Sillage Versus Projection Is There a Difference

As someone who is interested in cologne and/or perfume, it’s important to keep up with the newest terms and trends. In this article, we’ll go over the meaning of projection vs sillage. You may also be surprised to learn that the two terms are somewhat similar in meaning, but they do have some sharp contrasts.

When cologne and perfume experts refer to “projection,” they usually are alluding to the area around you where people can pick up the scent of your perfume or cologne. So, for example, let’s say you’re walking around in the mall, and someone about two feet away from you can pick up the scent strongly, whereas someone ten feet away can barely smell it, and a person twelve feet away can’t even get a hint of it.

Your “projection” range would be about eleven feet.

Now let’s take a look at “sillage.” This term is used to describe the length of time that a scent lingers in the air. Let’s say you’re on a city street and standstill at a pedestrian signal. When you stand there, the scent of your perfume or cologne will surround the air around you, becoming more potent each second.

So if someone can smell your perfume after you have been standing in an area for 10 seconds, but not 11 seconds later, then your sillage is probably around 10 seconds. Sillage is also dynamic, which means it changes as you move around.

These two terms are not completely different. They both revolve around understanding the conditions in which the average person can pick up the scent of your perfume or cologne.

Projection is generally is about the area around you where your scent can be smelled, and sillage also takes this into account. The main difference is that sillage takes your movements into account, whereas projection does not.

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