Thirty minutes after smoothing a serum into the back of your hand, bring the hand to your nose again. What you find is not quite the scent you noticed at the moment of applying it. The early brightness has withdrawn, and in its place is something calmer, as if dissolved into the temperature of the skin.
That a fragrance changes over time is familiar to anyone who wears perfume. Few people, though, follow that change deliberately on their hands. The hands come closer to the face than almost any other part of the body, and at the same time they are washed many times a day.
This article looks at how a fragrance moves from top to base from the point of view of the hands, considers why scent on the hands is brief and how it can be extended, and ends with the opening and the lingering notes of each of Soie's five fragrances.
Three stages: top, middle and base
A fragrance is usually described in three layers: the top notes that rise first, the middle notes that form its heart, and the base notes that remain on the skin longest. Light, volatile materials lift off quickly; heavier materials evaporate slowly and stay. That difference in speed is what gives a scent a sense of time.
Soie's fragrances are blended with the temperature and humidity of the hands in mind and composed to move from top to base with the warmth of the skin. The hands are among the parts of the body whose temperature changes most. The same fragrance opens differently on cold morning hands and on warm afternoon ones.
Judging a scent by the first minute alone is like closing a book after the opening page. Follow it on the hands for at least half an hour, and if possible for half a day, and the true character of the fragrance comes into view.
It helps to notice the setting as well. In a warm room the whole sequence runs faster; in cold air it unfolds slowly and the opening stays longer. The same bottle gives a slightly different day in October and in July.
Why scent on the hands is brief
A perfume on the neck or the inner wrist can be enjoyed for the better part of a day. The hands are different. Before meals, after coming home, between tasks in the kitchen: they are washed again and again, and each wash carries the fragrance away. On the hands, a scent often meets the next wash before it reaches its base notes.
That is no reason to give up on scent for the hands. No part of the body comes near the face as often. Turning a page, holding a cup, resting the chin on the palm: each time, the fragrance is within reach. The time is short, but the number of encounters is large. That is the particular character of a hand fragrance.
A short life for the scent also means more opportunities to choose it afresh. Lighter in the morning, calmer at night. Being able to begin the fragrance again at every wash is a freedom that belongs to the hands alone.
It also means that a hand fragrance is pitched differently from a perfume. Rather than projecting into a room, it is designed to be noticed softly when the hands come near the face, which is why it can be worn at work without a second thought.
The five fragrances: opening and afterglow
Soie's five fragrances were created by the brand's dedicated perfumer from raw materials selected around the world. Looked at from their two ends, the notes that rise first and the notes that remain last, each shows its character clearly.
- LUXURY FLORAL opens with the bright citrus of bergamot and mandarin, passes through neroli and rose, and settles into the warmth of vetiver, musk and amber.
- ELEGANT TIME opens with osmanthus lifted by ginger and cardamom, passes through tuberose and jasmine, and sinks into sandalwood, musk and cedarwood.
- COLOR DROPS opens with the transparent flowers of lilac and wisteria, passes through rose and a watery accord, and closes quietly on sandalwood, musk and cedarwood.
- SUPREME TEA opens with the herbs rosemary, bergamot and sage, passes through igusa, green tea and British tea, and deepens into amber, musk, moss and patchouli.
- SAKURA opens with the dewiness of white lavender, grapefruit and lychee, passes through sakura, magnolia and white rose, and ends on the clean afterglow of musk and cedarwood.
You will notice fragrances that open alike and end differently, and others that open in contrast and end close together. COLOR DROPS and SAKURA, for instance, both close on musk and cedarwood, yet they begin in entirely different landscapes.
Layering with the soap to extend the scent
The most natural way to extend a fragrance on the hands is to start it at the washing stage. If washing is what carries the scent away, let the wash itself become the scent's beginning. That is why Soie's hand soap and hand serum come in the same five fragrances.
Wash with the soap in a given fragrance and the top notes rise first in the lather. Rinse, pat dry and smooth in the serum, and its fragrance begins again from the top over the faint trace the soap has left. Because the two layers move with a slight delay between them, the scent on the hands gains depth and lasts longer than either product would give alone.
Different fragrances can be layered as well, to find a way of wearing them that is your own. We have written more about that in layering the soap and the serum.
What Soie keeps in mind when composing a fragrance
The fragrances of Enlight Hand Serum and Moist Fragrance Hand & Body Soap were created over many years by the brand's dedicated perfumer, to a standard that stands as a perfume in its own right. The way each scent acts on emotion and the way it harmonises with the comfort of touching the skin were checked again and again, and the composition built drop by drop.
The notes of all five are set out on our fragrance page. The next time you smooth in the serum, bring your hand to your nose three times: at the moment of applying, thirty minutes later, and just before the next wash. In those three moments is the whole day of that fragrance.
