Solid perfumes elicit the same degree of excitement as holiday minis. Pocket-size versions of our favourite scents condensed into a small bar, solid perfumes are great for popping in your handbag should you need a top up during the day, or packing on holiday as they are significantly less weighty than a 50ml bottle.
But that’s not all. Solid perfumes are often more concentrated so can last longer on the skin. Likewise, they play nicely with dry skin in particular. First off, they don’t contain alcohol, which can exacerbate parched skin; instead they rely on a blend of perfume oils with vegetable oils or beeswax.
Perfume can also be clingy by nature and needs something to grip onto if you want to go in for a second, third or sixth sniff during the day. In the same way that you use a primer to extend the lifespan of your fragrance, solid perfumes can also be used as a base coat for your eau de parfum or eau de toilette to amplify the notes and guarantee longevity.
Better still, they’re more sustainable than liquid perfumes. Most come in refillable packaging rather than a heavy glass bottle with a pump dispenser that contains plastic and cannot be recycled.
With so much going in its favour, it’s hardly surprising that many brands now offer their hero fragrance in solid form. Take Jo Malone London, which has one of the largest offerings of solid scents, including some of their most loved fragrances like Lime Basil & Mandarin and Pomegranate Noir. It also offers a chic palette container to hold two solid perfumes so you can layer them, or just have the luxury of choice when deciding what to apply.