How can I wear perfume without it being too strong?

Getting perfume just right can be a challenge. Put on too much and your perfume will enter the room before you do. Put on too little, and you might as well have saved your money on that French fragrance. The know-how needed doesn't stop at volume. You also need to know exactly where to spray perfume to get the biggest impact, and how to apply it to make it last all day. Here, tips for how to wear perfume.

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Apply to Hydrated Skin
Don't Distort Your Scent
Put on Pulse Points
Dab, Don't Rub
Don't Spray on Clothes
Use the Right Amount
Spritz Your Hair
Fix Too Much Fragrance
Find Your Scent
Here are 10 tips to apply perfume the correct way, so it will last longer
How can I apply perfume without overpowering?
How can I smell good but not too strong?

Apply to Hydrated Skin

The best time to apply perfume (or any product for that matter) is directly after the shower. Not only is your skin free of dirt, but it is also warm and damp creating the optimum conditions to fully absorb any topical, including your perfume. If you can't shower before spritzing, apply non-scented lotion first. The better moisturized your skin is, the longer your scent will stay on.

Don't Distort Your Scent

Avoid accidentally altering your signature scent by keeping fragrance-packed body washes and lotions to a minimum. Or better yet, cut them out completely. They run the risk of making your perfume come off as too sweet, too intense, or possibly even sour. Leave your skin free of other fragrances, and your perfume will be able to do its best work.

Put on Pulse Points

The fact that ladies look so demure lightly tapping their wrists and neck with perfume isn't the only reason it's been a long-time beauty tradition. Your neck, wrists, backs of knees, and other pulse points emit more heat than other parts of your body. And that heat actually activates and maximizes your perfume.

Dab, Don't Rub

You may have learned to rub your perfumed wrists together from your grandmother, mother, or old movies. As glamorous as it looks, don't. You should avoid spritzing and rubbing for two reasons. First, rubbing your wrists together can dull top notes (or the scents you smell in the first five minutes of applying perfume). Secondly, it mixes the perfume vigorously with your natural oils, which can change the way it smells.

Let the scent soak into your skin instead, or lightly dab your wrists together or dab your wrists to other pulse points. Just don't rub.

Don't Spray on Clothes

If you're in a hurry, don't be tempted to spray perfume onto your clothes. Even a quick spritz may damage clothing, leaving stains. And the scent won't last. Let perfume dry before putting on your clothes if they will cover the pulse points where you wear your fragrance.

Use the Right Amount

If you've ever wondered why some perfumes that smell almost identical are named—and priced—differently, you will be interested to know that these naming conventions indicate different levels of fragrance concentration. The most concentrated is Perfume, second most is Eau de Perfume, third is Eau de Toilette, and the least concentrated is Eau de Cologne. The more concentrated it is, the longer you can expect the scent to last and the less you should use. There is no magic amount to use, but as a rule of thumb, two spritzes directly to the skin should always be plenty—sometimes too much. Before wearing a new perfume out, test its potency at home. Try one spritz on a pulse point, dabbing excess on others, and make note of how strong it is. Then, check in every couple of hours and assess how it's holding up.

Spritz Your Hair

Your pulse points may be the hot spots for applying perfume every day, but try a spritz in your hair for a long-lasting scent. Your movement will help diffuse the perfume throughout the day. Because perfume could dry your scalp, this trick is best saved for special occasions.

Fix Too Much Fragrance

One spray too many? A scent that's too strong? Even if it's the characteristic scent you're known for, you don't want to overwhelm everyone around you. Overdoing fragrance is easy to do. Thankfully you can tone down too much perfume with a dab of rubbing alcohol. Dip a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and apply it over the areas where you sprayed or dabbed your perfume. Baby wipes or non-scented lotion will also fix an overpowering scent.

Find Your Scent

Even if you've only ever worn the same scent your mother bought you for graduation, a new scent can brighten the change of seasons or add a distinctive touch to special occasions. Floral may be a favorite all year, but try fragrances with warm and woody notes for fall or a spritz of spice for winter. If you have trouble choosing, classic fragrances have stood the test of time for a reason.

Posted on 17 October 2020
By Kurt
Posted in tips and tricks
1

We’ve probably all experienced this: buying a great new perfume, spraying it on enthusiastically but having it fade away within 2 hours or less after applying it. Such a shame, because the only reason you put on perfume is to it enjoy it, and for as long as possible, right?

We all have different skin types, and a perfume will set better and last longer on one person than on the other. But the way you apply a perfume also has a big impact on how long it will last.

