When applying perfume, we’re all worried if we’re not spraying way too much. However beautiful your scent may be, you don’t want those close to you to drown in it. So, how many sprays of perfume should you use?
You want to use five sprays of perfume. Go with one spray behind each ear, one spray on the left side of your neck, one spray on the right side of your neck, and one spray on the back of your neck. This ensures that the perfume will linger around you, but you’ll also leave a scent trail behind you.
This five spray routine works for pretty much every single perfume. But not every perfume is the same. Some are much stronger than others, and thus they require fewer sprays. In this article, we’ll cover everything from how many sprays to use, to where to spray them. This way, you’ll never be ‘that guy’ who wears way too much!
What Is The Perfect Number Of Perfume Sprays To Use
Finding the right number of sprays to use can actually be a lot more difficult than you would imagine. Of course, you want to smell amazing, but you also don’t want to use too much and drown out those near you. After asking many fragrance-lovers, I found that the most commonly used routine is the five-spray-routine.
With the five-spray-routine, you apply one spray behind each ear, one spray on each side of your neck, and one spray on the back of your neck. This ensures that every angle of you is covered in fragrance, but it also ensures that you don’t need to apply 10+ sprays. With just these 5 sprays, you’re good to go without offending anyone!
However, the number of sprays is also something of a personal matter. Five sprays can be a bit much, depending on the person. If you don’t feel comfortable with applying five sprays, you can always go less. Here are a few spray routines to use if you find 5 sprays to be too many:
Applying one spray of perfume:
- One spray on the front of your neck.
Applying two sprays of perfume:
- One spray on the left side of your neck.
- One spray on the right side of your neck.
Applying three sprays of perfume:
- One spray on the left side of your neck.
- One spray on the right side of your neck.
- One spray on the back of your neck.
Applying four sprays of perfume:
- One spray on the left side of your neck.
- One spray on the right side of your neck.
- One spray behind your left ear.
- One spray behind your right ear.
All of the routines listed above are great, although I would recommend always going with a minimum of 2 sprays. Just like how owning only one perfume cannot possibly cover every season and occasion, one spray isn’t really capable of covering every area of your body.
With just one spray on your neck, you’ll have to apply from the front. By doing this, you’ll miss most of your veins, which are giving off the heat that projects the perfume in the air. Alternatively, you could spray on only one side of your neck, but then you’d smell ‘uneven’. With two sprays, this is immediately remedied!
The Number Of Sprays Also Depends On Your Perfume
Aside from personal preference, there are a few more things to keep in mind when applying your perfume. And that’s the fact that not every perfume is the same. Some perfumes are simply much stronger than others. This could be because of many things; the difference in concentration of scented oils and the type of scent being the most common.
Firstly, you should know that there are many different types of perfume types. You have Eau Fraiche, Eau De Toilette, Eau De Cologne, Eau De Parfum, and Parfum, from least strong to strongest. These all have a different ratio of scented oils to alcohol. Naturally, the more scented oils, the stronger the scent will be.
We’ve written an extensive article about each of these types of fragrances, their differences, and their strengths, which you can find here!
If you own an Eau De Parfum, you might want to use fewer sprays than you would if you owned an Eau De Toilette. Eau De Parfums are naturally stronger, so you’ll need less of it.
There’s also the case that certain scents come across stronger. One spray of a citrus-based perfume comes across much softer than one spray of a vanilla-based perfume. When you’re applying your favorite scent, ask yourself, is this already a naturally strong scent?
Whether it’s sweet or citrusy, the type of scent also ties back to one last factor. And that’s the weather. If you’re wearing a fragrance during the winter, the low temperatures will soften the scent. If you’re wearing a fragrance during the summer, the warm temperatures will strengthen the scent.
Weather is of great influence on fragrances, so always keep that in mind. If you’re wearing a sweet perfume during the winter, you might need the typical five sprays. But if you’re wearing the same perfume during the summer, you might only need two sprays.
The same goes for fresher perfumes. In fact, it’s arguably more important here, as fresh fragrances typically aren’t strong enough to pierce through the cold winter temperatures. You will, of course, notice the scent for a little while, but whereas the same perfume lasts six hours during the summer, it could start to fade away after an hour during the winter.
