Is Skin Chemistry Affecting Your Perfume? Hang on! Is this Science Fact or Just A Myth? 

Very interesting. Thanks Marcelo. Since everyone smells different naturally, it's hard to imagine skin chemistry not being a thing

You're really our Perfume Professor, Marcelo! Its so interesting to see the kinds of discoveries and interpretations that you got as well while researching on a subject such as this! Amazing stuff!

Solid episode mate. And we agree that Luca Turin is a simpleton, Hannah and Grace being a perfect example for debunking his statement. 😉 The only thing I missed is the fact that some people just can’t smell all the notes (chemicals) in a perfume or do so in different intensity. Iso E Super for example: to some people a wall of fragrance, to others a nice woody hint. So, some people perceive Terre d’Hermès as a wall of fragrance (high in Iso E Super) whilst others just smell a friendly wooden backbone with stuff stacked on top of that. Regardless of scent memory, people will experience a different composition because of it. If you’re color blind, the world looks different as well. But again, kudos for a well scripted episode.

I have darker skin and I feel like my skin drinks my fragrance for sure. I definitely believe this plays a part. So glad I found your channel!

😂 We’ll never hear the end of your “perfect perfume skin.”

Great episode. Yes, I do believe in n skin chemistry, to the point I was surprised some people would even dismiss it.

I’m a believer of the skin chemistry effect. I’ve smelled some beautiful woods that on my skins smell like pickles 😂. Lovely hearing your take! I’m saving up for a fragrance tour for next year 🫡

This is a fab subject! Our skin is the largest organ of our body. It has so many processes going on all at the same time, the interaction with our environment is the first contact. So I believe in skin chemistry, especially when involving our own body aroma, which I believe is influenced by our skin microbiome as well as internal factors. And then add the olfactory into the equation, and the whole story flips to give another nuance. ❤ Thanks very much Marcelo!

100% skin chemistry is a factor! For me sweet notes (particularly passionfruit) seem to be amplified 10x... To the point where I have to wipe off the top note (tissue etc) to enjoy the fragrance, whereas heavy animalic notes (some of my wilder ones!) settle quite quickly and the amplification of sweetness actually makes them more appealing. Funnily enough I'm wearing a sample of 40 knots and no surprise that it leans sweeter than spicier on me!

I believe it is a real thing. When I create a fragrance that I’m aiming to be unisex, if I apply it on my skin (I’m male) there are certain components of the fragrance that will pop, like spices, woods etc.. if I apply the exact same bottled fragrance on a females skin, the softer components pop, like vanilla, floral etc.. so yes our particular skin chemistry does play a role. My nose has been trained to smell individual perfume ingredients so I believe the psychological component can be ruled out, in terms of: because she is female she shall smell like this or he is male and he should smell like this. Just my interpretation of this idea.

I never cared for Luca Turin . His opinion is just like someone else’s opinion about perfumes . Lots of his 5 star reviewed perfumes I can’t stand 😅 Also, skin chemistry. Love to spray same perfume on different people in my family and it does smell completely different on each of us . This is why Ilove xerjoff because that’s the only brand I can actually smell on me all day unlike other perfume brands where I can not even detect them after 30 minutes unless I put my nose close to wheee I applied the perfume

I really like your "work"!

I love this topic and love this video! It's a super intriguing topic.. I think it could be a bit of both that contribute to how a fragrance smells

Well done Marcelo. This topic is very subjective and I err on the side of skin chemistry is a factor. Either way, a great discussion to table again and again. Thank you.

I made it to a RU-vid video! 😅 great stuff as always! Love these where you discuss fragrances FAQ.

Fantástico Marcelito! as a scientist I’m always fascinated with the technical aspect of every day things. I share 100 your view on this and I should add that we inherent not only the looks and certain behaviors, we also inherent the skin scents, your kids as they get older they may develop dad’s musk and long after you’re gone your beautiful unique scent will live on to carry some beautiful memories.

