How to apply perfume properly

You’ve chosen your new perfume – going from store to store, browsing meticulously, cleansing your nose from all the scents, and letting them settle to experience all of the notes. Now that you’re home, you’re wondering how to apply your new favorite accessory. A lot of people and blogs have suggested many techniques, and you’re kind of confused at the end of the day. How do you not overshadow everyone in your vicinity with your perfume, but still have people notice your new scent and get compliments?

Firstly, make sure that your skin is ready to handle some perfume. Before you put your perfume, it is best to shower and to hydrate your skin afterward – if you do not have a body lotion from the same line as your perfume, you can use any type of body lotion with a neutral smell. The neutral smell part is important because your deodorant or lotion can interfere with the notes from your perfume and make the notes rather muddy and different. Also, dry skin does not retain perfume that easily and can make your perfume smell different than when you were at the store. So, prepping your skin for the perfume can matter as much as buying a good-quality perfume, or applying it appropriately.

Some perfume connaisseurs suggest putting your perfume directly on your skin after you’ve hydrated it. The logic behind this move is that the perfume oils best bind to your skin oils, so putting it directly on your skin gets you the intended fullness of the perfume. However, perfume dissipates more quickly when applied directly on the skin and does not last as long as it could. The heat of the body may have something to do with this phenomenon: the heat helps project the perfume into your scent sphere, but it also degrades the bonds between the perfume molecules and the smell changes rather quickly.

So, how should you put your perfume to achieve the best effect? In general, several spots on the body are recommended for maximum projection while remaining relatively subtle. These places are called pulse points – this is where your blood flows close to your skin and is where your skin is the warmest. Some common places to put your perfume are: behind your ears, on your collarbone, elbow, chest, shoulder, and wrist. It’s interesting how different people like their perfume in distinctive places, as some have reported that they like their perfume the best when it is sprayed on their wrist and collarbone, others like to put it on their chest and chin, and many more combinations exist. Whenever you decide to put it, just remember – the ideal distance at which you should spray your perfume is 6 to 8 in (or about 15 to 20 cm). If you spray it closer, it will smell more concentrated and you might be overpowered more easily. Some may suggest that you should not put perfume on your clothes at all. This is not true – you should put the perfume both on your skin and clothes because even though perfume notes don’t have the same odor on clothes, they last longer and can compliment the scent on your skin beautifully.

However, there are some techniques that you can freely avoid when it comes to putting on your perfume. A common mistake is when people rub their wrists after they’ve put on perfume. This is a bad technique because the bonds between the scent molecules break when there is friction involved and all of the notes can be significantly weakened with this move. Also, it’s not a good idea to walk through a perfume that is sprayed in the air – this technique makes perfume mostly fall to the floor or on your clothes, missing your skin and your pulse points.

Now that you know where the best spots to spray your new perfume are, you should know that choosing how many spots you cover can depend on the occasion, too. For example, if you’re about to go to work, you shouldn’t make your colleagues nauseous there! According to the perfume Youtuber JeremyFragrance, a foolproof way to spray perfume correctly is spraying it at the back of your neck (this way you leave a slight scent trail behind you when you move), and a spray on each collarbone on the front. This is also applicable for school or university, or all occasions where you don’t want to be too imposing. For the situations where you really want the attention on you, you can add two more sprays – one behind each ear. This will be enough for you to be noticed at every club or dinner without projecting too much that it’s uncomfortable for other people. Of course, every perfume is different, so don’t be afraid to try it out in different ways to find the best smelling one!