How to Make Fragrance Last (Without Overdoing It)

Ok, so you don't exactly need a master's degree to put on perfume. But there are a few tricks to help your scent last longer throughout the day without overdoing it. Kevin Verspoor, a perfumer for Drom Fragrances (the nearly 100-year old fragrance house that's created best-selling blends for companies such as Gucci), offers these tips to stay perfectly scented:

1. Know your points.

You've heard a zillion times that you should mist fragrance on your pulse points, but do you know what those are? They're the areas that have the most veins under the skin, which makes them the warmest spots on your body. And heat intensifies fragrance. Familiar spots such as your neck and wrists are great areas to mist, but to really make your scent last, try hitting these other pulse points too:

—the back of the legs, specifically behind your knees
—the area just above your hip bones
—nape of your neck
—cleavage
—small of your back
—insides of the elbows

2. Layer.

Those body wash and lotion versions of your favorite fragrance aren't just for decorating your bedside table. Using them before spritzing on your perfume will help your fragrance last longer and smell more flattering than squirting on endless mists from the bottle. And with that in mind...

3. Go easy.

You don't want to be a human air freshener, so don't continually re-spritz throughout the day. Doing so will not only choke those breathing the air around you, but you won't be able to tell how strong your fragrance is, because your nose adjusts to and neutralizes scent after several minutes (it's the same as when you sniff several fragrances in a row at the department store and suddenly they all smell alike). A good rule of nose: You should be able to smell the fragrance you have on in soft, occasional whiffs. If you can continuously smell it without taking a deep whiff, you overdid it.

-- By Victoria Kirby, Beauty Editor