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Saturday Question: Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #18:

Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

We’re not talking about enjoying throughout the night (or, much more rarely, even in the morning) whatever is left of perfume you wore earlier that day. But do you intentionally apply perfume before going to bed?

I remember a couple of years ago I was impressed by Ines’s (All I am – a redhead) ritual of spraying Shalimar on her mattress when changing sheets. Do you have any rituals related to sleep and perfume?

My Answer

Many years ago I posted on the topic, but in short: while I do not mind wearing perfume to bed, I rarely do that. And when I do, I use perfumes that I do not wear otherwise. I call them “sleep scents.” Usually I apply those from a dab bottle to one or both wrists.

Some of perfumes that I wear like that: Sonoma Scent Studio To Dream, Aftelier Perfumes Honey Blossom and DSH Perfumes Lautrec. Sometimes, to help me sleep, I use lavender oil. And recently I’ve added Jo Malone‘s Lavender & Musk pillow mist to my arsenal of night scents.

I do not wear perfumes to bed too often. Mostly, because the last thing I want to do before going to bed is to think (again!) about what perfume to wear. But probably if I were to make myself a small set of sleep scents through which I could rotate and put it in the drawer of my night stand, next to my hand cream, it might be easier for me to incorporate that in my nightly routine.

How about you?

 

How about you?

Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?

 

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65 thoughts on “Saturday Question: Do You Wear Perfume to Bed?”

  1. No. I want to give my nose a well deserved rest from scents at bedtime. Very rarely I apply few drops of lavender, patchouli or even frankincense essential oil on my arms if I am too tired or stressed and need a soothing smell to relax.

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    • I see! Now I know what I’m doing when I’m too lazy to put on anything: I’m resetting my nose for the next day’s job of sniffing samples (wearing my favorite perfumes is a pleasure, so I don’t count that as a job ;) ).

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    • I hope you’re describing in those two sentences the sequence of events and not the explanation of the cause of your sleep issues (as some people complained in their comments below) ;).
      I wish you to restore your sleep – with or without aromatherapy help (though I know that at least in some cases calming rituals might be helpful).

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  3. I have a couple of essential oil blends that I sometimes put on, and a few pillow sprays when I feel like I need calming. It’s not an every day thing, though. I’m with you on not needing another thing to select!

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    • I have one more blend in a roll-on form specifically formulated for sleep, so from time to time, when I come across it in that nightstand’s drawer, I use it. But yes, it’s hard enough to decide on what to wear during the day to do it again at night :)

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  4. I like the idea of linen sprays but not wearing perfume on my skin to bed. I find it hard to switch off at night and I don’t own the kind of fragrances that would be conducive to sleep (love your selection) . I can see it would be good to make more use of the stash though.

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    • Not sure if you remember, but on one of our meetings (not the last one) you gifted me with a set of roll-on blends – one for sleeping and one for awakening. I have them next to my bed, and I like the night one for the purpose, but there is a strange “problem” with them: since they come as a set, I want to keep them as a set. But in that box I can’t tell them apart, and the writing on a bottle is done in white color that is barely visible with the light I have when I’m going to bed – so every time I decide to use that night blend, I have to make sure I’m not getting the morning one. And that creates some anxiety that I don’t need at that time :) I realized all that only yesterday when I wrote this post and thought of why I wasn’t using your gift more often. Now, since I figured out why, I’ll think of a better label to put on it :).

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  5. Yes, though not necessarily every night. And despite having difficulty switching off my brain I seldom go for lavender, even if I do have a Tisserand Sweet Dreams roll-on, and a Lush Sleepy body lotion by my bed (lavender and I have a difficult relationship). There isn’t any genre I reach for or avoid, whatever I fancy.

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  6. I don’t wear perfume to bed. I once used a drop of Hermes Narcisse body wash as a hand wash before going to bed-I had nightmares all night, and the scent featured prominently in all of them lol. And I always want very very clean sheets-I’m totally insane on that topic. I like the smell of the cotton pillow cases especially if they’ve been dried outside. Sometimes if it’s very hot out I’ll spray on some Guerlain Fleurs de Cedrat, to get that refreshing effect of cologne on skin but I find that scent to be fleeting so it’s gone by the time I’m ready for bed.

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    • Sorry for laughing, nightmares aren’t fun, but the fact that scent participated in it somehow makes it funny. Clearly, you need to stay away from scenting you’re dreams.
      Do you have a place to dry your sheets outside?

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      • It is pretty funny-I’d try to wake up, and think, oh, narcissus smells like hay, fall back into the nightmare, come to thinking but I love the blue bottle (sanity probably not my long suit). I don’t have a clothes line, so I put a rack on the verandah, and dry them in that fashion. And I love seeing all the pretty patterns in the sun-it makes me happy (little things in life, right?!)

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  9. Hey Undina,
    A few rituals around here. Our bedroom sheets get spritzed on cleaning day when they are fresh and just changed. I used to use a lavender heavy L’Occitane dedicated linen spray. When my last bottle of that dried up I started using Jin’s less favourite fragrances. There are a couple of Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren bottles that were never getting worn. It’s been really good because the scent lasts so much longer than linen spray.
    Personally, I like to spritz something late at night which often becomes my bedtime scent. My mind likes to follow the pathways of fragrance that lull me into sleep. It’s also really good for me to get full dry down from my clothes. Come back and sniff them after a shower and i can tell exactly how the fragrance wears to the end on me.
    Portia xx

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    • Let me clarify one thing… When you say: “Jin’s less favorite fragrances [….] that were never getting worn,” do you mean that perfumes that you use as linen sprays are Jin’s perfumes that he doesn’t wear often or your perfumes that he likes less and because of that you wear them less often? :) If the former, I should borrow that idea from you.

