How To Wear Perfumes?

Frequently Asked Questions.

Working with perfumes as a webmaster of Fragrance Place I received many e-mails and phone calls with questions how to buy, wear and store perfumes. So, I decided to write this article in the form of frequently asked question.

Q. How to buy and test new perfumes?

A. This is a very good question. There are so many new perfumes coming to the market every year. I have seen many women going to one of these department stores and trying all kind of scents one by one. This is of course wrong! First, stick with your brand name you’ve been trusting for many years and you know it works with your skin chemistry well. Trying new perfume, apply a small amount of it to your skin and wear it for about half an hour. This will give time for top notes (mostly included in perfumes to make first impression) to evaporate and middle and finally base notes to react with your skin chemistry and reveal real perfume smell. Do not repeat this with to many perfumes at the same time unless you refresh your smell palette with a sniff from coffee been jar.

Q. Are all the perfumes safe to wear?

A. No, It depends on your individuality. Most of the perfumes are safe to wear. However, there may be some ingredients in the specific perfume you are allergic to. To find about it use the same method described above by wearing the sample of perfume for about an hour and watch your skin reaction. If there is no rash or itching you are safe to use this fragrance. Be careful wearing excessive perfumes in public places. Some people may be allergic to the specific smells or just can’t stand smelling some scents for long time. Some churches for example have special fragrance-free sections for the people with multiple chemical sensibility MCS.

Q. Where to apply perfumes to my body?

A. Most likely every one has opinion how to wear perfumes and where to apply them. A small amount of the perfume should be applied first of all to the pulse points of your body including inner wrists, inside of your elbows, behind knees and ears. The pulse helps to send out the scents. Spraying a little perfume into the air and walk straight into it helps diffuse perfume over the body. Always apply perfume starting with lower body and working your way up to the top. Never rub wrists together after applying perfume. It will weaken and crush the smell. Consider using the same fragrance in various products including bath gel, body lotion, after bath spray and finally apply perfume, perhaps using stronger EDP Spray at the end. Absolutely do not apply perfume to clothing or jewelry. It will definitely stain your clothing and may damage jewelry.

Q. Why the perfume smells so good on my friend and I can’t wear it?

A. Not all perfumes are suitable for you and your skin chemistry. There are four major factors describing the skin: perspiration (the more a person perspires, the less lasting the fragrance), skin PH (affects odorous molecules), skin profile (rough skin retains fragrance longer) and skin fat content (heavier fat content of your skin retains perfume longer). The perfume can smell one way in the bottle, or on a friend, and totally different on you. There is whole science about skin chemistry and is hard to explain this in this short article. You just have to find the perfume which suits you the best. Test the perfumes as described in the first question-answer in this article.

Q. Should I stick to one perfume or change them often?

A. This is also very good question. There are perfumes for every occasion: daytime, evening, office, or even romantic date. The best place to learn about perfume recommended wear is the Internet and some of the perfume selling websites such as Fragrance Place. You can browse between perfumes and find more about perfume notes and when to wear them.
We have to remember that perfumes are very temperature sensitive. Cold temperature will reduce the intensity of the perfume. Wear stronger perfume such as Eau De Parfum in the winter time and lighter such an Eau De Toilette in the summer. In the summer, you may apply perfume more frequently during the day.

Talking about romantic aspect of the perfumes, there are many perfumes on today’s market containing pheromones, ingredients attracting opposite sex. Some of the perfume’s notes including jasmine, patchouli, sandalwood, rose, ylang-ylang and musk are very well known from their aphrodisiac properties. But this is a subject for the separate article.

Q. What is the best place to store my perfumes?

A. The perfumes are light and temperature sensitive. Dark, dry and low temperature place is the best to store your perfumes. Some women keep their Eau De Parfum bottles in the refrigerator during hot summer days, but I thing the cabinet under the sink will be good enough to store perfumes for a long time. The most of the perfumes have shelf life about 3 -5 years from the manufacturing date. However, if stored properly may last much longer. Spray type perfumes last longer than splash type. Once the bottle is open and air get into the bottle the perfume may last only about a year.