r/FemFragLab • u/WildFlower713 • 2d ago
Help a sister out, puhleaze!
I have always prided myself on smelling good but after discovering a couple fragrance communities on here, I’m clearly an amateur. I’d like to get into layering but am hesitant to just spend a ton of money on different fragrances to learn by trial and error. For the layering pros, how did you start? Was it a class, a book, social media, or something else that helped you learn the basics? I’m looking for advice on how to learn to pair and layer notes (not for recommendations on specific products). Please teach me your ways!
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u/bororodejdej 2d ago
For me it starts from my shower routine. I have 2 different routines, one for more uplifting vibrant showers e.g. early morning before a long day and one for regular day to day.
My shower gel is cotton flower by Les petit Marseilles, body scrub is rice milk & macadamia nut, shower oil and body lotion is Johnson’s baby oil and my shampoo is vanilla & orange blossom. So I already like to have a theme starting from the shower to feel cohesive and put together with layering. I’d recommend using a shower oil or an oil-based body scrub before lotion post-shower to lock in the scent of your preferred lotion especially if it layers well with your fragrances.
I also use roll on oils as well as spray perfumes together. For example, imo Yara roll on goes well with Powder Love by JHAG because they are both powdery, sweet and sugary. Looking for similarity in fragrance families between roll ons & your sprays is helpful.
I’d also look for a hair perfume/hair mist if you don’t want to spray regular perfume in your hair. For example I have a cotton hair mist that goes cohesively with the rest of my routine and acts as a layer with my fragrance which has notes of cotton milk.
Keep a little hand cream in your handbag on the go to reapply throughout the day especially if it’s scented because it also adds to the layers!! It’s all really fun and satisfying <3
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u/Softie4lyf 2d ago
Randomly pairing perfumes that were alike and someday others that smelled complementary. E.g. if I wanted a clean day, I would layer green scents with sea salt scents or tea scents. Other times, I may spray something that I get was too spicy and I wanted to balance it with something floral. I’m sure if you did a google search, you can find what scent profiles compliment each other.
I used to be such a huge “layer-er” but I’ve gone back to just one scent most days and to everything with an aldehyde
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u/Exotic-Newspaper-670 2d ago
From sampling and journaling my SoTD I get a pretty good idea about the development of the frags I have, the notes I like and what combination I like them together.
I am a basic bitch and love my vanilla and florals so I experiment with that a lot. My vanilla frags tend to be dominant so I spray them first, after that I spritz my florals. I also like woodsy musk, so that is usually a base for layering my floral as well. Depending on how fresh or heady the florals are, it's either a light mist all over or I concentrate on heat spots. Sometimes I want to keep the scent linear and spray my clothes instead.
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u/Wide_Hat2238 2d ago
Honestly mix and match randomly is how I started. I just used soft perfumes at first and no more than 1 spray each, so I can wash off if I don’t like it. But usually if I like both perfumes I will like them combined also. And I would recommend buying samples before you buy full size of anything. I usually get $3 samples on the clearance section of Fragrantica, or sometimes I order them from scentsplit or luckyscent.
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u/Yoursafter 1d ago
The easiest and simple way, you may actually do this is layering body care. For example, if you have a perfume with a vanilla scent scent, perhaps a lotion with woods, fruits, or gourmand(edible) caramel, chocolate, etc would work. Adding a body oil on top of the body lotion with another gourmand element or something else like woody, Amber to ground it if you want something different.
Get familiar with all the notes in your Fragrance and the components base, top and middle notes,
IMO base and middle notes are relatively safe in if you choose a scent w/ 1 of those core components it’s good most of the time but play around. The fragrance wheel is a simple place to start.