You don’t need to spend a lot of money buying body lotion in your favourite perfume, we will let you into a small trick we all use here at Cosmetics4less.
Kylie Minogue, Pink Sparkle, 15ml Eau de Toilette Spray
Just buy some inexpensive, unperfumed body lotion, put some in a small jar and mix in a few drops of your perfume.
It will keep well for at least a week so just make up small batches at a time.
Fragrance can be very expensive ( but so worth it!) and buying a larger size can save a lot of money in the long run.
Kylie Pink Sparkle ~ 15ml EDT
But buying a smaller size as well or investing in a small fragrance bottle and decanting some from your larger bottle is a good idea for carrying around in your handbag or for travelling. Light and heat can make your fragrance deteriorate and lose its fragrance prematurely.
So keep your large bottle of Perfume at home, in its box, in a cool dark place and make sure you really are saving money.
Fragrances can often reflect the type of person you are and we shouldn’t underestimate the impact a carefully chosen fragrance can have on those we meet. Also we need to be careful of an unsuitable or overpowering fragrance as this can be a real turn off.
Concentration~
We often hear the words: Parfum, Perfume, Cologne etc, but what do they all mean?
Parfum has 22% Fragrance Oils. This is the most concentrated and longest lasting form of fragrance. It is also very expensive.
Eau De parfum has 15 – 22% Fragrance Oils. It is less concentrated than parfum, but more concentrated than Eau De Toilette.
Eau De Toilette and Cologne has 4 – 15% Fragrance Oils. These are light in concentration and intensity and usually more affordable, just right for an every day fragrance.
Notes: The different components of a fragrance are called notes and you will hear fragrances described this way. Top notes give the first impression of a fragrance.
Middle Notes are the dominant note in the fragrance and should last for several hours.
Base notes are an underlying quality to the fragrance and give it its longest lasting scent.
Fragrance Families.
Kylie Minogue' Pink Sparkle.
are traditionally divided into different families.
Chypre(pronounced ‘sheep-r’)
A Chypre fragrance contains woody, mossy and floral notes. It will often will contain Oakmoss, Sandalwood, Patchouli Bergamot and Vetiver.
Examples include:
Cuir de Russe by Chanel, Mitsouko by Guerlain, Chypre de Coty.
Marine
The Marine fragrance family is relatively new and is used to describe scents that evoke a feeling of the sea air. An ingredient called calone is used to give the marine scent.
Examples include: Feminine: Escape by Calvin Klein, Inis by Fragrances of Ireland, Aquawoman by Rochas.
Oriental
Oriental fragrances are common in both male and female fragrances. They are often warm, spicy and sweet and contain ingredients such as Vanilla and Tonka bean.
Examples include:
Jean Paul Gaultier “Classique”, Angel, Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, Imari by Avon, Coco – Chanel
Floral
The majority of feminine fragrances are floral. Some are a bouquet of different flowers, with each individual flower complementing the others; some use one main flower and complement it with other notes and accords; others are very simple and can just be the scent of a flower alone. (This are called single-note scents)
Examples include: Chanel No 19, Anaïs Anaïs by Cacharel, L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci, Charlie by Revlon, Dolce Vita – Dior
Some people like to choose a signature fragrance and use it all the time. Buying the whole range of beauty and skin care products in their signature fragrance. This can be a very powerful tool. Scents are very evocative, vivid memories and feelings can be stimulated by just a hint of a familiar fragrance.
Alternatively choosing an everyday fragrance, a special occasion fragrance and a headier evening fragrance is also popular, allowing you to ring the changes as circumstances dictate.
Whatever you decide there are plenty of fabulous fragrances available today to suit all budgets, you are sure to find one that’s just right for you.
The first recorded use of perfume was by the ancient Egyptians. Their religious rituals called for the use of incense and the application of scented balms and unguent or ointment.
Not until the New Kingdom 1580-1085 BC was perfume used in a secular way as perfumed creams and oils and cosmetics and as pre-sex massage oils.
From Egypt the use of perfume spread throughout the ancient world of the Greek and Roman Empires and to the Islamic world. The advent of Christianity saw the decline in the use of perfume as a vain decadence with immoral sexual undertones and it was in the Islamic world that the skill of perfume making was kept alive and continued to develop.
The Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries saw the reintroduction of perfume to the Christian world brought back by the returning crusaders. Simple floral, herbal and fruit extracts were used to disguise the more unappealing aromas caused the universal distrust of bathing. Perfume was also thought ward off infections and an orange stuffed with cloves was often carried by the wealthy as a protection against the plague.
Perfume making, particularly in France, had developed and grown into a skilled industry by the seventeenth century and the Guild of Glove and Perfume makers was established.
The court of King Louise XV was named The Perfumed Court as it became all the rage to apply perfume to clothing, fans and furniture as well as to the skin. Baths were still an annual occasion in seventeenth century France, even for royalty, so perhaps this was a blessing for all.
The 18th Century saw the creation of Eau de Cologne, a refreshing blend of rosemary, neroli, bergamot and lemon. It was the latest fashion and was used in every way imaginable, mixed with wine, eaten with a sugar lump or as a mouthwash, an enema, or a poultice. It was also added to bath water as by this time the wealthy were overcoming their distrust of washing and cleanliness was becoming the vogue.
The popularity of perfume coincided with the development of decorative glass and perfume was kept in beautiful faceted bottles as a fashion accessory.
The advent of the industrial era in the late 18th century saw the craft of the perfume maker turned into a science. New fragrances and mass production were introduced with France still the major centre of production. This is the time when the famous names in the perfume industry began to emerge, Houbigant, Lubin, Roger & Gallet, Guerlain and Coty.
In 1921 Couturier Gabrielle Chanel launched her own brand of perfume called Chanel no 5, still probably the world’s most famous and popular fragrance.
The 1930s saw the arrival of the floral fragrances with Worth’s Je Reviens, Caron’s Fleurs de Rocaille and Jean Patou’s Joy. After World War 11 the major fashion houses such as Christain Dior, Jacques Faith, Nina Ricci and Pierre Balmain all rushed to develop and market their own brand.
The 1970s saw the arrival of the inexpensive mass market perfume with the creation of Revlon’s Charlie. Now there are many perfumes in all price ranges to suit everyone.