How to apply perfume: where to spray and how much
Where you spray changes how a perfume smells on you. A few small habits make the same perfume smell clearer. None of them takes more than a minute.
Start with clean, dry skin
Perfume sits well on skin that is clean and dry. The easiest moment is after a shower, once you have toweled off. Very dry skin lets go of scent quickly, so if yours is dry, put on an unscented lotion and spray over it.
Spray where the skin is warm
The wrists, the sides of the neck and the inside of the elbows are warm, and warmth helps a scent open up. Choose two of these places. You do not need all of them, and more places does not mean a nicer smell. Behind the ears works as well if you wear your hair up.
Keep a little distance
Hold the bottle about a hand's length from your skin. At that distance the spray lands as a light mist over a wide patch. Sprayed too close, it collects in one wet spot and takes longer to dry.
Let it dry on its own
There is no need to rub your wrists together. Rubbing can hurry the top notes along. Give it a minute to dry, and then get dressed.
How much is enough
Start with two sprays. After a while you stop noticing your own perfume, well before the people around you do, so not smelling it is no reason to add more. In a small room, an elevator or a restaurant, less is kinder. Hot, humid weather carries a scent further, so go lighter at midday and add a spray in the evening if you like.
Clothes and hair
Perfume tends to stay longer on fabric than on skin, and it smells a little different there because cloth does not warm it the way skin does. Try a hidden corner before you spray a shirt, since some perfumes mark silk and pale fabrics. Hair holds scent too. Mist the air in front of you and walk through it, which is gentler than spraying straight onto your hair.
Topping up during the day
If you want to refresh your perfume later on, one spray on the wrists is enough. A small travel bottle is easier to carry than the full one, and it lets the large bottle stay at home, away from the heat.
One more habit
NOTE suggests putting on perfume before your jewelry. That way the spray reaches your skin and not your jewelry.