Here are 10 tips to apply perfume the correct way, so it will last longer

First, take a shower or bath and dry your skin
Your skin absorbs perfume better when it’s warm and your pores are open. Taking a hot shower or bath will just do the trick. Make sure to dry your skin (particularly the pulse points) before applying the perfume, otherwise it won’t stick.
Apply an unscented body lotion and/or Vaseline first
When perfume lands on dry skin, it will evaporate quickly. It’s like pouring water on dry soil: it will just drain away. Therefore, make sure your skin is soft and hydrated before applying perfume, so the perfume can lock onto your skin. The best way to do that is to apply some unscented body lotion or moisturizer or apply some Vaseline first.
First perfume, then clothes
Now your all set to spray on your perfume, do it before putting on your clothes. It allows you to reach the pulse points you want to apply your perfume on, and it avoids possible stains on your clothes.
Spray perfume on your pulse points
The best spots to apply a perfume are your pulse points: the points that are warm and moist because your veins are closest to the skin on those places.
Where you apply a perfume will have an impact on how you and others experience it.
If your goal is to smell the perfume yourself, apply it to the pulse points that are closest to your nose, like your neck, chin and collarbones. Applying it on your wrists and inner elbows allows you to sniff your perfume whenever you feel like it.
If you want to smell good for your beloved, apply it on your chest, shoulder blades, below and on top of your ears, and why not, your belly button.
If you like to leave ‘sillage’ (a scent trail) for others around you, then the back of your neck and the inside of your knees are good spots.
Spray but don’t rub
Let’s face it, we’re all tempted to do it. Spraying some perfume on one wrist and then rubbing it with the other wrist. Don’t do it. It ruins your perfume and is the best guarantee NOT to let your perfume stay for long. Spray it on the pulse points of your choice, and wait for it to dry before putting on your clothes.
Don’t overdo it
In general, one spritz per pulse point of your choice is enough. The purpose is to smell good, not to overwhelm yourself and the people around you with a penetrating whiff of perfume. Of course, the concentration of the perfume is an important factor. You can spritz more of a less concentrated Eau de Toilette than of a highly concentrated Extrait de Parfum.
Because we get used to a perfume, we will eventually smell it less and less, tempting us to apply more of it over time. Don’t do it, for the sake of the people around you who are not used to your perfume the way you are.
Spritz, don’t mist
You can target specific points and spritz some perfume on them (from a distance between 10 to 20 cm), but another common practice is to spray some perfume just in front of you and then walk through that mist of perfume. This will distribute the perfume evenly over your body. The biggest disadvantage of this is that it will also land on spots that don’t hold perfume very long, and that some of the perfume will just evaporate in the air or land on the ground, which is a shame.
Comb it in your hair
Hair can hold a perfume longer than skin because it’s porous. Still, as most perfumes contain alcohol which can dehydrate and damage your hair, it’s best to be careful. Perfume oils and water-based perfumes are ideal, but if you want to use a regular perfume, the best way is to spray some on your brush and gently comb it into your hair.
Spray perfume on your clothes
Perfume will stay longer on textile than on your skin. If you want your perfume to last longer, praying some on your clothes or scarf is a good idea. But be careful: some perfumes can cause stains on your clothes, especially the more concentrated perfumes with a darker, ambery color. It’s best to try it out first on a small part. Synthetic materials could also change the way a perfume smells, so it’s best to only spray it on natural fabrics.
A perfume will smell different on your clothes than on your skin. Everyone has a specific odour, depending on her/his lifestyle, eating pattern, skin type, etc. If you apply a perfume on your skin, it will mingle with your own body odour, creating a unique scent (That’s also the reason why one perfume can smell wonderful on one person and terrible on someone else). If you spray perfume on your clothes, this chemistry doesn’t happen. It will just smell like the perfume in the bottle.
Change your perfume regularly
This may sound like a sales trick, but there is a scientific explanation. Like all our senses, the sense of smell has a memory. When we get used to a certain perfume, our brain will automatically ‘mute’ it, in order not to overstimulate us.
You’ve probably experienced this situation before: you enter a home and immediately smell the dish that’s being prepared in the kitchen. If you ask the cook, he or she will probably not be aware of this strong smell, because he or she has been hanging over the pots and pans for a while.
It’s the same with perfume. Therefore, changing perfumes will activate your sense of smell and you will smell it better than if you wear the same perfume day in day out.

Even if you apply all these tips, you can't expect every perfume, even the best quality perfume, to last a whole day. Particularly fresher perfumes, with citrusy or green notes, will probably not last all day, but about 4 to 6 hours. It’s good to always carry your perfume with you so you can reapply it in the course of the day.

Picture by Jordi Zanora.

How can I apply perfume without overpowering?

Instead of spraying perfume all over, dab it onto your pulse points and then do what we call a “spritz and step”: spray your perfume in front of you, then walk right into it and back out. This will leave a light layer on your clothes, and make sure you're covered (without overdoing it).