Scent Queen: How To Make Your Perfume Last Longer And Stay Stronger

Perfume is an everyday art form.

Spraying on a scent that speaks to you is like a public declaration of the best parts of your personality.

If you're confident, wearing a spicy perfume conveys that attitude to the world. Similarly, a woman who's romantic and sweet can share her worldview by way of a floral fragrance.

But as spicy or sweet as the perfume may be, it sometimes seems to fade almost instantly. Instead of trying to coat yourself in a scent, get smarter about the way you apply it.

The key to perfume wear is subtlety: a lingering scent that those around you can barely detect but not dismiss. Instead of committing to a "more is more" approach, try these tricks for better, more enduring perfume wear.

Maintain a scent-based palette.

The shower is a veritable garden of scents: mint body wash, lemon shampoo and rose face wash.

Sure, you smell like a cherub upon toweling off, but you’ve practically mixed a custom perfume. Instead of aiming for every flower, pick a palette of smells that complement one another.

Layer the fragrances, creating a complex palette of scents that doesn't overwhelm the noses of everyone around you. And for the days you plan to spray just your signature perfume, purchase unscented bar soap.

Time your spritz to your skin.

Applying a spritz of scent before going out smells wonderful, but you may find the fragrant notes fading after an hour or so on the town.

Instead of treating perfume like a last minute addition to your look, plan to apply it earlier in the night.

Directly after a shower, your damp skin is adept at soaking up moisture. You confidently slather on moisturizer or body oil after bathing, so apply that same idea to your fragrance.

After a few quick sprays of your favorite floral scent, the skin will happily soak up the liquid. Soon, you won’t have to even bring your perfume along at night.

Give your scent longevity with oil.

There’s no sweeter smell to you than your shelf of perfumes, but sometimes it feels as if they wear away no matter what you try.

Any fragrance you apply sits on top of your skin, and can often wear away sometime between your morning meeting and late night concert.

Instead of depending on your skin to do all the work, bring in back up. Dab on a touch of body oil or moisturizer in the spots you frequently apply perfume, then spray away. The oil will hold onto the fragrance much longer than your dry skin can.

Find your body’s hot spots.

You may remember your mother swearing by the application of perfume to the insides of the wrists and the neck.

She may not have known why she loved the scent there, but you’re about to outsmart her.

Perfume diffuses best when applied to pulse points, where high blood flow pumps through the body and raises the skin's temperature. The heat, in turn, helps spread the fragrance’s scent.

That means scent works on any hot point in the body: the neck, the oft-forgotten inner elbows and even behind the knees. Actress Halle Berry even swears by spraying a bit on her inner thighs.

You’ll be radiating fragrance in no time.

Keep the friction to a minimum to maintain scent.

Unfortunately for mom, she may have misled you a little. Although women are popularly portrayed rubbing their wrists together after daubing on perfume, that's actually not the correct technique.

Experts warn that the heat and friction between the skin can actually warp the perfume's delicate notes, skipping over some scents that should be released slowly.

The same goes for rollerball perfumes, which can pick up the body's oil and make the formula's scent murky over time. Instead of relying on your fingers or hand, always apply perfume with an atomizer or spray nozzle.

Plan for romance ahead of time.

Most of us have a special bottle of perfume reserved for late nights and candlelit dinners. When that fragrance — it’s more like a love potion, really — gets applied, we get serious.

But, it’s also important to approach a sexy fragrance the right way. As sensual as it smells, perfume isn’t necessarily meant to be tasted.

Before spritzing on pre-date scent, consider what’s likely to get a little lip service. Avoid spraying the perfume on the neck.