The bathroom basin is a place we return to many times a day. Turn the tap, wrap the hands in foam, rinse and dry. A few seconds later, a drop of serum on the back of the hand. Scent layering happens inside this small sequence.
The wrist has long been a place for perfume. Layering fragrance on the hands themselves is a newer habit. The scent rises each time the hands are washed, and rises again each time they are moisturised. A hand fragrance is not worn once and forgotten. It is renewed at every turning point of the day.
Here we look at what is actually happening when the fragrance of a hand soap and a hand serum are layered, and at two ways of enjoying it: matching the scents, and deliberately combining different ones.
Scent from washing, scent from moisturising
The fragrance of a soap lifts with the warmth of the water the moment it is lathered and spreads through the air of the room. After rinsing, a faint trace remains on the skin. That is the first layer.
Smoothing a serum over the hands adds the second. The fragrance of a serum is not rinsed away. It evolves slowly with the warmth of the skin and stays close to the hands for a long time. If the scent of washing belongs to the room, the scent of moisturising belongs to you alone.
When the two layers are the same fragrance, the scent moves from the room to the hands without interruption. When they differ, something new appears in the overlap. Either way, the pleasure depends on the habit of washing and then moisturising.
The order matters too. Because the soap is rinsed away, its fragrance remains only lightly, and the serum's fragrance settles on top of it. The scent that rises first becomes the background, and the one applied afterwards takes the leading part. That two-layered structure is what is happening on the skin.
Matching the fragrance
Soie's five fragrances are shared by its hand soap and its hand serum. Washing and moisturising in the same fragrance layers the scent naturally on the hands and lets it last, because the memory of the scent raised by the soap is called back by the serum.
Each fragrance moves from top to base notes as the skin warms it. With SUPREME TEA, for example, washing brings out the brightness of rosemary and bergamot, and as the serum settles over the following hour the green tea and British tea come forward, leaving the composure of amber and moss. Matching the two lets you follow the whole of that evolution between leaving the basin and returning to your desk.
When choosing a fragrance to match, remember that the soap by the basin will be used by everyone in the household. For a bottle shared by a family, LUXURY FLORAL and SAKURA are the easiest choices, since neither divides opinion.
Matching also simplifies the morning. There is nothing to decide at the basin; the same scent that filled the room while you washed is the one that will accompany you out of the door.
Combining different fragrances
There is no rule that the two must match. Combining different fragrances is another way to find the way you like scent to unfold on your hands.
There are two approaches: keep the families close, or set them apart on purpose. Washing with the transparent COLOR DROPS soap and following with the equally light SAKURA serum keeps a dewy freshness running without a break. Following the composed SUPREME TEA soap with the sweetness of ELEGANT TIME serum, on the other hand, creates a shift from daytime to evening on the hands themselves.
No combination is more correct than another. Fragrance is a matter of taste, and changing the pairing between morning and night is a freedom that belongs particularly to scent worn on the hands.
A simple way to begin is to keep one soap by the basin and own two serums, changing the serum with the hour. The soap gives the day a constant note, and the serum lets the hands follow your mood.
At work, and on days spent close to others
It is natural to wonder whether layering makes the scent too strong. Soie's fragrances are designed to be enjoyed close to the hands. They do not spread like a perfume, and are felt softly when the hand comes near the face. Layering does not change that character.
Even so, on days spent at close quarters with other people, you might wash with the scented soap and leave the serum until you are home in the evening. The etiquette of scent is, we think, part of the beauty of the hands.
Even on days when only the soap is used, the scent on the hands withdraws quietly within a few hours. Layering the serum on returning home lets the same fragrance rise once more in the evening, so that the beginning and end of the day are joined by a single scent.
Soie's soap and serum
Moist Fragrance Hand & Body Soap is formulated to moisturise with every wash, so the hands do not feel tight afterwards. Enlight Hand Serum is a beauty serum designed only for the hands, and it sinks in lightly without stickiness. The two tools of washing and moisturising share the same five fragrances precisely so that the pleasure of layering can live inside the daily habit of hand beauty.
Each fragrance is described on our fragrance page, and the soap in every scent is in the hand soap collection. For help deciding between the five, see our guide to choosing a fragrance.
Wash, moisturise, and let the scent rise. When fragrance is layered onto the basic gestures of hand beauty, a few seconds at the basin become a small ritual within the day.
