11 Surprising Hacks To Make Your Perfume Last All Day Long

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December 14, 2021 — 22:05 PM

Oh, the allure of the signature scent. Isn’t it magical to enter a room, the smell of sandalwood, or jasmine, or bergamot announcing your arrival? Which, we’ll admit, is a little difficult to accomplish if your perfume wears off after only a couple of hours. It’s a common gripe with clean fragrances: These often don’t have the same longevity as traditional products, as they tend to skip a lot of the preservatives and stabilizers that help the potion last longer—both on the skin and on the shelf. 

It’s a small price to pay for safer fragrance but, still, a bummer nonetheless. However! A few handy tricks can help your clean perfume last longer; it just may take some more time to get the most out of the juice. And honestly? Slowing down to connect with your fragrance only adds to the transformative experience—so we’d consider it a total win. 

There’s actually a functional reason why we tend to apply perfume on our pulse points (like the insides of your wrists and elbows, behind your ears, on your neck, the back of your knees, etc.): The skin is the thinnest at those points, which means it’s closer to your blood and body heat, explains celebrity makeup artist Rosie Johnston, founder of by/rosie jane. As the fragrance warms, the aroma process begins. 

Cat Chen, founder of clean fragrance brand Skylar, explains further: “All your pulse points are like little radiators,” she tells mbg. “The warmth helps to diffuse the fragrance.” 

Once you apply on your pulse points it may feel instinctive to rub your wrists or elbows together to blot the fragrance (especially if your skin feels pretty damp). But both Chen and Johnston advise against it: “The rubbing together is considered a big perfume no-no,” Johnston says. “It just makes the top notes burn off a little quicker.” 

If you would like to blend two fragrances together—or would like to blot away some of the juice—try tapping your wrists together instead of creating friction. You can also dab your wrist up your arm, onto your neck, or anywhere you’d like to deposit some scent without messing with its longevity. 

Since applying perfume on your pulse points helps radiate the scent, why not apply it on where your pulse is strongest? “If you have [fragrance] at your heart, you can smell it a lot,” says Chen. “The fragrance will travel up; your heart will act as a diffuser.” 

Chen also recommends using fragrance in an intention-setting practice: “You can get ready for the day by putting fragrance at your heart, which is linked to how you feel,” she explains. Then whenever you catch a whiff of that fragrance from your heart’s center, you’ll be subtly reminded of those intentions. 

A quick Google search might leave you with this clever little hack: Spritz on a perfume right after a shower, as the steam helps open up the aroma. Both Chen and Johnston give this tip a stamp of approval, for a couple of reasons: “When you get out of the shower, your skin and body temperature is high,” says Johnston (and we know that heat helps diffuse the fragrance). Plus, your skin is clean and free from sweat and excess oil, which can buffer the fragrance. “Your pores are open, and your skin is hydrated naturally from the water—and hydrated skin holds fragrance,” notes Johnston. 

Of course, you don’t want to spritz on a perfume while your skin is sopping wet. Johnston recommends patting dry, coating your body with a moisturizer to trap in all that hydration, then spritz a little fragrance. “You have this beautiful foundation of clean, hydrated skin,” she says. 

If you have a scented body oil and/or lotion, layering it under your perfume can enhance the fragrance and keep your skin hydrated, which inherently makes both aromas last longer. Some brands will even offer a body oil and perfume duo for this very reason, but you could always choose separate products with scents that complement each other well. 

You can also layer your perfumes, if you choose: “When different scent notes hit together, then you have an even more robust collection of top, middle, and bottom notes. That definitely helps to make the fragrance last,” Chen says. (Although, she recommends layering no more than three perfumes, or else they’ll start to smell very similar.)

Roll-on perfume oils, generally, are much more concentrated, as you apply them directly onto the pulse points, rather than spritzing them into the air. “It’s much more reactive to the heat of your natural body temperature,” says Johnston. Plus, these are typically formulated with more fragrance itself: “At by/rosie jane, our eau de parfum is traditionally between 25 and 30% fragrance, but our oils are between 50 and 100% perfume,” she continues. 

Perfume oils also typically contain carriers like jojoba or coconut oil, which hydrate the skin simultaneously—and hydrated skin, as we mentioned, can help a fragrance last. Finally, they’re easy to throw into your bag for touch-ups later on, if you notice the scent starting to drift off. 

“All of your base notes are going to last longer,” says Johnston. “Your vanillas, your wood notes, sandalwood, cedarwood, anything like that will last longer on the skin.” Whereas floral and citrus top notes are ones you tend to smell right away but are gone the quickest. That said, if you have a floral-forward fragrance, know that it might not last as long as one with some strong bottom notes. 

Says Chen, you might want to look for gourmand fragrances (which include “edible” notes like honey, vanilla, chocolate, etc.), as these last an “incredibly long amount of time.” Check out our full notes hierarchy guide, if you’re curious. 

Yes, perfume expires. And if your bottle is past its prime, that means most of the fragrance has evaporated and it won’t last as long on your skin—plus, it’s not such a good idea to keep using a rancid perfume, anyway. 

Basically, perfume expires when it interacts with air, heat, and sunlight, and if there aren’t too many alcohols and stabilizers in the formula to keep it fresh (clean fragrances tend to skip many of these), this process can happen quicker. You don’t want to extend the shelf life too much—if it’s expired, there’s a reason—but you can get the most out of your fragrance by storing it in a cool area away from sunlight (note: not your bathroom) and always topping the fragrance when you’re finished with the spritz. 

See here for more tips on how to keep your fragrance fresh and how to know when it’s time to replace it.  

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