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At the first glance, perfume may seem like scented alcohol-water you spray onto yourself and that’s it. Still, it takes a little finesse to learn how to wear perfume correctly.
If you have ever wondered why your perfume may only last about an hour or two, the reason may be that you are not wearing your perfume the best way.
Dior’s in-house perfumer Francois Demachy and the creator of the famous perfumes such as Colonia Intensa, Dior Homme Parfum, and Givenchy Dahlia Divin has stated that “the best perfumes evoke a memory when you smell it“.
This means, in order to smell your favorite perfume, learning the proper way to apply is a must. That’s why I have decided to make this expert guide and share my tips & tricks about the different ways to make your scents last longer on you and how to store your fragrance bottles.
This article is made from three separate sections:
- Tips on applying and wearing perfume on skin and clothes
- Tips on how to store your perfume bottles the correct way
- Perfumes that work as enhancers and fixators
Keep on reading to find out top 20 Scent Grail expert tips.
How to Wear Perfume Tips & Tricks
In this section of how to wear perfume article, we will explore 15 different ways you can apply and improve perfume longevity and projection.
You will learn to get extended ideas and practical guidelines in one place without filler content. Keep in mind that with all the expert tips in the world, if a particular fragrance is made from very low perfume oil concentration, it will perform poorly or weak in 90% of cases, but even then there are ways to tackle this.
1. Find your favorite perfume
This may seem like an obvious choice, but not wearing something you really like, will make everything else in vain.
That’s why it’s important to test potential perfume many times before purchasing. Always spray the perfume on the skin when testing.
You can check out my articles about how to start a perfume collection and the difference between the designer and niche fragrances to start this journey the right way.
2. Choose the right concentration
One of the most important things to do when you find your favorite perfume is to choose the right perfume concentrations and learn more about fragrance strengths.
These two terms refer to raw material oil concentration. By knowing that, these concentrations vary from perfume to perfume and affect sillage and projection, along with some other subtle things.
All fragrant products fall into some of these main categories:
- Eau Fraiche 1-3%
- After Shave/Mist/Splash 1-3%
- Eau de Cologne 2-4%
- Eau de Toilette 5-15%
- Eau de Parfum 15-20%
- Pure Parfum/Extrait de Parfum 20-40%
Thus, you’ll be pleased to know that most of your perfumes come either in Eau de Toilette or Eau de Parfum concentrations.
3. Choose the scent for the right occasion/season
Another important point you should consider before buying a perfume is choosing the right perfume for particular occasions and seasons.
This will greatly depend on your lifestyle, workplace, and in which part of the world you live in. Daytime fragrance usually is lighter, citrusy, effervescent, and last less. We usually associate these types of scents with Spring and Summer.
On the other hand, nighttime fragrances are stronger and denser with “heavier” notes. Heavier fragrances and usually associated with the Fall and Winter seasons.
4. Spray perfume on skin
The ideal way of wearing the perfume is by applying it directly to the skin. Perfume products are made to best interact with our skin and our body heat.
That’s why I don’t recommend testing fragrances on test strips that don’t show the real picture. The warmest parts of your body will produce the best results and here are six recommended places to spray your perfume:
- Spray on top of your ears
- Spray behind the ears
- Spray on the neck and around the neck area
- Spray down your back
- Spray down your chest
- Spray inside your elbows
5. Knowing the right points
This section directly correlates to the above-mentioned recommended places to spray your perfume. Those places are your pulse points.
By spraying on these warmest parts of your body, will maximize the perfume effect and extend the projection and longevity.
This is achieved by your body heat which helps to naturally diffuse the fragrance. The Neck area, behind your ears, and wrists will activate the perfume throughout the whole day.
This is achieved by your body heat which helps to naturally diffuse the fragrance. The Neck area, behind your ears, and wrists will activate the perfume throughout the whole day.
6. Apply on hair
For those who have issues with perfume longevity on the skin, another alternative is hair. Hair is known to hold onto perfume longer than skin and is a fantastic scent carrier.
Please keep the number of sprays to half amount of your usual sprays since alcohol-based perfume can dry out your hair.
An ideal way is by spraying the brush or comb with perfume and comb through your hair a couple of times.
7. Don’t rub, dab your skin
We have seen this “phenomenon” everywhere. From your mom, friends, and grandad – rubbing the perfume into the wrists.
