hand crafted, labeled and packaged by hand - by myself. In fact, you will see that with the sample packages we nearly giving these at cost with making no profit at all...
A single drop of rose oil, for example, costs more than $1. And you need at least 4 of these drops in, say, a sample of size of 1ml of a perfume such as Rosebud. Considering that there are other scents in each sample you received, and some are even more expensive than rose - you will be able to understand how precious these materials are!

You can read more about why natural perfumes are more expensive than synthetic on my FAQ page (as well as get many other questions answered).

All the best,

Ayala