Smelling your best sounds nice, smelling your best for even longer sounds better.
And one of the most common queries I have gotten as a licensed perfumer is just how to make fragrance bottles and scents last longer.
In short, making your perfume last longer relies on getting the fragrance to sit on your skin for as long as possible, and keeping your bottle in good health.
So, how do we do that?
Check out these 18 expert tips from some of my most trusted friends in the industry, to show you exactly how.
NoseBlind
Before we talk about some problems with how you use or the perfume itself, the reason you might think your perfume doesn’t last long is that you’ve gotten used to the smell and can’t notice it anymore.
Just like how you could walk into a room, and smell things the person already there cannot, your nose has become so used to the smell of the perfume, that it no longer distinguishes it!
That’s why it could be very useful, to get the opinion of someone else, before following the advice below. Having too much perfume on, can be just as bad as having not enough.
To learn more about the synthetic fragrances that can make your nose blind, check out the article we wrote here.
Apply Your Perfume After A Shower or Bath
Many times I have been asked by customers when the best time during their morning routine is to apply their perfume. And the answer; right after a shower (or bath).
After your body has just been cleansed with water, it is at its peak hydration. A more hydrated skin surface will allow the fragrance to sit on the skin for longer, without sinking into the sinking too quickly.
Top Tip: More Hydrated Doesn’t Mean More Wet! Make sure to dry yourself with a towel before applying the perfume
Moisturize Too!
There are many advantages to adding a moisturizer to your daily routines, and more hydrated skin is definitely one of them!
However, make sure the moisturizer is unscented as the scent of the moisturizer may not be complimentary to the fragrances, and could therefore weaken its effect.
Apply On Skin, Not Clothes!
One of the most common mistakes I have seen in people when applying their fragrances is spraying on their clothes and not their skin. Fragrance manufacturers design the products to be sprayed directly onto your skin, to give it its long-lasting, but desired scent.
Not only will you get the best sense, but the skin holds onto the fragrance a lot longer!
Apply On Pulse Points
The pulse points are regarded as the most effective places to apply your fragrances. In particular, the wrist, neck, and behind the ear.
These areas of the body emanate heat, which allows the fragrance to smell its strongest.
Apply the fragrance to just one to three of these pulse points, since any more would give you too strong a scent, not what you want!
Do Not Rub!
It cannot be emphasized enough, Perfumes Are Not Designed To Be Rubbed Onto The Skin!
Due to the wetness of perfume, a common practice I have seen many do is to rub the perfume immediately after applying.
Not only does this diminish the top note of the fragrance completely, but it also greatly reduces the longevity, making it fade a lot quicker than what you paid for.
New to fragrance notes? To learn more about top notes, check out the article we write here!
Use Matching Lotions, Shampoos or Aftershave
Applying a citrus aftershave, with a fruity scented shampoo, and a vanilla-smelling body lotion, topped off with a woody fragrance makes very little sense from a perfumer’s perspective.
When you apply different cosmetic products on your body, all with different scents, they end up contrasting and lowering the effects of each other.
That is why it’s important to use products that give a similar scent to your perfume.
Alternatively, if you cannot find cosmetic products that match your fragrance, the next best thing would be to wear faint-scented or unscented products.
Distance
How far away you spray the perfume onto yourself also plays a very underrated role. Spraying too close to yourself would mean the scent will only be concentrated on a small point while being too far away will mean not getting a significant enough amount to project.
Aim to spray between three and six inches away from your pulse points.
Add Vaseline
A well-known piece of advice in the fragrance community has been to apply petroleum jelly, such as Vaseline, to the area you wish to apply.
The Vaseline acts as a barrier, trapping the scent onto your skin for even longer!
Check Out the Video Below to Learn More.
Buy A Higher Concentration Perfume
A general rule of thumb, is that perfumes with a higher concentration of oils are not only stronger, but longer lasting as well.
Eau De Toilette is the most common fragrance type but also the shortest lasting. Alternatively, opting for an Eau De Parfum, or Parfum, could allow you to use a longer-lasting version of the same fragrance!
It should be mentioned that going for a fragrance higher up in the concentration ladder, should cost you more as well. To find out more about the differences in concentration fragrances have to offer, check out our previous article here.
Use Perfume On Your Hair
As unorthodox as it sounds, applying your perfume to your hair, could be a cheaper and more effective way of increasing its longevity. Because the hair has a lot more surface volume, it is able to trap the scent, allowing you to smell like your favorite scent for even longer.
However, carefully consider what ingredients are inside your perfume before taking this step, since harsh alcohols, like ethyl alcohol, and heavy synthetic oils can have a drying effect on your hair.
Do not apply the perfume directly onto the skin, since certain fragrance oil can damage the scalp. Instead, apply a bit of fragrance on a comb, and lightly brush into the hair.
Pay Attention To Your Notes
The type of scent in your fragrance affects how long it lasts because no two fragrances have the same formula. The base notes, in particular, are crucial for determining how long the perfume can last.
Perfumes with woody, aromatic, and musky base notes, are longer lasting. While Fruity, Floral, and Citrus scents often have less longevity.
| Longer Lasting Notes | Shorter Lasting Notes |
| Woody | Fruity |
| Aromatic | Floral |
| Musky | Citrus |
To learn more about all the different fragrance notes there are, be sure to check this out here!
Doesn’t Suit Your Body Odour
Everybody and I mean Every Body, emits their own natural oils and scents.
So if your own scent is quite different from the scent of your fragrance, it might not project as much as you’d like. Instead, ask the people closest to you, to describe your natural scent, and find a fragrance that enhances that for you!
Layer Your Perfume
Layering perfume can often seem a complicated and sometimes donating task for our more beginner Cologne fanatics. However, adding another fragrance to your favorite perfume can be a surefire way to strengthen its scent.
Applying either pure Iso E Super or Ambroxan to your skin before applying your perfume will enhance both its projection and longevity.
Watch Out For the Climate
Fragrances do not last long in warmer climates due to the molecules evaporating quicker in the heat.
This will mean you will have to ‘top-up’ your fragrance even more during the warmer summer days.
Store In Cool Place
On the topic of heat, perfume bottles should not be stored in warm settings, since the heat can cause the cause chemical bonds, that give the fragrance its unique scent, to break down completely.
Often times a fragrance not being as long-lasting as it could be, is down to poor storage of the bottle.
Age Plays A (Small) Role
As I have gotten older, I like many others, have noticed that my skin has also become a little dryer. And as we now know dryer skin, is less able to hold the fragrance onto your skin.
But don’t worry. All this means is that people of older ages will simply have to moisturize and hydrate their skin a little more before applying to make up the difference.
Do Not Shake
And lastly, do not shake your perfume.
Don’t ask why, just don’t.
Conclusion
To summarize, hydrating and moisturizing your skin as best as possible, as well as keeping your perfume bottle in hazardless condition is the best way in ensuring you smell like your signature scent for as long as possible.
Improving the way you apply your perfume, and ensuring you apply it on your pulse points, can also lead to significant improvements in the longevity of your scent.
