Sillage is one of those words that fragrance enthusiasts use constantly but most people have never heard. It is a French word meaning "trail" — the trail left by a boat in the water or a plane in the sky. In perfumery, sillage is the aromatic cloud you leave behind: how much your fragrance is smelled in the environment, how far away it can be perceived, and how long it lasts after you have already gone.
Sillage vs longevity: two different things
People often confuse sillage with the longevity of the fragrance. They are not the same:
- Longevity: how long you can smell the fragrance on your own skin.
- Sillage: how much the fragrance is smelled in the environment, at a distance from your body.
A fragrance can have long longevity but discreet sillage — you can smell it on your skin hours later but no one else in the room does. And vice versa: there are fragrances with huge projection that don’t last long. The ideal depends on what and where you use it.
What factors determine sillage
- Concentration: EDPs and Parfums generally have more sillage than EDTs.
- Notes: orientals and spicy notes project more than aquatic and light fougères.
- Molecules: some synthetic molecules (like Ambroxan or Cashmeran) have extraordinary projection even in small amounts.
- Amount applied: more sprays = more sillage, up to a point.
- Your skin: warmer and oilier skin projects more.
How much sillage is appropriate?
It depends on the context. For the office or enclosed spaces: moderate sillage, so that anyone within a meter perceives something pleasant but not overwhelming. For a dinner or event: more sillage is appropriate. For sports or public transport: as little as possible.
The golden rule: if you can clearly smell your own fragrance all the time, others are probably suffering it. The fragrance should be something others perceive when they approach you, not something that precedes your arrival in the room.
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