Now, this is one of those topics that everyone is interested in.

We decided to create this post with a single goal: to educate our community about this essential topic.

We wish to get the most out of our perfumes. Even more so if we really enjoy some perfume, but it lacks performance. But this is where this post comes to our rescue. In it, we have compiled a list of things you can do to extend your perfume's life expectancy and make it perform much better during that extended lifetime.

Before we start things with our list, we wish to debunk one thing that is often thrown around as a fact but can actually be very misleading in reality.

Do more concentrated perfumes last longer?

People all over the internet are saying that perfumes with higher concentrations are much better performers, and that is very often not the case.

The perfume concentration can be a good indicator of the performance of a perfume. But that is where it ends usually.

If you wish to learn more about perfume concentration, feel free to read our post about "Commonly used perfume terminology". In it, we have explained what perfume concentration is and what are commonly found perfume concentrations.

Now, let us explain why perfume concentration can't be taken as a great indicator of performance for any perfume. The concentration only indicates the percentage of oils that are in the perfume. That means that if you have perfume with the same fragrance notes, its performance would depend only on the concentration of oils. And that is the only case when you can say that more concentrated perfume will last longer for sure.

In most cases, a much more relevant question that we need to ask ourselves is related to the type of notes that are present in the perfume, their potency, and quality, of course.

So what do we mean here?

If you read our post talking about "What are perfume notes? Complete guide", you will see that we have three main types of notes. Top, mid and base notes.

Top notes are very light and tend to be the first thing that we can smell in a perfume, but are also the first thing that gets washed away with time. And their usual lifespan is somewhere in the range of one to two hours. While on the other hand, we have base notes, which tend to be much heavier and tend to stick to our skin much harder than top notes do. That way, making them eligible to survive even for days on our skin (depending on their quality and nature).

When you now consider that fact, you will easily understand that the type of perfume notes and their quality is what determines the longevity of any perfume much more than the concentration.

For example, you can create a perfume that contains a mixture of very citrusy notes with a few flowery ones and make it in a perfume extract concentration (more than 20% of oils). And on the other hand, you create a perfume containing a very dominant vanilla scent mixed with some darker, musky notes and create it as EDT concentration (7% to 15% of oils). What do you think, which one will last longer?

The vanilla-scented perfume will last much longer, even though it is in EDT concentration (of course, if we take that, the quality of fragrance notes is roughly the same for both perfumes).

Sorry for making this a very lengthy talk, but we had to make it clear because it is very easy for people to get a wrong impression due to very commonly found posts talking about perfume concentration being one of the most defining features of any perfume.

Let's get started with our list of ways to enhance our perfume's performance and to do it by a huge margin.

1. Be careful about the perfume quality

We did not say that perfume concentration does not matter at all. It can be a good indication, but we wanted you to pay attention to other things as well.

Before you decide to buy any perfume, read about it, see which notes it contains, and then think about those notes and their expected lifespan on our skin.

Also, you want to make sure that the quality of ingredients is not bad, which is rarely the case with common designer and niche perfume brands that tend to use only great quality ingredients in their perfumes.

2. Moisturize the skin

This point can make a huge difference on its own for sure.

We already covered the importance of your skin not being dry when you apply perfume on it in our talk about "Best body parts to apply perfume". Feel free to read that post and learn a lot more about the best body parts to consider when applying perfume.

The problem that occurs when you apply perfume on dry skin is that the skin is going to absorb perfume and its oils very quickly because it needs hydration. That way, it will prevent the perfume from being able to linger on the surface of our skin and be enjoyed by you and the people around you.

There are many ways for you to make sure that your skin is ready to provide the best possible environment for your perfume to last long. We are going to name just a few ideas you can try.

1. Unscented deodorant - deodorants contain a small percentage of oils in their ingredients which is going to ensure that your skin is not going to be dry when you apply perfume on top of it. Of course, you have to make sure that the area where you apply the deodorant is completely dry because it initially tends to be very moist. And if you were to apply perfume on top of that still very wet surface, you would disrupt its performance for sure. As soon as the deodorant is dry, you can apply your perfume in that area and enjoy the extended performance it is going to provide.

2. Unscented body oils - oils are going to provide a lot of hydration for our skin, and the fact that we are going to be using unscented oils means that their scent is not going to interfere with the scent of your perfume. It is only going to provide a solid foundation to make the expected lifespan of your perfume much longer.

3. Vaseline - is going to create a protective layer on top of our skin, thus preventing the skin from absorbing the perfume if dry. On the other hand, our body heat is still going to reach the perfume and enable it to evaporate into the air and become available for us to smell it. But be wary of the fact that if you apply a too thick layer of vaseline, you will restrict the perfume from being able to interact with our skin's chemistry, and that way prevents the dry-down phase from taking place.

4. Body lotions - do the same thing as other products we just mentioned. Just make sure that their scents are as close to non-existent as possible, so you would not disrupt the mixture present in the perfume.

And those were a few ideas you can try. Just make sure that the scent of products you use is as close to non-existent as possible.

3. Apply perfume clothes

This might be an amazing way for you to extend the projection and sillage of your perfume. Just make sure that you have educated yourself on the topic, so you would get an idea if you should apply perfume to your clothes instead of your skin. You can find out everything about this topic in the post called "How to apply perfume properly? Skin or clothes?".

After you have decided if you are going to apply your perfume on your clothes, we have prepared an excellent post for you. It is going to teach you everything about "Best ways to apply fragrance on your clothes".

