Whether your signature scent is sweeter, with notes of rose and jasmine or fresh with hints of citrus, bergamot and sea salt, one thing I think we can all agree on is that we wish they lasted longer. We do our quick spritz or two as we’re heading out the door and are briefly engulfed in all the amazing scents, only to find an hour later that it’s all disappeared into the evening air.
It can be frustrating, especially when you’ve invested in an expensive eau de parfum – you expect it to last beyond the aperitif portion of the evening. But the problem may not be with your perfume at all – it may lie in how and when you’re applying it.
So how can we get our longest lasting scent ever and what do we need to do to make sure we’re storing it properly?
Heat points
When you’re putting on perfume, you usually spritz on your neck and wrists, right? It’s standard procedure. But did you know that you’re body has naturally heated points that will make the scent last longer and smell stronger? Places like your midriff, behind your knees, the crease of your elbows, behind your ears and down your back are all points in your body that store heat or have a pulse close to the surface of your skin, therefore creating perfect places to spritz your scent. Your perfume will react with the heat and continue to emit it’s gorgeous scent for longer!
Keep cool and dry
Never store your perfume in the bathroom or anywhere where it’s damp. The moisture will lessen the quality and intensity of the fragrance, diluting it with steam or condensation, even if its capped. Store it away from direct sunlight, in its box if possible and keep it somewhere cool and dry.
Moisturise
Having something to hold on to, like the oils in your moisturiser will help the scent cling to the skin for longer. It’s important to use an unscented lotion of body butter, to stop the perfume’s scent form being diluted or changed by whatever fragrant ingredients are in the moisturiser.
Pulse points and Vaseline
A lot of us probably heard of this hack back in the day, but it’s worth repeating because it works. Similarly to how moisturiser helps our perfume to stay stronger for longer, a dab of Vaseline on the pulse points mentioned above can make a scent stick to those points for that much longer.
Pick your scent carefully
Lighter aromatic scents are more likely to disappear faster as they can evaporate faster thanks to their molecular structure. This means scents like citrus or floral scents will fade faster than heavier scents like musk or wood.
When you apply
Turns out that when you apply your perfume can also impact how long your perfume will last. Applying perfume after showering has made the scent last longer for many women, with the perfume sinking into the damp, warm skin and evaporating far less quickly.
Spritz don’t mist
We’ve all seen those ‘tips’ that recommend spritzing perfume into the air and stepping into the mist, right? It’s supposed to get more full coverage of the scent over your body and make stronger perfumes more palatable. But in reality, this hack just wastes expensive product, meaning half of it just disappears into the air and the half that does get on your clothes doesn’t stay for long as it has no skin or moisture to stick to. You’re better off sticking to concentrated spritzes at specific points.
Tissue inserts
This was a hack that was new to me that I thought was a really fantastic idea. Spritzing a little perfume onto tissue inserts and lining your clothing drawers with them means your clothes will always smell of your gorgeous perfume, fresh as a daisy every time you put them on!
