Makeup & nails

Fragrances: 5 fragrance faux pas

From how you choose a scent to how you store and wear it, are you making all the right moves, or wasting precious fragrance?

by : Karen Kwan- Feb 14th, 2012

Coco Chanel is quoted as saying, “A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.” Fragrance fanatics will likely agree. Either way, a more precise statement might refer to a woman
wearing a perfume
the right way, because there is indeed a right and a wrong way when it comes to fragrance, in how you shop for it, wear it and store it. Find out here if you’re guilty of any of these fragrance gaffes.

Fragrance faux pas #1: Storing your perfume in the bathroom

“The temperature changes in a bathroom (from the heat from the shower) will cause your fragrance to oxidize and change,” says Marian Bendeth, a global fragrance expert with Sixth Scents. You should keep it in a cool, dark place such as a drawer or in its box, she says, although this does mean you do lose out on lining your bathroom counter with pretty, elegant perfume bottles. Worth the sacrifice though.

Fragrance faux pas #2: When shopping for a fragrance, you sniff the atomizer head or lid

“You’re not getting the full scent when you do this, only the top notes and alcohol,” says Bendeth. The best way to shop for a fragrance is by testing the fragrance on clean, bare skin. “When you put it on your skin, it will change and react to your body chemistry,” she says. She suggests putting it on your inner wrist and leaving it for an hour before smelling it to determine if you like this scent for yourself. Avoid tapping or rubbing your wrists together (“this will affect the fragrance compounds,” she says).

Fragrance faux pas #3: Wearing fragrance in your hair and on your clothes

“Don’t spray fragrance into the air and walk into the mist,” says Bendeth. Fragrance can stain your clothes and change the scent. As fro spraying it in your hair, the mix of your hair’s natural oils and fragrance are simply not designed to be worn together. She recommends holding the bottle six inches from your skin and applying two sprays on each wrist. (Add one to your neck if you wish).

6 sexy scents to try now.

More fragrance faux pas on the next page (hint don’t buy the fragrance you love for your friend!) …

Fragrance faux pas #4: Having a signature fragrance

“This is passé and seriously boring thinking,” says Bendeth. There are multiple sides to your personality and different occasions that call for different scents. You wouldn’t want to wear a sporty scent to a wedding, for example, or a sexy one to the office. She recommends a fragrance wardrobe consisting of two daytime fragrances and two nighttime fragrances for each summer and winter (so a total wardrobe of eight fragrances if you’re looking at the calendar year).

Fragrance faux pas #5: Buying a fragrance you love for a friend

When you choose a perfume for a friend, you don’t want to give them something that says “I’d wear this,” says Bendeth. Fragrance is such a personal choice. When trying to select one as a gift, find out what they currently wear and determine what fragrance family they tend to gravitate towards. Find out what two or three notes they tend to favour, too, and you’ll be more successful in choosing one they’ll love, versus one you love.