How To Wear Perfume 101

So, you got a new bottle of perfume but you don't know how to wear it properly. Don’t worry. Like you, many of us have the same issue and we, at Big Discount, have decided pitch in and help. After some research and exploration into the fragrance world, we came up with a few tips on how to apply your preferred scent and pin-pointed some common mistakes. We're sure this list of helpful hints will assist you in making good use of your favorite perfume - making it an enjoyable and sexy experience.

Uncap your perfume and get ready to indulge yourself:

1. Apply perfume on your skin preferably after a bath/shower since your skin is nice and clean and can absorb your favorite fragrance more thoroughly.
2. Less is definitely more. Your fragrance should attract people to you, not the other way around. Discretion is the key regarding amount. If you are using a splash, moisten your fingertips and dab perfume lightly on your pulse areas. These are your wrists, décolleté (neckline in French), behind your earlobes and neck, on your chest, elbow area, behind your knees and in your inner thighs. Why these areas? Since blood is closer to the surface, skin is warmer causing the scent to be more rapidly diffused.
3. If your favorite perfume comes in a spray, you may want to squirt some on pulse areas from one foot away to get an even distribution. You could also spray it into the air 2 or 3 times, form a perfume cloud and “walk” right in.
4. Heat does rise, so you should perfume yourself from the bottom up. This allows the scent to last longer throughout the day.
5. It is a fact that men and women with dry skin don’t retain scents as long as people with oily skin. This is due to the fact that oils in the skin join with the perfume oils thus making it a slower process of evaporation. Solution: reapply your preferred scent once or twice a day or use a good moisturizer before applying your fragrance.
6. Allow the scent to dry. Many people put on perfume and immediately dress, which rubs some of it off and prevents the fragrance from really being absorbed. It takes about an hour for the perfume to develop with your natural scent.
7. Many men and women are not conscious of the different scented body products they use - shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, deodorant, after shave balm, etc. - they use them all at once which causes a mess of smells. It is almost impossible for the perfume to really stand out or even last long when it's mixed with everything else. So, if you want to make your perfume or cologne last longer, then "layer it". Use body products scented preferably like your perfume or better yet products from the same brand. Start with a shower gel and then seal the scent with body lotion or after shave and finish by locking it all up with your favorite fragrance.
8. Be aware of the weather. On hot summer days, scents tend to last longer whereas cold weather has the exact opposite effect. So, vary the amount of perfume you wear with each season.

Now you know what to do, but it isn’t everything if you don’t know what NOT to do. Here are some pointers you should watch out for:

1. Don’t perfume with clothes or jewelry on. Some fragrances do tend to stain cloth, metals and pearls, ruining your favorite apparel. Also, you are perfuming yourself, not your clothes.
2. Don’t rub your wrists together when applying perfume in this area, since the scent does change considerably.
3. Don’t perfume ALL your pulse points. You might just over do it, so choose carefully. Madame Coco Chanel did say, “Put on perfume where you’d like to be kissed.” Advice from an expert should never be ignored. Three sprays for Eau de Parfum or five sprays from Eau de Toilette perfumes should be more than enough.
4. Don’t spray perfume directly into your hair. Some hair products might react to the fragrance negatively causing strong odors.
5. If you did all the right steps and you still don’t smell like you want to, don’t reapply your favorite scent. It is most likely that your olfactory glands are already used to the fragrance, therefore not recognizing it. Solution: Vary your scent from time to time. Expand your perfume wardrobe.

So there you have it, Big Discount’s helpful tips on perfume wearing. Now you have one less thing to worry about, and more time to pamper yourself with your favorite fragrance. Enjoy!