How to make perfume last longer

Why does a scent fade?

Perfume is fragrance oil dissolved in alcohol. As soon as you spray, everything starts to evaporate, but not all at the same speed. That’s why perfume is described in three layers:

• Top notes: what you smell first, such as citrus and light spices. They are volatile and mostly gone within fifteen minutes to half an hour.
• Heart notes: the character of the scent, often flowers or spices. They stay for a few hours.
• Base notes: woods, amber, vanilla, musk. Heavier molecules that evaporate slowly and sometimes last until the end of the day.

So a scent built mostly on fresh top notes fades sooner than one with a solid base. There’s more about this structure in our guide to notes and scent families.

Your skin plays a part too. Dry skin holds scent less well, and heat speeds up evaporation. On a hot summer day or in a warm room, a scent goes faster than on a cool autumn day.

Start with your skin

Scent clings better to skin that has some moisture and a little oil. So after a shower, apply an unscented body lotion, or a lotion from the same fragrance line, and spray after that. A lotion with a different strong scent mixes in, and that rarely smells the way it was meant to.

Spray onto clean skin. A new scent on top of yesterday’s, or over a scented deodorant, gives you a blend you didn’t choose.

Where and how much to spray

Warm spots

Spray where blood runs close to the skin: wrists, throat and neck, behind your ears, the inside of your elbows. The skin there is warm, and that warmth lifts the scent gently. Your chest works well too: you smell it better yourself, and under clothing it lasts longer.

Don’t rub

Don’t rub your wrists together after spraying. You only move the scent around, and many people find the fresh opening drops away faster. Just let it dry.

Clothes and hair

Scent lingers in fabric, often longer than on skin. Spray a scarf or the inside of your coat, but test a hidden spot first: some perfumes can discolour light or delicate fabrics such as silk. Scent in your hair smells lovely too, but the alcohol can dry it out. Spray once onto a hairbrush instead, or use a dedicated hair mist.

How many sprays?

Two to four is enough for most scents. With a strong parfum or a rich amber scent, two is often plenty. A light eau de toilette can take a few more. More sprays mostly make a scent louder in the first hour, not necessarily longer lasting.

Your nose gets used to it

After a while you smell your own perfume less, or not at all. This is called olfactory fatigue, or “nose blindness”: your brain pushes a scent that’s always there into the background. Other people often still smell it fine.

So don’t top up too soon because you think it has gone. Sniff your scarf or the inside of your wrist after you’ve been outside for a bit, or ask someone nearby.

Choose a stronger concentration

The biggest step is in the bottle itself. The more fragrance oil, the longer a scent usually lasts. An eau de toilette usually holds less oil than an eau de parfum, and a parfum or extrait the most. These are usual ranges, not legal rules, but the direction almost always holds.

Many well-known scents come in several strengths. Bleu de Chanel Eau de Toilette also has an Eau de Parfum and a Parfum. Next to Sauvage Eau de Parfum there is Sauvage Parfum. Yves Saint Laurent has Libre L’Absolu Platine, and Dior has J’adore L’Or Essence de Parfum. Such versions smell related, but not the same: test them separately. We explain the difference in eau de toilette or eau de parfum.

A parfum or elixir often costs more per millilitre, but you also need less of it. Once Eaulie launches, you can compare the versions side by side, with the price per 100 ml.

Which scent families last longer?

As a rule of thumb, scents with a warm, heavy base linger longer than light, fresh ones. It still varies by perfume and by skin, so see it as a direction.

Warm base notes: amber, woods and gourmand

Amber (vanilla, resins, warm spices), woody (sandalwood, cedar, vetiver) and gourmand (sweet, edible notes such as vanilla, caramel or coffee) scents often carry a lot of base notes. Classics such as Guerlain Shalimar Eau de Parfum and Mugler Angel Eau de Parfum are well-known examples, as are Lattafa Khamrah and Le Labo Santal 33.

Fresh and citrus: shorter, but easy to top up

Fresh scents with citrus, green or aquatic notes are lovely in summer, but they usually fade faster. Think of Acqua di Giò Eau de Toilette, Light Blue Eau de Toilette or CK One. Nothing wrong with that: you simply spray again halfway through the day. That’s exactly what they’re good for.

Looking specifically for scents that go the distance? See our selection of long-lasting perfumes.

• Freshcitrus · sea · green
• Floralrose · jasmine · iris
• Woodycedar · sandalwood · vetiver
• Amberoud · resin · spice
• Gourmandvanilla · caramel · coffee
• Aromaticlavender · sage · mint

Tips at a glance

Two things from that table deserve another word. In heat and humidity a scent evaporates faster: in summer, choose a light scent that you top up, and save the heavy ones for cooler months (see our winter selection). And a perfume that sits in warmth and light for months loses its fresh top notes. How to prevent that is in storing perfume.

Common mistakes

• Rubbing your wrists together. Let the scent dry on its own.
• Topping up too soon. You no longer smell it, but the people around you often do.
• Spraying dry skin straight after a hot shower. Moisturise first.
• Keeping the bottle in the bathroom. Heat and moisture make a scent go flat sooner.
• Thinking more sprays means longer wear. A stronger concentration helps more than extra sprays.