Love your vids, absolute bangers every time

Hey man love the vids, i totally agree that there is skin chemistry simply because i have experienced it first hand. YSL Y edp is a fragrance me and my friend bought together. On my skin it bloomed very well and you could smell each note and I even picked up a mango note on my skin which nobody has ever mentioned. On his skin it smelt very synthetic which is what sometimes people say about it. Same with jpg le male elixir on my skin when i smelt it i wanted to vomit beacause it was too sweet and everything just projected at once. I have noticed on my skin perfumes really like to project outwards but they also seem to last a really long time. I am indian but i have quite light skin being from up north and my friend who is also indian has darker skin then me and ysl did not last as long on him as it did on me. Would love to hear your thoughts on my experience, keep up the great work!

Fantastic episode. The community needs much more content like this. For me, my skin has great performance generally if the fragrance does perform, my skin though manages to turn alot of perfumes powdery and musky which I love but not always desired from said fragrances. My skin turns freshies really sour so I’d love to know what PH reactions my skin has or is doing to these perfumes to get these results. Maybe, we can try get a dermatologist or microbiologist on maybe to shed even more light on this as this is a very important topic to most of us that love perfume. Maybe we can then shop for appropriate perfumes based on our skin Ph and chemistry. Great work again my man.

My skin chemistry will change drastically with my diet. I'm a gym rat & when I'm in a bulking phase where I'm eating a lot to gain muscle, fragrances like Green Irish tweed & Silver mountain water by Creed smell amazing on me, but when I'm in a cutting phase where I'm trying to lose weight/fat, both of those fragrance become so metallic smelling that their almost unwearable. I guess from the ambergris in them 🤢

Great teaching Marcelo. I do agree the way you live your life I.e. what you eat and drink has an effect on your body odour. In addition it affects how a fragrance performs. This is why it's so hard to find a universally acceptable fragrance

This video was great ! Instantly subscribed. Appreciate the science 🧪

Yes, sir! Skin chemistry is for real. That Uden bottle is gorgeous. Great and informative video, Marcelo. Great job homie 👊🏽

Just subbed. Love it. Agree with everything you put forward. I would add that ending your shower with cooler water in the morning will help your pores, and moisturising before you go to bed will also give you healthier skin. Beautiful as the sunshine is here in Australia (I'm a Sydney boy, don't hold it against me. I love my family in Melbourne) wearing a hat and sunscreen will again help keep your skin healthy. Marcello, your content is fantastic. Informative and entertaining. I love the fact that you put the name of the fragrance on screen for everyone's benefit. Keep up the great work and I will be recommending you to a few fellow fragrance lovers around here.

Interesting video Marcelo ! I have tested perfumes many times with my sister-in-law, everytime the rendition is very different on her than on me. She has a normal to oily skin, perfumes on her skin stay closer to the smell on paper, opening and mid notes stay longer and the overall impression is fresher on her for a longer time. My skin "eats perfumes", although I hydrate it everyday, I guess because I have an atopic, so a rather dry skin... the base notes come very quickly and many scents fade quickly, it's quite frustrating. Did you know Sonia Constant for Ella K used the headspace machine (as she does when she travels) to encapsulate the smell of her companion's arm (wearing a watch !), as the inspiration to make Musk K 🙂?

AWESOME fragrance discussion!

This is very good subject video

Oh what an amazing video Marcelo! Loved seeing Uden Overdose. What I find interesting about it is that multiple people I’ve talked to say that they get 5 hours max with low projection. On my skin however I get 8 hours comfortably with amazing sillage in the first hour or two. Maybe it’s the skin chemistry, maybe it’s the heat? All I know is that it’s a heavenly fragrance. And let’s just talk about 40 knots. I personally haven’t tried it but a good friend of mine owns it. The fragrance changes a lot on his skin, starting off aquatic but then turns in to smooth honey. Very interesting indeed.

😳 You are brave for wearing Sadonaso to a function! Do you still wear it now knowing that some people interpret it as cat pee?

Great topic to discuss Marcelo. I definitely believe that skin chemistry has an effect on fragrance, in fact I get a different profile from my arms(inner elbow) vs my neck/chest. If skin chemistry does not exist than why does a fragrance on skin smell different than on a test strip????👍👍👍

Hmmm! Genetic Bliss sounds like an interesting perfume experiment.

