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The Right Way to Wear Your Fragrance

By Chidinma Prisca Elebe ([email protected])

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Perfumes make up an essential part of our beauty routine and it’s one of the last things we add to complete our look before we step out for the day’s job or an appointment.

Wearing a perfume should not be done with levity but with some skill and finesse to preserve the integrity of your scent.

Why do we wear perfumes? Why is it necessary to wear perfumes or use a deodorant or body mist/body spray? This simple question can generate a lot of answers from various individuals but we basically wear perfumes for the same reason we wear clothes – confidence. Perfumes can make you feel great about yourself and nobody wants to smell all sweaty and offensive. The same way our clothes portray our personality is exactly the same way our perfumes reveal the kind of persons we are. Sometimes after a clean ensemble, looking all nice and gorgeous, when you pass a person, they tune their senses for what follows afterwards –your scent. I dare say your scent defines you in some way.

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There are certain factors to bear in mind when putting on a fragrance like; the right points to spray, the amount to be sprayed, the type of fragrance to be worn, where they should be worn to and your personality.

The Right Points to Spray: Fragrances sit better on the warmest parts of the skin which are mostly the pulse points. These points include inside the wrists, chest/cleavage, base of the throat, inside the elbows, armpits, midriff, behind the earlobes and knees, even on the ankles surprisingly. These are areas where our veins sit closest to the skin surface.

Ideally, when you use designer perfumes like Chanel, Dior, Tom Ford and the likes of them (other skin friendly perfumes), they can be sprayed directly on the skin. The only challenge with these kinds of fragrances is that they are quite expensive. The skin has a high affinity for oils and this attribute makes the skin an ideal binding channel for oils in perfumes. Please do not try to rub in perfumes after spritzing them to your skin; that way you break the molecules and make the scent dissipate faster. The warm nature of the skin helps diffuse the scent over time. I know by now you could be wondering if it is really safe as stated earlier to spray perfumes directly on your skin, and the answer is yes, but because perfumes that are easily available and affordable around here (Nigeria) are highly concentrated and harsh when they come in contact with the skin, creating a burning sensation or a sting for a moment, we can opt to spray from a distance or on to fabrics if that makes us feel safer.

Besides, fabrics hold perfumes a little longer like the skin and that’s why we still perceive some scents even after laundry.

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The Right Amount: Okay! This is where we say “less is more”. There is no reason to be fully drenched in a whole bottle of perfume. Your perfume should attract people and flatter their sense of smell not the other way round. Your scent should rather be enjoyed and not offend people. It is offensive to use excessive perfume. It is also normal to check the container of the perfume you want to buy, check the concentration of the perfume, for example, body sprays have lower concentration than perfumes.

Check whether you are buying ‘Eau de Parfum’ or ‘Eau de Toilette’. The concentration (heavy/light) of the sprays should be used as a guide on how best to wear them. For Eau de Cologne or Eau de Toilette (these are light and refreshing fragrances which are relatively cheap), use 3-4 sprays but for Eau de Parfum or Perfume or Extrait de Parfum (these are intense and heavy scents which are more expensive and last longer), use 1-2 sprays.

Let us also bear it in mind that there are people around us with certain allergies and you don’t want to keep making people around you sneeze. When you spray excessive perfumes, you can also distract people from paying attention to your person. Specifically, wear a less saturated fragrance when going to a work place or for an interview so that your personality and skills will be the focus not your fragrance.

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The Right Way: Perfumes are better worn after a bath, best over a body lotion or a petroleum jelly to help preserve the scent and hold it from sinking into the skin pores. Perfumes can be used over body a lotion, that is immediately after applying your body lotion on the skin, perfumes can be sprayed for better attachment. A moisturized skin keeps the bouquet longer so it’s best to spray perfumes the moment you finish having a bath because your body is warm especially after a warm bath. This advice goes before saying that you shouldn’t use perfumes to cover bad odour. In a case of highly concentrated or harsh perfume, spray from about 5-8 inches away from the skin to avoid burning and any form of discomfort. This can also be applied when spraying on to jewelries or fabrics so that they do not get damaged by discoloration. Avoid applying oil based perfumes directly on your clothes because it can leave unpleasant stains behind but apply rather to the skin. Perfumes sprayed on dry skins are rather short lived. The lotion or petroleum jelly or body oil should be unscented or mildly scented so that it doesn’t interact badly with your perfume.

Also use a less scented deodorant with your perfume so that they don’t give out a weird mix of fragrance. It is also nice to consider the fragrance of your body lotion when using perfumes because sometimes you might be using a body cream with a fragrance that can greatly prevent the full expression of your perfume. A clear example is shea-butter (okuma/ ori), when you are using unrefined shea-butter, you might have to consider a stronger perfume because of its unique smell.

Classes of Fragrances
There are different kinds of fragrances available but people choose the ones they prefer and connect with. Two individuals might not love the same fragrance because of the way they each feel about it. The human sense of smell is amazing and that’s why perfumes affect us on a psychological and physical level. It is said that Queen Cleopatra normally walks across a room filled with rose petals so the floral scent clings to her body in preparation to meet the King.

A pleasant- and sweet-smelling perfume can evoke feelings of happiness in people. The use of perfume is a form of self expression; it shows who you are because some fragrances differentiate a person from another.

Fragrances commonly found in perfumes include:

Fresh: Perfumes with fresh fragrances contain notes of fresh/green fruits such as citrus, lemon, pineapple etc
Floral: Perfumes in this category are blends of flowers such as rose, jasmine, violet, lily and lavender. These set of perfumes can be alluring and seductive. They envelope the person wearing them in the light sweetness

Oriental: These perfumes are believed to originate from places far away than we can imagine. They have exotic fragrances and the most common fragrance in this category is cinnamon, vanilla and spices. These scents are common among the people that dare to be different.

Creating a Signature Scent

You can also create a signature scent for yourself by layering/mixing different fragrances that can complement each other – light and heavy (for example a regular body spray and a perfume).

There is no reason that you cannot layer or mix two fragrances to achieve a unique scent because when you use one perfume over a long time you become too accustomed to the scent and will be tempted to spray more than required.

Preservation Tips

Perfumes should be stored away from the reach of sunlight, light, bathrooms, damp environments and away from places that are hot.

They can be stored in the boxes they came in or in darker places for better preservation.

My two cents: If you sweat too much, don’t forget to purchase an anti-perspirant and wear darker or neutral colours to hide the sweat.