BY Yemisi Suleiman

Perfume is an accessory that compliments not only your outfit but your personality, and the way you apply and store fragrances can have a big effect on their shelf life and performance.

Spray on and go is not all there is to putting on perfume, if you’ve been doing that all along, then you are not enjoying the full potential of your fragrance. You should learn how to appreciate fragrances and the best ways to use them, so that they will leave you beautifully scented for longer.

Just in case you are still wondering how to do this, here are a few tips to help in getting the most out of those pricey scents.

1. Test scents properly

Don’t judge a scent immediately after spritzing. When testing a scent, give it a few minutes to settle before making your decision so that you can fully experience how it develops. For an initial impression of the perfume, you should test on a blotter, if you like it, then test it on your skin to make sure that you like how it interacts with your personal body chemistry. Never buy a scent just because you like how it smells on someone else, it may not necessarily smell the same on you.

2. Wear your perfume on pulse points.

Everyone knows the key pulse points where perfume should go; the wrists, insides of the elbows and back of the ears. These places are warm, dabbing your perfume there helps to give off the scent. But there are a few other warm points where you can also put scent on, for instance the top of your back, above the collarbone and your cleavage, especially when wearing clothes that expose these zones.

Your hair is another spot that carries scent well, but don’t put it directly onto hair, since perfume contains alcohol that could dry hair out. Spray it into the air above your head and let the mist land softly on your hair, that way you can achieve a subtle and more even distribution of the fragrance.

3. Wear it on your clothes

When it’s particularly hot outside and you know you won’t be spending much of the day in air-conditioned places, don’t put perfume on skin; spritz it onto your clothes instead. However, to avoid staining your clothes, do the “walk-into-a-mist-of-perfume” trick, it simply means spraying the perfume three or four times in front of you and walk into it. You will still get the same result.

4. Consider storing your perfumes in the refrigerator. Keep your fragrances in the fridge because they should be stored in a cool, dark place. With our kind of weather, heat can change the way your fragrance smells. But if you’re one who likes to put your perfume collection on display, take care to avoid areas that are exposed to sunlight.
5. Layer and moisturise

A good way to extend the lasting power of your perfume is to layer products with the same fragrance. Get the accompanying body lotion and shower gel to your favourite scent and use all of them together for maximum impact.

6. Just 1–2 sprays should be enough.

You want other people to smell your fragrance only when they are physically close to you. Wearing or smelling of too much perfume can be very offensive to those around you, it is equivalent of shouting. So avoid it.

7. Don’t spray on jewelry

Perfumes can ruin jewelry especially pearls, so ensure the atomizer is correctly pointed before you spray.

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YEMISI SULEIMAN
ASST. EDITOR VANGUARD (ALLURE)
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