Skin chemistry. Scent interpretation. I find both incredibly interesting. I LOVE 40 Knots. It is one of two bottles in my collection for which I have a back-up bottle. I wear it in warm weather for its divine marine scent. One of your fellow RU-vidrs, Justin Copeland, however reviewed this fragrance as an amber Parfum for the cooler weather. What?!!!? Intrigued, I conducted an experiment. While I could, kind of, see Justin’s interpretation…40 Knots still performed more as a marine scent on my skin. My skin in the heat. And that’s when I came to appreciate the interaction of fragrances with my unique skin chemistry. 40 Knots reacts a certain way with my skin and perspiration and it is simply incredible and sexy BUT it may not interact the same way with someone else’s skin. Who knew ?!?🤷🏽

Loved my class today ❤️.Totally agree with skin molecules and post shower evaporation. I love smelling oud on others yet on my skin it’s just awful, as with Uden Overdose; It’s just overpowering and oud is all I smell . I have tried and tried but nopers. Uden is awesome on my skin. I’ve changed my morning routine; shower adding my scent later, oil first and the longevity esp with Bal D’Afrique is so much better( esp now as they have BDA lotion and oil👏🏻) as my work scent.I honestly thought I was getting Anosmic to certain scents but I followed your advise: asked my colleagues and it was definitely skin/perfume issue as they too couldn’t smell anything on me as the day progressed. My scents tend to dry sweeter/spicier. Thank you Marcelo 🙋🏻‍♀️🇦🇺❤️

Our skin IS biochemistry in action. So, yes, I believe in skin chemistry. Not only will fragrances perform differently on different people, they may also vary slightly on the same person at different times as several commenters have already observed. Diet, stress, illness, etc. Not sure our sense of smell is refined enough to pick up on the most subtle of variations. Marcelo, recall that in one of your Luca Maffei interviews you asked how one can develop or heighten our sense of smell and, while not dismissing that entirely, he replied to the effect that memory is more important.

Great aproach to this topic greetings from Argentina

My opinion is that it's overstated. So many things affect how we perceive a perfume. Amount we spray. Where we spray it. What the weather is like. I consider skin chemistry relatively minor compared with these. That said I don't spray on my skin anyway. I spray on my hair for greater longevity and less anosmia (as well as less potentially toxic absorption of aromachemicals) , so maybe I don't have such a personal experience of spraying on skin

I'd say during testing a fragrance, yes skin chemistry has made some differences. But I never wear fragrance on my skin always on clothes, there's too many harmful ingredients in fragrance it's not good to put on skin. Proven that alcohols in fragrance make the skin lose elasticity which can lead to some people having double chins as the skin under their neck isn't as tight as it should be. As well as rapid aging of skin because the harmful chemicals, the numerous endocrine disruptors in fragrances too which can be absorbed by the skin you don't want that around the neck where you thyroid and glands are it's pretty bad for you. So i'm a clothes sprayer, however that has downsides too like stains unfortunately. So now I typically only wear fragrance with clear liquids if i'm wearing light coloured clothes and darker liquids are for darker clothes only

Ive always believed in skin chemistry because for me personally fragrances do not last or project as much as they should and im forced to overspray and even that doesnt help much. I even bought terroni and i need to spray 5 sprays for people to notice me and yes im sure its not noseblindness....ill try the vasline trick and hopefully that helps also love ur videos u made me fall in love with orto parisi and i think u need to increase ur mic level a bit since this video was a bit queit

Love the video idea and subject ❤️‍🔥

In the south in the USA, many black people require roll on perfume oils. Coincidentally, they love Bond #9, which is an American Niche brand, and they're all beast mode. The only youtuber to talk about Bond is Kevin Samuals, who is a black man (rest his soul). Aaron Terrence Hughes also talks about dark pigmentation not projecting fragrances well

I’m pretty sure your skin chemistry does affect the fragrance you’re wearing. Here’s a few points: - Essentric Molecules fragrances are built on this concept, they react with your skin chemistry. I smell literal nothingness on my skin when wearing Molecule 01, but my gf does and loves it, probably because you can’t smell your own skin scent (you can “train” smelling Essentric Molecules fragrances tho). Pretty sure this is also the reason why you felt like that one fragrance wasn’t really pushing off your skin, (most of) the ingredients were probably molecular - I’ve had multiple instances that when my gf and I are wearing the same fragrance, I detect a bit of a difference between how it smells on us - for the lotion trick, it’s better to first apply your fragrance, and then “lock it in” by putting the moisturiser on top, otherwise you’re essentially spraying alcohol on a product that’s supposed to moisturise your skin + it will last longer if you “seal” the fragrance (source: Roja Dove’s video on applying fragrances) Nice video man 🙏

Perfumes based on blood type would be interesting.

