For example, fragrances with high alcohol content tend to evaporate quickly and are best applied directly on the skin. On the other hand, fragrances with a low alcohol content can be sprayed on clothes for a more subtle and long-lasting effect.
“Don't cover it up with your clothing,” he says, and instead target areas exposed to the air: the pulse points of the neck and the wrists or inner elbows, if you're wearing a sleeveless blouse. The only exception, however, is if you're in an intensely hot climate—then it's best to not apply scent directly to your body.
After spraying your perfume on the skin, you can apply it on your clothes to intensify the sillage (the scented trace you leave behind). For the best longevity and result, spray your perfume on fabrics made of natural materials like cotton, cashmere, silk, wool or linen.
Spray it onto your pulse points.
Wondering exactly where to spray perfume? Focus on your pulse points. These are areas where your veins sit closest to your skin, so you can (literally) feel your pulse.
When applying perfume correctly, you want to hit all the right spots. "It's important to select the areas of the body that are naturally warm and moist, like the insides of the elbows, back of the knees, chest, and the sides of the neck," says Milèo. "These areas allow the perfume to be truly enjoyed.
Spray your fragrance towards your pulse points: wrists, neck, décolleté, behind the ears. Concentrated areas of heat will diffuse the perfume and help it linger longer.
How can perfume negatively affect your skin? "Sprayed directly onto skin, perfume is so aggressive that it undermines skin's ability to protect itself against UV damage. That means that perfume-covered skin becomes more vulnerable to sun damage and ageing pigmentation."
Olfactory adaptation
The fact that we no longer smell our perfume is part of a physiological process of olfaction. With our own scent, the stimulation of our olfactory sensors is permanent. This is also the case with the smell of our home, or a perfume that we wear very often.
Once your brain is able to categorize the odour, “the scent of your perfume gets put on the backburner.” It might take a week or more, but it's a natural process. In that case, you should focus on switching up your fragrance by rotating through a few favourites, or even alternating between a day and a night scent.
Spray perfume on your pulse points
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.
Tissue Test
If the tissue sticks, it's a sure sign you've gone overboard. To counter it, dip a cotton ball into some rubbing alcohol and pat the spot where you sprayed the perfume – this will tone down the scent.
Perfume: Since perfume lasts longer than your average body spray, it's great for when you're going out for long nights where you can't touch up your scent or feel like carrying a bottle around – it may be the better choice.
When spraying the perfume make sure to distance the sprayer 4-6 inches or 10-15 centimeters from the skin. The reason for this is because that way you will cover the bigger surface on the skin and perfume will work much better as it's not oversaturated on a single spot.
However others will be able to smell your perfume and hence do not overspray. After a while, you too may get back some sniff of your own fragrance as the nose might have smelled some other odours and your own scent becomes a new olfactory note.
In fact, according to research published in Nature, your nose can detect about one trillion smells! But your own underarms could reek and you might not be able to tell: Humans are prone to what scientists call olfactory fatigue; our sense of smell just gets plain tired out by familiar odors and stops detecting them.
Brain able to differentiate our scent from that of others. You might not be able to pick your fingerprint out of an inky lineup, but your brain knows what you smell like.
Volatile compounds such as in the perfumes can lingered much longer even the person is not around because they stick their molecules to clothes, curtains, bedsheets, etc.
"Your ankles are always in motion, so it helps project the fragrance wherever you go," says Claisse. "It continues the scent from head to toe." Claisse recommends applying your scent on your body before putting on your clothes, so that the fragrance can absorb into your skin.
Perfumes and deodorants most often cause skin allergy to fragrances in women. Related products for men include after-shave and deodorant. In addition to skin contact, inhalation of fragrances can trigger or aggravate asthma and other respiratory problems.
Perfume can last four to six hours (or even longer), depending on the strength of the juice you're spritzing, how dry your skin is or even what the weather's like – perfumes dissipate much faster on dry skins, or when the air is particularly dry.