Sillage, projection, longevity: perfume terms explained plainly

Read your way into fragrance forums or reviews and within two sentences you run into terms that nobody explains. Sillage, projection, longevity, accord, flanker, dry down. Most of it is simple – once someone defines it properly. Here is the glossary, arranged by subject rather than alphabetically, with a guide to judging the most important properties for yourself.

In short: Three terms get mixed up more often than any others. Projection is the radius within which your fragrance is noticed while you are there. Sillage is the trail that remains once you have left. Longevity is the duration in hours. The three are independent of one another: a fragrance can last a long time and still be quiet.

• Projection = radius now
• Sillage = trail afterwards
• Longevity = duration in hours
• Concentration mainly governs the duration, raw materials the reach

Projection, sillage and longevity compared

Term	What it describes	What it depends on	How to check it
Projection	Radius around you while you are present	Raw materials, dosage, temperature	Ask someone standing a metre away
Sillage	Scent trail that stays in the room after you	Musk, amber and resin notes, air movement	Leave the room, let someone else walk in
Longevity	Duration in hours on the skin	Concentration, base notes, skin type, skincare	Note the time, smell your wrist hours later

How a fragrance performs

Sillage

French for the wake a ship leaves behind. It means the scent others still notice after you have walked on. Strong sillage usually comes from musk, amber and resin notes. It is not a mark of quality but a property: in a crowded lift, little sillage is the kinder choice.

Projection

The radius within which your fragrance is noticed while you are present. A fragrance with high projection fills a room; one with low projection only comes across at arm’s length. Either can be intended – an evening fragrance may project, an office fragrance should not. How to find the right level at work is covered in Fragrance at the office.

Longevity

The number of hours a fragrance remains perceptible on the skin. It depends on concentration, raw materials, skin type and how you apply it. Rough figures and the most important variables are in our piece How long does perfume last?.

Skin scent

The phase in which a fragrance sits so close to the body that it can only be smelled from a few centimetres away. Almost every fragrance ends up there. Some are composed as a skin scent from the outset – that is intentional, not a flaw.

Beast mode

Fragrance-forum slang for perfumes with very high projection and longevity. It sounds like praise but is more of a warning: what impresses outdoors can quickly become too much in the office, in a restaurant or in the car.

How a fragrance develops

Opening

The first minutes after spraying. Top notes dominate here, often with a trace of alcohol. The opening is loud but short – not a good moment to judge a fragrance.

Dry down

The phase in which a fragrance has settled: the top notes have faded, and the heart and base carry it. The dry down is what you and others smell most of the time. If you only know the opening when testing, you are buying blind.

Maceration

The maturing of a freshly blended fragrance composition in alcohol before it is bottled. The components bind together and the scent becomes rounder. A bottle you open needs no further maturing – it is finished.

How a fragrance is built

Fragrance pyramid

The depiction of a fragrance in three phases: top note, heart note, base note. It follows the weight of the molecules – the light ones evaporate first. Explained in detail in Understanding fragrance notes.

Accord

Several raw materials that together create a new impression, just as several tones form a chord. “Amber” is not a raw material but an accord – classically made from labdanum, vanillin and benzoin. “Leather” and “sea breeze” are accords too, not substances.

Fragrance family

The category a composition is assigned to: fresh, aromatic, woody, spicy, oriental, leathery. Which one suits whom is covered in our guide Which fragrance suits me?.

Gourmand

A subgroup of the oriental family that puts edible notes to the fore: vanilla, caramel, chocolate, coffee, honey. Gourmands divide opinion more than any other direction.

Fougère

French for fern. One of the oldest structures in men’s fragrance: lavender, oakmoss and coumarin. If a fragrance strikes you as “classically masculine, like a good barber’s shop”, you are usually smelling a fougère.

Chypre

Named after Cyprus. A structure of bergamot, oakmoss, labdanum and patchouli – dry, earthy, elegant. Because of restrictions on oakmoss, modern chypres work with substitutes.

Unisex

A fragrance that is not intended for one gender. These are often fresh, woody or spicy compositions without a pronounced sweet or floral focus.

How a fragrance is sold

Flanker

A variation on an existing fragrance under the same name with an addition – Intense, Extreme, Elixir, Sport. Flankers can smell markedly different from the original, even though the name does not suggest it.

Reformulation

The reworking of a formula, usually because of changes in raw material availability or new restrictions. The name stays, the scent changes – the most common reason behind the phrase “it used to smell different”.

