Sillage: the wake
The French word actually means the trail a ship draws through the water — and that is exactly how it is meant: sillage is the scent that hangs in a room after you have walked through it. A fragrance with big sillage fills the lift; one with little stays with you.
Important: plenty of sillage is not a mark of quality, and little of it is not a weakness. It is a matter of style — how loudly someone speaks says nothing about whether they have something to say.
Projection: the radius
Closely related but not the same: projection describes how far a fragrance stands off your skin while you are standing still — the radius within which you can be smelled. Sillage is the trail in motion, projection the bubble at rest. Reviews like to blur the two; for everyday purposes it is enough to have heard the difference once.
Drydown: the final act
The drydown is the last phase of a perfume — what remains once the top and heart notes have gone and only the base is still working on the skin. Woods, resins, vanilla, musky things. Many fragrances only come into their own in the drydown, some fall apart there; that is why experienced buyers always test all the way into the drydown before they decide.
Longevity: how long it lasts
How long does the fragrance last? Sounds like the simplest question — and is the hardest to answer, because the answer depends on your skin: dry skin lets go of fragrance faster than well-moisturised skin, warm skin projects more, cold skin preserves. Add weather, dosage and whether the fragrance sits on skin or on clothing.
That is why two camps argue about longevity under every perfume review — and both are right. Blanket figures in hours are to be read with caution; for exactly that reason you will not find our own here.
Skin scent: close to the skin
A skin scent is a fragrance that, after a short while, moves right up against the skin — you only smell it in a hug. In perfume talk it is often half compliment, half complaint. Those who wear perfume for themselves are often looking for exactly this; those who want an entrance are looking for the opposite. Here too: a matter of style, not a verdict.
Why quiet is not a flaw
Natural perfumes work without the synthetic boosters that often make conventional fragrances loud and long-lasting — so they tend to be quieter and closer to the skin. You can read that as a weakness. You can also read it as a feature: a fragrance that stays with you instead of playing to the room. Which reading is yours, you can now name for yourself — with the right words.