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Six tips on wearing perfume like a pro
It takes more than simply spraying on perfume to master of the art of wearing a fragrance.
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A master perfumer gives some helpful tips on applying – and storing – perfume properly. (Shutterstock/File)
P
utting on perfume is as easy as pressing down on the nozzle, but according to Vogue, the art of wearing a fragrance requires more mastery than simply spraying it on. The magazine recently interviewed a scent expert who had plenty to say about the proper way to strut with a scent.
1. Simply spray it on
Award-winning French-Armenian perfumer Francis Kurkdjian disapproved of dabbing perfume on the wrists and rubbing them together before dabbing it on the neck as “very bad”.
Simply spraying was a better way to apply and keep a scent fresh, he said. Allowing the wet liquid to sink into the skin and leaving it be was the ideal application.
“[Rubbing] heats up the skin, which produces natural enzymes that change the course of the scent,” said Kurkdjian. “With a floral [fragrance] for example, [heat] warms up everything, ultimately [causing the fragrance] to lose its crispness."
2. Apply directly to skin
Another way to ensure that your fragrance is worn well is to apply it directly on your skin, preferably after moisturizing.
“Perfume doesn’t last long on dry skin,” said Kurkdjian, adding, “Don’t cover it up with your clothing.”
He also recommends using unscented body lotion or a moisturizer for longer-lasting wear, as well as targeting areas exposed to the air like the pulse points of the neck, wrists and inner elbows – especially when wearing short-sleeved or sleeveless blouses, tops and dresses.
3. Don't forget your hair
Misting your hair is also a great idea to get a long-lasting effect from your fragrance; but be more mindful of where you wear perfume on your body or your hair in hotter and humid climes.
“As you sweat, the natural oils of your skin destroy your perfume faster,” Kukdjian said.
4. Proper storing
However, the method of application is not the only concern in making sure your fragrance lasts as long as possible: storing your perfume in the proper environment also ensures that it stays fresh.
“You’d never leave a bottle of champagne in the sun,” Kurkdjian said. “I know people who store one or two bottles of their signature scents in the refrigerator.”
The way you store your perfume “affects the freshness”, he says, and doing this wrong can cause raw and or natural ingredients in the fragrance to go bad.
According to Vogue, the best place to store a bottle of perfume is in the box you bought it in at room temperature.
“Perfume doesn’t like going from cold to hot,” said Kurkdjian, while hotter temperatures would “set off unexpected chemical reactions within the natural ingredients, and therefore age the perfume faster”.
5. Smaller is better
Keeping perfume over a long period of time, even in the best conditions, is not ideal.
Kurkdjian says oxygen is the “natural enemy of perfume” and will cause the scent to break down, changing the composition of any half-used bottle that remains exposed.
Scents that come in smaller bottles – Kurkdjian recommends sizes from 2.4 to as small as 1.2 millimeters – can stay fresh for longer, even up to 3 months.
6. Go synthetic
Considering synthetic materials is not a crime according to both Kurkdjian and Vogue, as scents such as peony, freesia and lily of the valley have flowers that do not actually release any aroma. Instead, fragrances that contain these ingredients are recreated with a blend of synthetic materials, a process that has been part of the perfuming industry since the late 19th century. (acr/kes)
