- Scent clings best to moist/humid skin, so apply perfume to your pulse points which are the areas on your skin where blood flow is the strongest and the skin is the warmest: to the inside of your wrists, back of your knees, around your ankles, neck, behind your ears, between your breasts, and inside your elbows. You can also spray and walk into your fragrance.
- Never rub perfume because that crushes the molecules of the fragrance and ruins the scent.
- For a lighter scent, spray the outside of your hand instead of the inside if your wrist.
- For a subtle perfuming of your hair and clothing, spray your perfume in the air and then walk through it. If you prefer a lighter overall smell and not concentrated on one part of your body, this may be the method for you (especially wonderful for a social event where there will be lots of people).
- If you have dry skin, apply perfume more often.
- Applying petroleum jelly to areas where you will be applying perfume will give the scent something to cling to.
- Apply your fragrance low on the body so that the scent rises and it won’t be lost as quickly.
- Apply perfume immediately after your shower, as open pores and warm skin will soak up the scent, as long you haven’t used deodorant soap.
- If your scent has faded after a few hours, rub the once scented area to reactive the scent.
- Layering your fragrance will help make your scent last longer. If the scent you use has a matching bath gel, moisturizer or powder, those can be used before you apply the actual fragrance.
- Perfume does deteriorate, and the time period depends on the temperature, light and length of storage.
- Extreme heat and direct sunlight can break down the components of most fragrances so keep all fragrances in a cool dry area and away from windows. Perfume should be stored at room temperature out of direct sunlight and away from extreme heat sources.
- On average, the shelf life for a fragrance is 3 to 5 years; for pure perfumes it is much less.
Your own body chemistry affects how different notes react on your skin. Anything that affects the “natural” smell of your skin, such as stress, hormonal changes, your current diet or medications, might change how a perfume smells on you.
All other things being equal, perfumes evaporate more rapidly from dry skin, so the best way to make fragrance last longer is to use a relatively heavy body lotion or cream. Some people like to buy the “matching” cream for their fragrance, but you can also use an unscented cream like Cetaphil, or try petroleum jelly or jojoba oil. You might also try a light mist to your hair, which is said to hold scent longer than skin.
These terms refer to the strength of the fragrance, or more specifically, to how much high grade alcohol and/or water has been added to the fragrance oils. Perfume (generally the most concentrated form you can buy) has 15-25% perfume oil dissolved in alcohol. Any mixture with a lower proportion of oil to alcohol is an eau (water).
Eau Fraiche (Usually 3% or less perfume oil)
Eau de Cologne (2 – 5% perfume oil)
Eau de Toilette (4 – 10% perfume oil)
Eau de Parfum (8 – 15% perfume oil)
Soie de Parfum (15 – 18% perfume oil)
PARFUM or Perfume (15 – 25% — also sometimes referred to as extract or extrait)
Perfume oil (15-30% perfume oil in an oil rather than alcohol base)
You may also see the term Parfum de Toilette. Most companies use this term to describe a concentration that is either the same as Eau De Parfum, or between Eau De Parfum and Parfum. Other companies use the term to describe an Eau De Toilette concentration.
To further confuse matters, some companies use different notes, or different proportions of notes, in the different forms of fragrance they offer. In addition, some companies reserve costly fragrance oils for their perfume, and use synthetic substitutes in lighter concentrations.
Essential oils are volatile, fragrant liquids extracted from plant leaves, bark, wood, stems, flowers, seeds, buds, roots, resins and petals, usually through steam distillation. In other words, they are raw materials that can be used to create perfumes. They are highly concentrated and apart from a few exceptions, should not be used directly on the skin, although they can be diluted in a carrier oil, such as jojoba, for such use.
Perfume oils are fragrance components, natural or synthetic, in an oily base rather than an alcohol base, and can be used directly on the skin.