If you are one of those people that do this, I recommend quitting doing that, starting right now. Unfortunately, this way you are only achieving the faster dissipation of your perfume.
But, wait…there is a way around this. Instead of rubbing the perfume into the wrists, after spraying the perfume, you can gently dab the wrists a couple of times, and keep this habit without affecting the perfume.
8. Don’t spray near the skin
If your skin is getting too much “wet” after spraying your perfume, you are probably spraying too close to the skin.
Spraying from 6 – 8 inches distance will prevent those huge perfume drops and potentially prevent your clothes from getting “perfume stains”.
If you are using perfume attars, oil, or a fragrance without the spray nozzle, I recommend avoiding places where the perfume could get in touch with clothes.
9. Spraying less is often more
You have found your favorite perfume, and you are enjoying it to the fullest. Spraying liberally surrounds you with the most beautiful scented cloud. You are happy.
But one day, you notice that the scent bubble has shrunk so much that you barely smell your perfume and now you wonder has your perfume gone bad or what could be the issue.
If this has happened to you, don’t worry you are alone. Many people overspray their perfume, and block their scent receptors. The solution is to not spray more than 2 to 4 sprays maximum.
10. Spray after taking a shower or bath
First things first, skin moisturization takes a huge part of your fragrance lasting power. Perfumes fantastically interact with warm skin and scent is absorbed easily through open pores.
Just makes sure that your skin is dried out and/or moisturized after you take a shower or bath. This will make the scent last throughout the day.
11. Moisturize dry skin
As we know, oily skin holds onto fragrance better than dry skin. That’s why it is a good idea to rub unscented lotion onto your pulse point and the rest of the body before applying perfume.
A small amount is enough and preferably, you should apply oily moisturizer after a shower. This takes us to other great alternatives just below.
12. Apply Vaseline or Petroleum Jelly
A solid way to make your fragrances last longer is by hydrating your skin. Rubbing the vaseline on your pulse points will make perfume “stick” and hold longer than if just sprayed on dry skin.
Same as with vaseline, by putting small amounts of petroleum jelly on the warmest parts of your body/pulse points, the skin will become oilier, and because the perfume will hold onto jelly molecules, the scent will last longer.
13. Spritz and don’t do “mist-walks”
Another romanticized “strategy” we have seen either from friends or from movies are those infamous mist-walks people do.
Along with wasting money and sprays if you do this, you are also not applying the fragrance the correct way.
The alcohol-based perfumes are made to be applied onto bare skin for many good reasons, and neither of those is staining your clothes or furniture.
14. Spraying on clothes is a double-edged sword
Generally, spraying your perfume on clothes is not something I would recommend. Thing is, while you are gonna get extended projection and longevity from the scent, there are major downsides to this.
Depending on the perfume concentration, it can leave nasty stains on fabric, and by doing this, you’ll be forced to wash that particular item the same day in order to avoid mixing fragrances.
Jewelry such as necklaces, earrings, and even wristwatches can get damaged by perfume, so keep an eye on that as well.
15. Layer your fragrances
The final tip in this first part of how to wear a perfume guide is based around layering your fragrances. Did you know that some perfume lines are made as such so that you can combine two or more scent to get something completely different?
One of those lines in Tom Ford’s Private Blend line. Fragrances from this line enhance and complement each other. I recommend layering Tobacco Vanille with Oud Wood to enhance the woody aspects of Oud Wood and give an additional dimension to the sweet pipe tobacco sweetness of Tobacco Vanille.
How To Store Perfumes
Now that you have learned how to wear perfume the correct way, it is time to learn how to store precious liquids.
Contrary to the overly popular opinion that perfumes expire after 2 – 5 years, this statement couldn’t be further from the real truth.
While some lighter citrusy fragrances may oxidize over time, you can bet that if stored properly, scent with heavier notes can last for more than 50 years.
Here are my tips to slow down the deterioration process as much as possible.
1. Store perfume in a dark and dry place with consistent temperature
Perfumes are made of perfume oils in an ethanol/water mixture, which makes them highly volatile in composition.
So, they don’t like temperature fluctuation and places like bathrooms and damp basements should be avoided to extend their shelf life.
Humidity, water, and sunlight will break down the perfume and directly affect the freshness of the perfume.
