You’ve Been Spraying Your Perfume Wrong – Here’s the Right Way to Do It
Few people learn how to apply perfume properly. Whether we mimic the techniques we unconsciously learned from our parents or just inherently feel it’s the right thing to do, many of us automatically revert to the most common application method: spraying perfume on our wrists and then rubbing them together vigorously. But according to fragrance expert Emma, of the popular Instagram account Perfumerism, the wrist-rubbing technique is not the best way to apply perfume.
“Rubbing your wrists together causes friction and heat, which can cause volatile top notes to fade more quickly,” Emma explains in an exclusive chat with Glam. “Perfumers formulate fragrances with the entire experience in mind from start to finish, so adding friction will change the carefully crafted formula and disrupt the experience. It will also make the perfume not last as long, as you’re essentially evaporating the fragrance.”
Luckily, Emma confirms that most wrist bands don’t rub so hard that they cause a huge problem in terms of perfume wearing off or shifting in a less than ideal way. However, for best results, the fragrance guru recommends avoiding this technique in favor of something better: “I recommend that instead of rubbing, you gently pat your wrists to transfer the formula.”
Rubbing causes problems, but you can still spray perfume on your body
To be clear, the problem with applying on your wrists is the rubbing of your skin which can alter the notes of the perfume. Actual spraying of the fragrance onto your skin is usually fine (after all, one of the most important places to spray perfume is actually your belly button!). “Spraying fragrance too close to the body is not a problem, in my opinion,” Emma tells us exclusively. “Your perfume will diffuse from where it’s sprayed, so if you only spray on your wrists, you’ll only smell it on your wrists.” Emma admits that she prefers to spray her fragrance on her chest so that it reaches both her clothes and her skin. “Your skin helps the fragrance develop, and the matrix of the fabric is extremely efficient at holding onto the fragrance and helping it last longer,” she explains.
The other popular method of spraying perfume is to spray it into the air and walk on it, which Emma also approves of. While both techniques can work, their effectiveness tends to come down to the specific perfume you’re wearing, with brands that tend to be more potent lending themselves to a less intense “skin application.” One standout brand that Emma believes shouldn’t be sprayed directly onto the skin is Mugler. However, with brands that produce less concentrated, light, and natural fragrances, such as Jo Malone London, “it would be better to spray closer to the body so the fragrance doesn’t get lost in the air,” according to Emma.
Layer your perfume with moisturizer
As well as tailoring your fragrance application technique to the brand, you can also make your perfume last longer by moisturising your skin first. “I like Lubriderm Fragrance Free Body Lotion, and also DedCool Milk Body and Hand Lotion has a nice neutral scent to layer on,” Emma tells Glam exclusively. However, it’s crucial to apply lotion before perfume rather than after. “It’s always better to apply lotion first!” Emma warns.
As well as moisturising, Emma recommends spritzing fragrance on your clothes to make it last longer, especially if you wear a less intense perfume. “If your perfume is on the mild side, there’s an ‘overspray’ technique you can do, where you spray a little more than you would normally use, to make your fragrance last longer and fade to the perfect amount when you’re at special events etc,” Emma explains. The only thing to keep in mind when spraying clothes is to make sure that the fragrance you use does not have dark colored ingredients (like vanilla) and is not colored. If it does, it may stain white clothes.