Aroma molecules are sneaky little blighters – little being the operative word – and because of their size they’re able to wriggle through barriers and disperse far more quickly than we’d like. One of the questions we’re most often asked, is: ‘how can I make my fragrance last longer on the skin?’ and we usually advise things like layering with a non-scented or complimentary fragranced body oil, to hydrate the skin and slow down the evaporation process.
Making scents that last longer and preventing so-called ‘fragrance leakage’ (sounds delightful) is a huge deal for the perfume industry, and Cosmetic Design Europe report news that scientists have discovered a new way of encapsulating aroma molecules and making perfumed products far more stable on the skin – meaning your favourite fragrance could last a whole lot longer and hopefully put an end for the need to half drown ourselves in scent before leaving the house, or the annoyance of constantly re-spritzing throughout the day.
Publishing their research article at ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (and we have to admit, afer reading through some of the incredibly technical paper we had to go for a bit of a lie down in a darkened room), the team of scientists from Harvard and Cornell, in conjunction with The Procter & Gamble Company (who are obviously very interested indeed in such research techniques) are thrilled by their findings, stating their research could have longer-reaching benefits for micro-delivery of drugs in the future, too.
Over the past year, a trend we’ve watched with interest has been longer-lasting Colognes and fresher scents that don’t disappointingly evaporate within a few minutes – see Frederic Malle‘s Cologne Idelibile, for example, or Atelier Cologne‘s ever-expanding range built around the concept of higher concentrated frgrances inspired by modern (and longer-wearing) versions of this much-beloved fragrance family. We think anything that helps our favourite fragrances waft that bit longer is great news, and await further developments with noses quivering and great impatience…
Written by Suzy Nightingale
