When applied correctly, and in the right context, perfume can be the best accessory to any outfit. Find the perfect fragrance that fits your personality, the occasion, and that mingles well with your natural body scents.

  Try Before You Buy

• Avoid purchasing your perfume based on commercials, its bottle shape, or reviews in beauty magazines. Each perfume mixes with your distinct chemistry, so it smells different on everyone. Find the one that complements your natural smells. Also, only try on a few at a time; after more than two or three perfumes are on your body, they start to mix.

Wait Before You Buy

• Do not purchase your perfume right after you buy it. The base notes of the fragrance last the longest. The top notes are what you smell right after you spray it, and the middle notes come next. Therefore, the base notes are the most important when it comes to picking out a fragrance, and you don’t have a clear idea of this until an hour or more later, after you leave the store.

Oily Skin Is Ideal

• For longer lasting perfume, apply on oily skin. If you have dry skin, apply a fragrance-free moisturizer first, or use an eau de perfume rather than an eau de toilette, which is stronger and lasts longer. Another option for people with dry skin is to apply moisturizer and/or use shower gel with the same scent as your perfume, so the smells are layered. Because hair is particularly oily, it’s best to avoid spraying perfume in your hair, as it likely smells different than it does on your skin. If you must, it’s best to spray perfume on recently-washed hair.

Apply to Pulse Points

• The body’s pulse points — the insides of the wrist, throat, behind the ears, inside the elbows, and behind the knees — radiate heat, so they project the fragrance the most, and are the places most likely to mix with your own scent. Don’t rub or press together your pulse points where you’ve applied perfume; doing so mutes its scent.

Avoid Clothes and Jewelry

• Most perfumes can stain fabrics, or strip or tarnish jewelry. Ideally, apply perfume just after you’ve stepped out of the shower so your open pores absorb the odor.

Avoid Reapplying

• Your own nose becomes less sensitive over time, but other people’s don’t. Do not apply more fragrance, since other people can most likely still smell it.

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