Increasing Perfume Longevity

How to Increase Longevity of Alcohol-Based Perfume

Achieving a 3-day longevity with alcohol-based perfume is quite challenging, as alcohol naturally evaporates more quickly than oil bases. However, you can improve longevity by adjusting your ingredients and proportions. In addition to your fragrance oil, perfume alcohol, and Musk fixative, consider these additional ingredients:

1. Fixatives and Heavy Base Notes

These ingredients help slow down the evaporation of the overall scent, especially the faster-evaporating Top and Middle Notes, allowing the fragrance to last longer on the skin.

• Resins/Resinoids: Excellent fixatives that provide warm, deep notes. Examples include Styrax Resinoid and Labdanum Absolute.
• Woody/Mossy Notes: Add substance and help anchor the scent, such as Vetimoss.
• Heavy Florals: While florals, some have heavy, long-lasting base notes like Tuberose Absolute.
• Other Musks: Besides general Musk, various synthetic musks offer longevity, for instance, Traseolide.
• Ionones: Offer violet and woody notes, often used as Middle to Base Notes that help blend and provide tenacity, like Alpha-ionone.

2. Other Longevity Enhancers

• Sucrose acetate isobutyrate: A substance that can help increase viscosity and potentially slow down fragrance evaporation.

Blending Proportions (Initial Guidance)

To achieve a scent that lasts up to 3 days with an alcohol base, you might need a very high concentration of fragrance oil (Extrait de Parfum level or higher) and a high proportion of fixatives/Base Notes within the fragrance concentrate itself.

Generally, the proportion of fragrance concentrate in perfume alcohol for body perfumes is:

• Eau de Cologne: 2-4% fragrance concentrate
• Eau de Toilette: 5-15% fragrance concentrate
• Eau de Parfum: 15-20% fragrance concentrate
• Extrait de Parfum: 20-40% fragrance concentrate

For exceptionally long-lasting fragrance, you might need to use a fragrance concentrate proportion of 25-40% or even higher.

Within the "fragrance concentrate" part (which consists of Top, Middle, Base Notes, and fixatives), the proportion of Base Notes and fixatives should be substantial, possibly 40-60% or more, to form the main structure that holds the entire scent together.

Example Proportion Concept (Approximate - Requires Experimentation):

• Total Fragrance Concentrate: 25 - 40% (or more)
• Perfume Alcohol: The remainder (75 - 60% or less)

Within the part of "Fragrance Concentrate" (100%):

• Top Notes (Initial scent, evaporates quickly): 10-20% (Some floral fragrance oil components might be in this group)
• Middle Notes (Heart of the perfume): 30-40% (Main floral fragrance oil components might be in this group, including some Alpha-ionone, Tuberose Absolute)
• Base Notes & Fixatives (Long-lasting, anchor the scent): 40-60% (or more)
  • Musk
  • Styrax Resinoid
  • Labdanum Absolute
  • Vetimoss
  • Traseolide
  • Sucrose acetate isobutyrate
  • Tuberose Absolute (heavier parts)
  • Other deep, long-lasting components

Points to Remember:

• Perfume blending is an art and requires significant experimentation. The proportions above are just a starting point.
• The quality and purity of your raw materials significantly impact longevity.
• Macerating the finished perfume in a cool, dark place for several weeks to months helps the scent components meld and become more harmonious and long-lasting.
• Even with many fixatives and heavy Base Notes, achieving 3-day longevity on the skin with an alcohol base remains very challenging, and reapplication throughout the day might be necessary for continuous intensity.

Try starting by increasing the overall proportion of fragrance concentrate and increasing the proportion of fixatives and heavy Base Notes within the fragrance concentrate you are using.