Yes skin or nose something is wrong

I never liked Uden overdose. Not because, it reminded me of cleaning fluid, but I just didn't enjoy it. Maybe I need to revisit it. I didn't like 40 knots either, because there's a certain way that Xerjoff uses lavender which on my skin turns really powdery in the middle of 40 that I find annoying . The opening & dry down is great though & I love Xerjoff as a house

I know you are very familiar with Pierre Guillaume. Could you do a video about Mojito Chypre? I am very interested in buying it but can't find a single review and haven't smelt it so I would love to hear your thoughts.

Citrus fragrances such as aventus open bitter on my skin but eventually develop nicely. Not sure why

I feel like i always get told i smell good regardless of what i wear but some get too strong for me

From personal experience, take a shower, rinse your body, get a small container and fill it with water, turn the shower off. And on the small bucket dip a loofah (I use a silicone body scrubber), then I lather up the silicone scrubber with bar soap, I wash my whole body, shampoo, etc.... and rinse by turning the shower back on. Then, I put on clean clothes. Never ever apply perfume on dirty skin, or dirty clothes. You wills smell loke a garbage can sprayed with lysol. From personal experience: My Modest Une (Sauvage EDP) smells delicious on my clean skin, and clean clothes. And the time I needed to make a quick run to the post office, I didn't shower, or worn clean clothes, and I sprayed my Modest Une.... I literally smelled like Raid Bug Spray.

you didn't use 1872 for example, i was curious about that... and regarding 40knots, it gives me salty vibe, like i had shower with sea water and the salt of sea left on my body... it does get overwhelming for me, sadly.

If skin chemistry is such a thing how come all influencers smell the same thing? Is it that they dont know what they smell so they all copy the 1st person that sounds like they know what theyre talking about? 🤔

I would like to know Roja Dove’s opinion on this topic.

Is he saying to put petroleum jelly/moisturiser right after a shower, or wait a while after showering before putting your perfume on?

Nice one mate and very insightful. You are right about the 3 elements you mentioned regarding diet, alcohol and smoking. In my personal experience it has helped my skin hold perfume for longer. Thank you for sharing🫶👊

@1:04 am I the problem??? 👀😅. I’m black and my Frederic Malle fragrances never last on me, like not even enough to be considered a skin scent. They completely disappear 😢. However, other niche perfumes radiate on my skin. Musc Pallas by Jovoy… I literally get wafts of it throughout the day and it last me 9+ hours. Go figure🤷🏽‍♀️.

Of course skin chemistry exists. There are studies in which babies can "identify" the scent of their mothers; babies have no dog in this fight about perfumes. Absolutely skin chemistry (and individualized skin scent) exists.

Thanks!

I wore Annimalique by byredo and asked 32 people in the street what they thought. Half loved it. Half said cat piss.

I don’t think it is “skin chemistry” as much as it is individual “resonance.” We all have our own signature resonant frequencies. Those frequencies can oscillate the different fragrance molecules into evaporation differently for each person. And each person can resonate differently depending on their mood and state of being each day. So, given that, the same fragrance can smell differently on the same person depending on the day. As far as chemistry, I think the more oil or fat you eat in a day can affect how readily you absorb fragrance oils and, therefore, can affect longevity.

Mr Marcelo I kiss my wife and beloved ones from same please for the same reason, a kiss with deep inhale, my worst time when I gout covid.. I lost these moments I couldn't get my wife scent profile no more.fire more than a week then I felt how important to get her scents. It is something to live for.

Myth

Skin chemistry is a myth