After you do your research, you will find it really easy to benefit the most from any situation you may encounter.

4. Do not use "walk through perfume cloud" technique

People love to use this application technique where they just spritz the perfume into the air and then walk through it. We have covered this topic in our post called "How to apply perfume properly? Skin or clothes?". If you are interested in finding out more, you can do that there.

The short story is that when you apply perfume by walking through the air where you spritzed the perfume, you are actually utilizing only a small percentage of the perfume. That way, its concentration will be much lower when compared to the scenario when you apply it directly.

5. Do not rub the perfume in

Another common pitfall we see very often is that people apply perfume (usually on their wrists) and then rub their wrists together.

This is another no-no if you wish to allow your perfume to shine with its full potential. We have discussed this topic as well in our talk about "How to apply perfume properly".

But the short story is that when you rub your skin, you are creating too much heat, which can very often disrupt the chemical reactions existing within the perfume and make it perform in underwhelming ways. Also, you are going to force a lot of alcohol from the perfume to evaporate immediately due to the high heat.

6. Think about places where you will apply the perfume

This one is very important. You can do everything else from this list right, but if you apply perfume to some body part that is not the optimal place for perfume performance, you are going to diminish its performance and longevity with ease.

We have dedicated an entire post to this topic alone, so we invite you to read it and read it carefully. It is called "Best body parts to apply perfume".

There are a few things that must be checked every time you consider applying perfume to some part of your body, and those are:

1. Is it warm enough to enable the alcohol to evaporate, thus releasing the perfume's scent into the air?
2. Is it well hydrated so that our skin does not absorb the perfume immediately after you apply it?
3. Is it protected from too much wind and other external parameters which tend to lower the life expectancy of your perfume?
4. Is it going to be able to spread around you properly, enabling you and people around you to smell the perfume?

After you have gone through all of these checkpoints, you will be sure that the perfume will perform optimally.

7. Store your perfume properly

This point is very underrated for sure. People tend to forget that perfumes have expiration dates and need to be preserved with care.

If your perfume is expired, it might happen that it's scent signature will change, its color might change, its performance might change. Everything about the perfume is subject to change after its expiration date has passed.

This does not have to mean that after the perfume has expired, you have to throw it out. Just be careful and test it before you use it after its expiration date has passed.

Also, we have to make sure that perfume is kept in the dark, cold places, where it is not going to be exposed to too much moisture from the air. This is why brands say to keep the perfume in its original box. The box is going to help a lot with all of these points, for sure. But if you expose the perfume to too much moisture or heat, the box is not going to be enough.

And finally, do not shake the perfume bottle before using it. If you do that, you will insert air into the mixture of alcohol and fragrance oils and increase the chances of your perfume spoiling before its expiration date.

8. Apply perfume after showering

This is another nice idea to try out. When you apply your perfume after showering, your skin pores are open and ready to accept fragrance oils into its top layer. That way, the perfume is still going to be able to linger in the air, but its longevity is going to be increased for sure.

Keep in mind that you have to wait for your skin to be completely dry before you apply the perfume. If you apply the perfume on wet skin, it is not going to be able to stick to it as well as it would with dry skin. Also, if you apply perfume and then dry off your skin with a towel, you will remove perfume, thus drastically lowering its performance that way.

9. Perfume layering

This topic is very complex and will need a lot of dedication and determination from your side if you wish to be any good at it. But the final result is going to be a unique scent with great performance, without spending additional money on perfumers to create a scent just for you.

This topic has its own post on our platform, so feel free to check it out if you are interested in perfume layering. It is called "What is perfume layering? And how to get the most out of it".

We are not going to explain how to do layering properly because it is going to take forever to do, but we are just going to tell you what is the main premise of perfume layering.

The main idea is to apply perfume on top of another perfume. That way, you will create a completely new scent which is a combination of the two scents you used in the process. And the performance is going to be extended for sure.

10. Clean your skin before you apply perfume

This one might be considered a no-brainer and something that everyone should do without us telling you to, but we wish to remind you just in case.

If you apply perfume on top of your dirty skin, you do not allow the perfume to react with your skin properly because there is a layer of dirt between the two. And also, dirt has its own scent, which is going to interfere with the scent of your perfume, that way changing it.

11. Do not put clothes on right after you have applied pefume

This point is easy to explain and restrict it from ruining your perfume's performance. When you apply any perfume, alcohol from it is still lying around on top of your skin. And it takes a couple of minutes for our skin to absorb and evaporate that alcohol.

If you apply perfume in this phase while alcohol is still on your skin's surface, you will remove a layer of oils with it, thus removing a portion of your perfume. We do not have to tell you that perfume is going to last shorter and perform worse in this scenario.

That is why we want you to wait for your perfume to get dried off and then put on your clothes, or, even better, apply perfume after you put on your clothes.

12. Use scented products from the same line

If you wish to extend the scent of your perfume and do not wish to use unscented products we covered earlier in this post, we recommend you use products created from the same brand and released to go along with the perfume. These products will have a very similar scent as the perfume and will enable the perfume to last longer and perform better than it would on its own.

Of course, these products will also provide a moisturizing effect for our skin, thus making it a more suitable foundation when the perfume is applied.

And we are done. These were our top 12 ways that you can use in your everyday lives and upgrade the performance of your perfume by a huge margin. Of course, with minimal effort and expenses needed along the way.

We hope you enjoyed reading this post and that you will benefit from it significantly!