Batch code

A number on the bottle or packaging that identifies a production batch. It is required for traceability and also helps to tell genuine products from counterfeits.

Decant

An original fragrance transferred into a small vial. A popular way to test a fragrance over several days before buying a full bottle.

Tester

Genuine stock in plain packaging, intended for retailers. Identical in content to the retail version. Not to be confused with a counterfeit – the differences are explained in How to spot fake perfume.

Dupe or scent twin

A fragrance deliberately modelled on an original but sold under its own name. What to make of them is covered in Perfume dupes and scent twins.

Blind buy

Buying a fragrance without having worn it on your own skin first. If you can read a fragrance pyramid and know which families suit you, you reduce the risk considerably.

Signature scent

The one fragrance people associate with you. How to find it without committing before you are ready is described in Find your signature scent.

Technique and ingredients

Concentration

The proportion of fragrance oil. As a rough guide: eau de toilette usually around 5–15%, eau de parfum around 15–20%, extrait de parfum around 20–40%. The limits are not set by law and vary from brand to brand. The differences and what they mean for you are in our comparison Eau de parfum or eau de toilette; what defines the highest level is explained in Extrait de Parfum – what is it?.

INCI

The internationally standardised nomenclature for cosmetic ingredients. Every pack sold in the EU must list its ingredients in this form, in descending order of quantity.

Declarable fragrance allergens

Substances such as linalool, limonene, citral or coumarin, which must be named individually above a certain concentration because they can trigger allergies in sensitive people. For a long time there were 26 of them; an amendment to the EU Cosmetics Regulation extends the list considerably and is being phased in with transition periods. Seeing them listed is normal and not a sign of poor quality – they occur in many natural oils.

IFRA

The international association of the fragrance industry. Its standards determine which raw materials may be used and in what maximum amounts. They are the most common reason for reformulations.

Oxidation

The reaction of fragrance materials with oxygen, accelerated by light and heat. It is the top notes that turn first, and it is why storage makes such a difference. More on this in How to store perfume properly.

Pulse points

Places where blood vessels lie close beneath the skin: throat, back of the neck, wrists, inner elbows. The warmth there helps the fragrance unfold evenly.

Layering

Combining several fragranced products – shower gel, lotion, perfume – or two perfumes. It extends the effect when the products go together, and works against the fragrance when they don’t. There is a guide in Fragrance layering for men.

Olfactory adaptation

The way your sense of smell gets used to a constant stimulus. After 20 to 30 minutes you barely notice your own fragrance – but others still do. It is the most common reason for overdoing it. What follows from this is set out in the seven mistakes when applying perfume.

How to judge projection, sillage and longevity yourself

1. Wear the fragrance on a quiet day. Not right next to other fragrances, not after sport.
2. Note the time. Smell the spot where you sprayed after one, three, six and nine hours.
3. After about an hour, ask someone at normal conversation distance. That tells you more about projection than your own nose.
4. Test the sillage by changing rooms. Leave a room and ask whether the fragrance can still be noticed there.
5. Repeat on a second day. Temperature, humidity and the condition of your skin vary – a single test is only a snapshot.

Common misconceptions

• “I can’t smell it any more, so it’s gone.” Usually that is adaptation. Others often notice the fragrance for a long time afterwards.
• “Strong projection means long-lasting.” Not necessarily. Some fragrances start loud and are gone after a few hours; others stay quiet and last all day.
• “More sprays, more hours.” Overdoing it mainly increases projection in the first hour, and barely affects duration.
• “More notes on the list, more quality.” The length of the notes list is communication, not a measure.

And in practice?

Take Braise: the fragrance is designed for closeness, not for filling a room. As an extrait de parfum with 30% fragrance oil, it lasts 9–14 hours on the skin. On well-moisturised skin, the base of leather, vanilla, tonka bean, tobacco, sandalwood and amber carries through the whole evening, while the radius shrinks to arm’s length after the first few hours. In other words: it doesn’t fill a room, but it stays.

That is a deliberate choice: a fragrance for closeness, not for attention.

Conclusion

Most fragrance terms describe properties, not quality. Projection, sillage and longevity are three different axes, and the right level depends on where and when you wear a fragrance. Once you know the language, you read reviews more calmly, test more deliberately and find the fragrance that fits your everyday life more quickly.

View Braise Extrait de Parfum, 50 ml →