So, keep your scents somewhere dark and dry, avoid natural or artificial light, and place somewhere with consistent temperature like drawers which are a great place to store perfume.
As an extra protection layer, I recommend keeping the fragrances in their original boxes to make your life easier if you decide to move to another place in the future, and it will keep the resale price high.
2. Keep the original cap on
Keeping your fragrance without an original cap will make the natural oxidation higher than it would be otherwise. Thus, keep the original stuff in its place.
Those who like to purchase testers occasionally get the perfumes in plain white boxes and without the cap.
To tackle this potential issue, you can either try to buy an original cap from someone who is willing to sell it or keep the fragrance in the plain box.
3. Decant only poor-performing perfumes
I always say that you should keep your perfume in its original bottle, and only decant poor performers. This way, you do not expose it to oxidation if you don’t have to.
No matter how tight are decant bottles, they last less than perfumes with industrially placed atomizers.
If you notice that your perfume top notes are starting to “burn off”, consider stopping decanting your perfume.
For those who are willing to decant their perfumes, I recommend quality Portable Mini Refillable bottles from Hinnaswa.
4. Wine Cooler
Yes, you are seeing correctly. Perfumes love the consistent temperature and a dark and cool place will extend their freshness.
This way, their sensitive chemical balance won’t get spoiled. In case your wine cooler breaks, consider transferring perfumes to another cooler or fridge.
This perfume technique should be only used by enthusiasts who are willing to take a risk.
5. Avoid shaking perfume bottle
Although it may seem like a good idea to give perfume bottle a little “shake” from time to time to “activate the scent”, unfortunately, it does the opposite.
As we have learned in a couple of paragraphs above, oxygen is not a friend of perfume. So, to minimize air exposure, don’t give additional oxidation to your perfume via bubbles.
Thus, it is best to shake bottles as little as possible, and keep the scent fresh as long as possible.
Best Perfumes To Boost The Performance
Did you know that there are perfumes out there created specifically as perfume fixators and performance boosters?
While being great perfume longevity and performance boosters, each of these two perfumes can be used individually as a one-note scent and enjoyed like any other fragrance.
Those who wish to enhance poor-performing perfumes will be pleased to know that they can layer them with any of these two scents. The results are stunning!
During the warm weather, I use the second perfume mentioned on this list and it works wonders.
1. Juliette Has A Gun Not A Perfume
Why choose Not A Perfume: A hard to describe, this warm salty, sweet, and ambery perfume is also a comforting one.
Some claim to not smell anything after the first 10 minutes, yet they are bombarded with compliments even after 6 hours of wearing.
This one smells similar to Escentric Molecules 02.
- Fragrance Type: Amber Musk
- Perfumer: n/a
- Perfume Concentration: Edp
- Release Date: 2010
- Age group: 25+
- Main Notes: Ambroxan, and Cetalox
- Longevity and Projection: 4 – 6 hours with moderate projection
- Seasons: Any Season
- Occasions: Any Occasion
- Uniqueness: 5/5
- Value for money: 9/10
2. Escentric Molecules Molecule 01
Why choose Molecule 01: Geza has created a fragrance worth the title “the easiest scent to pull off – anytime and anywhere”.
Based on the woody and musky synthetic booster note of ISO E Super, which gives a pencil shavings scent profile, Molecule 01 is mild, pleasant, and long-lasting.
It is a perfect perfume for someone who loves subtle, woody notes. Ideal for layering.
- Fragrance Type: Woody Musk
- Perfumer: Geza Schoen
- Perfume Concentration: Edt
- Release Date: 2006
- Age group: 18+
- Main Notes: ISO E Super
- Longevity and Projection: 8 – 10 hours with moderate projection
- Seasons: Spring, Summer, And Fall
- Occasions: Any Occasion
- Uniqueness: 5/5
- Value for money: 10/10
Conclusion
These were my 20 tips & trick on how to wear perfume topic. What are the perfume strategies you use to enhance perfume performance and keep them protected from going bad?
Let me know in the comment section below. Those who want to learn more can check out some of my other articles:
- The Best Books About Perfume
- Best Office Colognes
- Best Signature Scents
- Best Winter Fragrances
- Best Men’s Fragrances Of All Time
- Top Fall Perfumes
Until next time, smell great and be safe!
Best, Marin!
#scentgrail #scentgrailtribe
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– Marin Kristic