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  10. No, as I feel I already have enough steps in my nightly routine, if you include things like making a hot water bottle (not now, obviously!), and topping up the cat’s food bowl. But I I do like waking up to yesterday’s scent on the duvet cover, when that happens. ;)

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    • I love smelling the last day’s perfume on my pillow!

      May I ask you: why don’t you use an electrical heating pad instead? You can even knit a cover for it! ;)

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  11. I very rarely wear perfume to bed. I love the idea, but simply fall asleep so quickly it would be a waste of good perfume to spray before sleeping. Thinking of it, i promised to try Tralala: here is my verdict. I think the formula didn’t age well. As I said I believe all bottles to be no later than 2015, more likely all bottles are from 2014, as it was taken out of production quickly, which makes all bottles already 6 years old. There was, despite all the dark fragrance notes, as I recall a green spike of freshness, which has disappeared. Especially, the cheap smelling vanilla has somewhat overtaken the composition. I might be completely wrong, as I don’t know if I can find my review from back then, but that’s my gut feeling :) But then, like you said, it might just be that our tastes have changed. Not sure I would wear it again, but it might deserve a chance in autumn/ winter.

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    • Quickly falling asleep is a blessing and a great thing on its own, so you probably don’t need any aid or adornment :)

      Thank you for getting back to me about Tralala. I’ll still send it to Vanessa for the final verdict, if I get a chance. But most likely, our suspicion about the unstable formula is not far from reality. Well… Let’s enjoy perfumes that are still good – be that during the day or at night.

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    • While staying at home, I started testing perfumes during the day, and in the evening I wear my favorite perfumes. So, sometimes now I get it still going when it’s a bed time. Though, with a hot weather and my switching to lighter perfumes, it happens less often.

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  13. I used to spray something, usually cuddly, before jumping into bed but I find I’ve been starting earlier. At least an hour or more so I can enjoy the scent a little longer before drifting off to it. What I spray depends on the circumstances. Before covid I would often indulge in stronger scents that I couldn’t often wear in day time because of too much close proximity to people who might not enjoy. So now, if it’s hot, it’s usually something refreshing or if it’s cold, something cozy. Something like organza indecence is almost exclusively bed time. And it’s almost always something on the more inexpensive and relatively easily replaceable side. These days it’s often gucci bloom.

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  14. Rarely, because my perfumes are also not conducive to sleep, and it seems each time I’ve tried it, I’ve woken up in the middle of the night and realized the scent was there (so it makes a bad mental association). I would like to find a good “sleep scent” for extra coziness though.

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  15. Always. I have so many fragrances and need every opportunity to wear them. So, that’s a second or third chance that day. I wear whatever I am in the mood for or reach for. I do love when I change the sheets to spray on Tauer’s Vetiver and Pettitgrain Splash. I have two bottles for that purpose.

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    • Hello, Gina-do you mind if I ask how are your horses? Have you had time to ride them? I hope for good things for you, and soon-I was touched by your previous responses to the Sat question. Sending best regards,
      Carole

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  16. I don’t wear perfume to bed but if I were to think about a note that would fit, I would go with lavender, it feels calming for bed. I have a lavender pillow scent although I never use it for that.
    And it was a lovely surprise today to see my Shalimar ritual mentioned. :D I still do that (although I tried with Jicky at one point, but nothing feels as good as Shalimar).

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  17. Pingback: Feels like a special day | All I am - a redhead

  18. I wear perfume to bed mostly in winter, so an amber or SL Five o’clock au Gingembre for example. This week with very warm weather, I have tried Orange Sanguine and Voyage d’Hèrmes. Lavender linen spray is not a favourite, lavender is a difficult note for me.

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    • I understand the reasoning behind seasonal choices. But I’m afraid orange (or any citrus to that matter) might be too … invigorating for night. If I had to choose something other than lavender for warmer weather, I’d probably go with mint or maybe tea (though, if I were to drink tea, sleeping would have been out of question).

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      • Orange Sanguine has a warm woody base. Anyway, we have had too high temperatures at night some days, so I’ve just wanted something to distract me and keep my from thinking about the heat. No AC in private homes here, as a general rule.

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        • No A/C, as a general rule, in private houses here as well (we have one, but it’s an exception). We’re lucky: usually it gets cool at night, so it’s fine, but we have approximately a week per year when I’m happy the previous owner decided to install an A/C.
          I like Orange Sanguine, but somehow I see it more like a daytime scent.

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  20. I can probably count on one hand how many times I deliberately wore a perfume to sleep. That said, I sometimes use the LUSH body spray after my shower and if that happens to be right before bed time, that would, by default, be my SOTN. My nose needs a break.

    And P.S. – I just noticed the tag of Saturday Question #18 😱. Wow! Time flew!!!

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  21. Yes, definitely, and it’s always a lavender-centric scent. Lavender helps me relax and fall asleep more quickly. I usually spray on Mon Guerlain or Lancome’s Lavande de Trianon right before I go to bed or I dab some Lutens Encens et Lavande on my pillowcase. Sometimes it’s the Encens on the pillow and on me as well. I can’t wear anything other than lavender scents to bed. The others leave me wide awake.

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    • I love lavender, not just for bed. And I also find it calming. Small amount of honey scent has a similar effect on me. And I suspect that milk will do it as well, though I haven’t tried it yet.

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