Best Perfumes for Long Train Journeys in India

A long-distance Indian train journey is the most demanding social setting fragrance ever has to work in. Twelve to thirty-six hours in a compartment with six strangers, no shower, one shared washroom, and no way for anybody to move away from anything. It also crosses climates — you board in a Delhi January and get off in a Chennai afternoon.

Almost every rule about fragrance changes on a train, and mostly in the direction of less.

The compartment is the whole argument

An AC 3-tier bay is a small, sealed, recirculating volume of air occupied continuously for a day and a night. Air conditioning means the windows do not open. Nothing disperses; everything accumulates.

In that space one spray behaves like three would in the open. And unlike a metro coach, where the imposition lasts forty minutes, here it lasts until morning. Somebody is trying to sleep two feet from your berth.

So the train rule is: one or two sprays, applied low on the body — chest and wrists — at least an hour before you board, so the loud opening has passed on the platform rather than in the bay. Nothing applied to the throat or the pillow-facing side of your neck, because you will be lying with your face against it for eight hours.

And never spray inside the compartment. Not at boarding, not in the morning. If you want to freshen up, do it at the washroom end of the coach with the door shut.

Sleeper class, and open windows

A non-AC sleeper is a different problem. Windows open, so air moves and a fragrance disperses — but the compartment is also hotter, more crowded, and dustier, and the hot airstream at the window strips a scent from anything exposed within an hour.

In sleeper class you can use two sprays rather than one, and you should apply to the chest under a shirt rather than to open forearms. In summer, accept that heat and dust will win by afternoon and plan on a reapplication rather than a heavier start.

No shower for a day: what fragrance can and cannot do

This is worth being honest about. Perfume does not mask body odour, dust or the smell of a long journey. It sits on top of them and the two are read together, which is why a heavy scent on day two of a train journey reads worse than no scent at all.

What actually works: wash your face, neck, forearms and hands properly at the washroom in the morning, dry them, and then apply one or two fresh sprays to clean skin. Clean skin plus a small amount of a light fragrance is a completely different result from a large amount over an unwashed day.

The pantry adds one more consideration. A compartment that smells of tea, cutlets and packed dinner is not the place for a sweet or gourmand-leaning fragrance, which stops reading as a fragrance and starts reading as food.

Packing the bottle

• Do not carry a 50ml bottle in a rucksack on a long journey. Glass and a luggage rack are a bad combination, and a leak ruins the bag and everything in it.
• Carry the 8ml instead. Every Dabrana order includes a complimentary 8ml tester of a surprise scent, and it is exactly the right thing for a train: small, robust, and more than enough for a two-day journey at two sprays a day.
• Keep it in your handbag or day bag, not in checked-in or overhead luggage. You want it with you in the morning, and you do not want it under three suitcases.
• If you are flying home, note that liquids in cabin baggage are subject to container-size and total-volume limits — check your airline's current rules, or use a small decant and avoid the question.

The picks for a long journey

Neer — the train scent

Neer is bergamot, green tangerine and neroli over marine notes, jasmine and rosemary, resting on cedarwood and patchouli. The cleanest of the six, and the only really correct answer for a shared compartment: it reads as freshness rather than presence, it does not compete with the pantry, and it is the least likely thing in the range to bother anybody. If you take one bottle on a train, take this.

Pushpika — the other considerate choice

Pushpika is pear blossom accord, Italian mandarin and red berries, into white gardenia, jasmine absolute and frangipani, over patchouli and a brown sugar accord. It sits flush against the skin, which is the single most useful property a fragrance can have in a train bay. One caution: the brown sugar accord can lean sweet in food-heavy air, so keep it to one spray if the pantry has just come round.

Lehar — for arriving

Lehar opens apple, bergamot, lemon and cinnamon, moves through watery notes, orange blossom, cardamom and plum, and lands on ambergris, driftwood, musk and patchouli. It has more presence than Neer, which makes it wrong for the night and right for the morning you get off — two sprays on washed skin an hour before your station, and you arrive as though you have not been on a train.

Aaranya and Vanraj — for the destination, not the journey

Aaranya is Calabrian bergamot over Sichuan pepper, lavender and star anise, on Papua New Guinea vanilla and ambroxan — not woody, despite the assumption, and with no wood notes at all, but warm. Vanraj — black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and bergamot, into cedarwood, nutmeg and clove, over amber, patchouli, sandalwood and musk — is the most formal and spice-led of the six. Both are excellent scents and neither belongs in a sealed compartment overnight. Pack for the wedding you are travelling to, and wear something quiet to get there.

Kusum — not on a train

Kusum is jasmine into tuberose over rangoon creeper. A big white floral in recirculated air for fourteen hours is the definition of too much, however beautiful it is at a wedding.

Practical notes

• One or two sprays, an hour before boarding. Never inside the compartment.
• Chest and wrists, not the throat or the side of your neck. You will be sleeping on it.
• Wash, dry, then apply in the morning. Fragrance over an unwashed day reads worse than nothing.
• Nothing on the bedroll, pillow or your own clothes. Perfume stains silk and permanently dulls zari, and railway linen is not yours to scent.
• Save the presence for arrival. Two sprays of something with more body an hour before your station.

All six Dabrana scents are 50ml Eau de Parfum, made in India, wear 8+ hours, and are ₹1,111. Shipping is free on prepaid orders and cash on delivery is available across India.

Frequently asked questions

Which perfume is best for a long train journey?

Neer. It is the cleanest and least intrusive of the six, which is exactly what a sealed, shared compartment needs. Pushpika is the other good option because it sits so close to the skin.

How much perfume is appropriate on a train?

One or two sprays, applied low on the body an hour before you board. An AC compartment recirculates its air for a day and a night, so nothing disperses and nobody can move away from it.

Can I spray perfume in the compartment?

No. Not at boarding and not in the morning. If you want to freshen up, do it at the washroom end of the coach with the door closed.

Does perfume help when you cannot shower for a day?

Not on its own — it sits on top of everything else and the two are read together. Wash your face, neck, forearms and hands, dry them, then apply one or two fresh sprays to clean skin.

How should I pack perfume for a train?

Use a small decant such as the complimentary 8ml tester rather than a 50ml bottle, and keep it in your day bag rather than in the luggage. Glass on a luggage rack is a leak waiting to happen.

More reading: best perfumes for the Mumbai local train commute, best perfumes for travel, best perfumes for Northeast monsoon travel, and how many sprays of perfume you should use.

DABRANA — Scents That Make You Remember.