Why Solid Perfume Is the Chic, Travel-Friendly Fragrance You Need in Your Bag

Here's everything about the beauty product that made Cleopatra feel confident.

Published on May 1, 2025

Scents can replay memories instantly and trigger positive emotions. Wearing a fragrance that resonates with you can complete your look, boost your confidence, and make you feel more comfortable overall. It enhances the way you carry yourself and interact with other people.

Smelling good may be a more subtle way to feel attractive, but it’s noticeable enough to leave a good impression. Although, at the end of the day, what matters more than what people would think about the aroma is how you, yourself, feel about it. On the topic of scents, a common picture that comes to mind are perfumes in liquid form, packaged in aesthetically sculptural bottles. And while perfume sprays are popular for a reason, they are not the only option.

Solid perfumes are fragrances that typically come in the form of balms, creams, or pastes. A mixture of waxes, oils, and other ingredients creates captivating scents that are compact and long-lasting. While it could be something new to you—something you haven’t tried or even heard of before, solid perfumes have actually been around for centuries and are proven to withstand the test of time.

The Origin of Solid Perfumes

The ancient story traces back to Egypt and the female pharaoh who ruled the country between 51 and 30 BCE. You might have heard of her—her name was Cleopatra. A perfume enthusiast, Cleopatra was allured by aromas of exotic oils and spices blending together and, once solid, stored in refillable ceramic containers.

While her beauty routine may not be entirely accessible to us, a study shows that ancient Egyptians truly had a knack for creating remarkable concoctions. They extracted fragrant substances from plants, flowers, and resins. After pounding them, they were mixed with animal fats, oils, or beeswax with the help of heat from fire. Once they cooled down, they were solid perfumes ready to go. Some of their key ingredients were iris root, myrrh, frankincense, and lily, along with other essences of flowers, fruits, and herbs. It’s no wonder that they’re considered some of the pioneers in perfumery. Given this, the legend of Cleopatra as a scent lover won’t be surprising. Modern researchers have been trying to engineer a perfume that is just like hers.

How to Apply a Solid Perfume

Not sure how to apply them? There’s no need to feel intimidated. Just like liquid perfumes, the key to making this olfactory treasure last is by focusing on your pulse points. Solid perfume calls for a controlled application, allowing you to enhance your scent in any area you desire.

Prepare by cleaning and moisturizing your skin to help the solid perfume stay well. With a swipe of a finger, apply the solid perfume on your pulse points. These include your wrists, your neck, and the back of your ears. You can also gently rub solid perfume in your elbow creases and behind your knees. Body heat emits strongly in these areas, assisting scents to last longer. To produce a scent even more unique to you, you can experiment by layering solid perfume with other products like body oil or lotion.

Being more concentrated, solid perfumes tend to last for a long period. Their oil or wax base decelerates the evaporation of fragrance. A general number would be three to six hours, but this depends on various factors such as application, skin type, and weather to name a few. Solid perfume can be more subtle compared to liquid perfume due to its limited projection. Despite this, reapplication won’t be a challenge with it being portable and convenient—although a little already goes a long way. Solid perfume is also the more nourishing choice for the skin; the absence of alcohol diminishes the drying effects of fragrances.

SHOP:

Solid Perfumes to Try

With the apparent revival of the solid perfume, its variety in the market is increasing. Today, a number of iconic liquid fragrances now have solid counterparts. A planet-conscious society can also learn to appreciate the solid perfume’s return, with packaging being refillable or sustainable. From niche scents like Diptyque to Gen Z favorites like Glossier, its modern renaissance represents a love for the legacy of perfumery given its rich history that continues to enchant scent enthusiasts and casual enjoyers alike. Here's a list of shops that you can head to, so you can get your hands on the latest addition to your fragrance rotation.

Diptyque

Diptyque is a French luxury fragrance house founded in 1961. Tagged as niche, their high-quality scents are created in smaller batches by in-house perfumers. Beyond perfume, Diptyque offers other lifestyle products such as candles, skincare, soaps, and oil diffusers. One of their founders, Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, once said, “We were artists. We were not driven by ambition, but rather by passion, imagination, creativity and the desire to do something with true integrity.” Diptyque’s artisanship and innovation remains present today, with the brand offering their signature scents in solid form.

₱0

Glossier

Before being officially introduced in 2014, Glossier first started as a community and served as a space for people to share information and bond over the beloved products in their beauty regimens. Glossier continues to carry this with them, as they believe that beauty is built by individuals just like you. They have focused on building simple, uncomplicated products, and this reflects in the Glossier You Solid Perfume, which melts into the skin, holds the fragrance close, and keeps the olfactory experience personal and intimate.

₱0

Lush

Since it was established in 1995, Lush has pioneered several beauty products in the market such as bath bombs, shower jellies, and shampoo bars. They have always advocated for using fresh and organic products, ceasing animal testing, and diminishing the practice of over-packaging. Walking around the mall, it is easy to tell when a Lush store is nearby due to its easily recognizable smell and distinctive naked displays of their products. Their advocacies reflect in their solid perfumes, too. For instance, the Lush Vegan Leather Jacket Solid Perfume is made with organic candelilla wax which, according to their website, “supports more than 100 communities in Mexico.”

₱0

Fenty Beauty

Fenty Beauty was launched in 2017 by singer, actress, and entrepreneur, Rihanna. Their genesis collection consisted of a mind-boggling, extensive range of foundation for all skin tones, with a genuine desire to make the beauty industry more inclusive. Since then, Fenty Beauty has ventured into more makeup products such as lip glosses and highlighters, and skin care like facial cleansers and serum-infused toners. Of course, they didn’t leave out fragrances. Further spotlighting how each person’s relationship with beauty is one-of-a-kind, Rihanna collaborated with industry top perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud to create the bold Fenty Eau de Parfum, which also comes in a more concentrated, solid form.

₱0