No matter whether you are male or female, wearing a fragrance is probably part of your everyday routine. It can complete an outfit perfectly and sets the mood, whether it’s a special occasion or just going about your usual business.

Despite spritzing yourself on a daily basis, how much do you really know about your perfume collection? Are you clued up on the best way to apply your perfume, or are you making a fragrance faux pas? Here we debunk 5 of the most widespread perfume myths, to help you get the most out of your fragrance.

1. Rubbing perfume in your skin will make it last longer

Many of you have probably sprayed your wrists and then rubbed them together, with the hope of ‘rubbing in’ the scent to make it last longer. Unfortunately, this could actually be ruining your perfume. The rubbing action will cause friction and heat, which creates enzymes that will affect the scent.

Rubbing the perfume in can dull down the smell. If you’re hoping to make your fragrance last longer and with its truest scent, simply just spray on to your wrists and leave to dry by itself!

2. Perfumes don’t expire

The idea of a perfume having an expiry date is probably not one that you have considered. Perhaps the bottle doesn’t last long enough for the thought to cross your mind. However, perfume can expire or go off, and it is largely based on how you store your fragrances.

It’s important to keep your perfumes away from direct sunlight and heat. In particular, fragrances don’t like going from cold to hot; it can age the perfume quicker and the original scent will change.

In general, your perfume likes to be used fairly quickly and not sat in the bottle. This is because half-empty bottles leave room for oxygen to break down the scent.

3. Spraying your perfume through the air is better for applying

Many of you may have gotten into the habit of spraying your perfume into the air and walking through it, almost creating a fragrance mist. While you may think this is an efficient way to douse yourself, it can actually have the opposite effect.

You might be wasting more perfume than you end up wearing, and by following this method your skin doesn’t actually come into direct contact with your chosen fragrance. It is best applied by spraying the perfume or aftershave straight on to your skin. Some of the best places for application include wrists, the inside of your elbow and even behind your ears!

4. All you need is a test strip to decide on your perfume

Choosing your next fragrance can be very difficult, so it’s no wonder that you end up walking round clutching a handful of test strips. However, samples of perfume sprayed on a piece of card don’t often give you a true idea of the scent. This is because perfume can smell differently on everyone’s skin, and the fragrance will change over the course of a few hours.

Test strips are often smelled straight away and usually discarded based on your initial reaction. The truth is that you should test a perfume on your wrist and smell it throughout the hours that follow, to make sure you love every aspect of the fragrance as you go about your day. 

5. The greater the strength of your perfume, the better

The strength of a perfume refers to the concentration of fragrance oils in the bottle. The strength can also have an impact on how long the fragrance is likely to last. Eau de parfum is usually the strongest, with between 10-20% of perfume oil. Fragrances of this type usually last around 8 hours.

The least strongest is eau fraiche, with around 1-3% of fragrance oil and only last a couple of hours.

No strength is better than the other; it is very much dependent on personal preference and can be handy to understand in order for you to choose the right fragrance for you.