Two ways to wear perfume
The same day, in two perfumes
By the Saltworks team · 6 minute read
One bought at a counter in three minutes. One from a small house in Kent, chosen over ten days. Here is how each one feels from eight in the morning to dinner, and why more people are starting the second way for £29.
Hand-blended in Kent · Every bottle at 25% parfum
We are not going to name the other perfume. You already own it. It is the one that smelled wonderful in the shop and quietly disappeared before lunch. What follows is not about that bottle being bad. It is about what changes when the perfume is made differently and chosen differently.
8:00 · THE SPRAY
At the counter
A cloud of alcohol. Bright for a minute, then it lifts and takes most of the scent with it.
Saltworks
Two sprays. It sits close to the skin and starts to warm. Nothing to announce yet.
13:00 · Lunch
At the counter
You lean into your wrist to find it. It is a memory of a smell.
Saltworks
It has settled. Someone across the table asks what you are wearing.
18:00 · STILL THERE
At the counter
Gone. You will spray again before you go out, if you remember.
Saltworks
Still with you. 25% parfum means the oil stays after the alcohol has long gone.
The difference is not the price. It is the concentration.
Most perfume sold at a counter is eau de toilette or eau de parfum: 5 to 20% scented oils, the rest alcohol and water. Every Saltworks fragrance is made at 25% parfum, hand-blended in Ramsgate, Kent, with ingredients from Grasse. Not the special editions. All of them.
"I really love this perfume. It is very unusual, it has got a sharpness and spice to it, it changes as the day goes on, and it also lasts a very long time."
Rhona D., on Oud Bazaar (published review)
CHOOSING
At the counter
A paper strip, three minutes, ten other scents in the air, someone waiting behind you.
Saltworks
Ten perfumes at home, one a day, a full day on skin each. The vial that empties first is the one.
THE BOX
At the counter
Cellophane, a carrier bag, a receipt.
Saltworks
A box you keep. Ten vials, a booklet for your notes, and £25 credit toward the bottle you choose.
£29 ten perfumes, 2ml each
Ten of our most loved perfumes, one from every family, in 2ml vials. Enough of each for a full day on skin, several times. A booklet to keep notes.
Inside the box: £25 credit toward the bottle you keep. Valid for a year on any full-price bottle over £60 (50ml £75, 100ml £95).
Until 10 November: buy any set and get a code. Use it on your next bottle and a second Discovery Set comes free.
What people keep
Surfari
Sea Cotton , Coconut, Vanilla
Brown Sugar
Peach, Mandarin, Lemon
L'Orangerie
Honey, Lemon, Jasmine
In Short
The counter sells you a minute. Saltworks is made to last the day, and the Discovery Set lets you live with ten of them before you choose. £29, with £25 back on the bottle you keep.