Tips & Tricks for Perfume
Here are seven perfume tips, tricks
, and rules to ensure a long-lasting application of your favorite scent.
Where do you spray?
As a general rule, you should apply perfume on your pulse points. You can find several pulse points on your body, including wrists, inside the elbows, on the neck, below the midriff, on top of the ears, and behind the knees.
These areas are warm enough to diffuse the scent throughout your body, but you must follow the proper method of applying perfume to your pulse points—and that is through dabbing, as you’ll learn next.
Pro tip: Spray your ankles and calves with perfume, and smell the scent rise as the day goes on.
2. Dab don't rub
Rubbing wrists after applying perfume is one of the most common mistakes among perfume enthusiasts, unaware that doing so only causes the fragrance to fade faster.
By rubbing perfume into your skin, you’re not allowing the head notes—the top layer of a fragrance that gives it its distinct scent—to settle on your skin. The perfume notes won’t mix with the natural oils on your skin, and you can’t expect the fragrance to last for long periods of wear.
Rubbing is also synonymous with friction, and the heat produced can alter how the scent works on your skin. So, the next time you dab your wrists with perfume, just let your skin absorb the fragrance.
3. Keep It Cool
Vanity drawers or dressers in your bedroom are suitable storage for perfumes, as these typically don’t receive too much heat or light from the sun, as long as they’re a good distance away from the windows.
The bathroom is the least favorable spot since any because water, steam, or humidity that may come into contact with your perfume and can alter its composition, shortening its shelf life as a result.
4. Misting Clothes
We’ve all done it —misting our clothes with perfume on when taking them out of the closet to cover up any odd odors. This trick can help the scent last all day long, but be careful not to spritz on fabric that stains, such as silk.
Don’t be surprised, either, if the fragrance smells powdery on your clothing—it’s the fabric catching the scent differently than your skin’s reaction to perfume.
How to fix this? Go for the inner lining when spraying perfume on clothes, so the fragrance sits next to your skin and lingers longer.
5. Walk into a perfume cloud
A perfume cloud is a great way to immerse yourself in your favorite scent since because the act of walking into the mist lets you catch the full effect of the perfume. To form a perfume cloud, spritz the fragrance in front of you (once high, once low), then walk into it and back out, leaving a light scent you can take with you wherever you go.
6. Prep your skin with oil before application
If you have dry skin, consider applying unscented lotion or oil to lock in the fragrance. The moisturizer creates a layer that perfume molecules can hold on to longer.
Pro tip: If you’ve run out of moisturizing lotion or oil, pressing a bit of Vaseline into your pulse points before spraying the fragrance can work just as well.
7. Layer your perfumes
Layering fragrances involves using different perfumes that complement one another, creating a unique scent you can’t buy off the shelf. It’s like coming up with an exclusive perfume line for yourself. The best thing about it is that you can create as many perfume combinations as you like, anytime you want.
To perfect the art of layering perfumes, starts with the stronger fragrance first, then top off with the lighter one to tone things down. A word of caution: Avoid strong fruity fragrances when customizing your scent; they can be tricky to layer with other perfumes.
There really is more to wearing perfume than simply choosing a fragrance because it smells nice. Knowing the strengths of your fragrances such as EDT and EDP, the proper application and storage, and the various perfume profiles all play a role in your scent selection. With the tips here, you should be on your way to wearing perfume like a pro.