What Are The Best Spots To Spray Your Perfume
You want to apply your perfume on the heat points of your body. These are the places where your veins run close to the skin, warming up the area. The warmth of your veins will strengthen the scent, ensuring a nice scent throw. Popular heat points are your wrists, neck, and behind the ears.
The heat points are the main reason I recommend always spraying your neck and behind your ears! These places are much warmer points on your body, so they’ll carry the fragrance much, much better.
Other heat points are:
- Shoulders
- Forearms
- Knees
- Ankles
Spraying perfume on your knees or ankles, however, isn’t really logical. Not only will you have clothes covering these areas, but they’re also near the ground. This means the scent lingers near the ground, so most people won’t even notice it.
The same goes for your shoulders. You’ll also have clothes covering your shoulders, so the scent is trapped beneath it. Still, the shoulders are a nice place to spray, just not the most optimal.
One more downside to spraying your scent on places that clothes will cover is that the clothes will move against your skin. This causes friction that could break down the scent molecules faster. It’s the same reason why you shouldn’t apply perfume on one wrist and rub your wrists together. The friction is sure to lead to a shorter lifespan of your scent.
As for your forearms, this is almost the same as spraying on your wrists. The only downside to this is that the scent will be stuck on your arms. Again, your arms are hanging lower, way from the nose. For optimal use, you should spray your perfume a little higher on the body.
Should You Reapply Perfume?
If your perfume starts to fade away throughout the day, you should reapply. Reapplying your perfume is a great way to smell amazing throughout the day, especially if you have a shorter-lasting fragrance. You’re best off taking a small travel-sized bottle with you for easy carrying.
Reapplying your favorite perfume throughout the day is an amazing way to smell good all day long. It’s especially important if you have a perfume that doesn’t last that long. If you have a lovely bottle of Eau De Toilette, it isn’t uncommon for it to start fading away after 3-5 hours. When that happens, just apply a bit more!
Of course, you don’t want to take a full-sized bottle with you all the time, so make sure to transfer some of your perfume into a smaller container. There are many 2ml,5ml, or even 10ml spray bottles you can purchase. Just spray your perfume into these bottles, and you’re good to go!
Do keep in mind that there’s something called ‘nose fatigue’. This basically means that your nose is tired of the scent and your brains start to filter it out. When this happens, you yourself probably won’t smell the perfume anymore (or at least not as strong), but the people around you still will.
To make sure your perfume has actually faded away, just ask someone if they can still smell it. Or if you don’t want to do that, get to know your perfume. If you know five sprays of your perfume last approximately six hours, you can reapply when six hours have passed!
What Happens If You Spray Too Much Perfume
There is nothing wrong with spraying too much perfume. It might not be the most enjoyable for you or the people around you, but there is no risk related to spraying too much perfume. Just be careful when applying and you won’t have any issues regarding overapplying.
We’ve all had it happen before at least once; spraying way too much perfume. It sucks, but luckily, aside from smelling like a walking perfume shop, there’s nothing to be worried about. Overapplying can easily happen if you just purchased a new perfume and don’t know how strong it comes across.
To avoid overapplying in such a situation, just go easy on the sprays the first couple of times. Get familiar with the perfume, see how long it lasts, how far it projects, and how strong it comes across.
If you do happen to overapply, there are a few things to do. The first is just to suck it up and accept the fact you sprayed too much. But you can also try to wash it off. Some perfumes, though, are pretty tough to scrub away. Still, washing it off can result in a less strong scent.
On the other hand, though, there are also people that advocate spraying a lot. Tom Ford is a prime example of this. In his words:
My method is to wear a lot of fragrance. Many people think that you should apply fragrance lightly. Why? If you have a scent that you love, why not be generous with it? Why smell only ‘a little bit good’, when you can smell great.
Tom Ford’s Three rules of fragrance
What Tom Ford says here is to apply generously. Not that you should overapply and drown out those close to you. Wear the scent with confidence and you can easily get away with applying a little bit more! Be proud when you wear it; you smell amazing!
But there are also other ways to increase your scent’s strength. One of those is increasing its sillage, the scent trail you leave behind, on which we wrote a complete article that you can find here!
Is It Bad To Wear Perfume Every Day?
Wearing perfume every day is not bad at all. It’s actually recommended. Wearing perfume has many benefits, and smelling great is just one of them. As long as you apply appropriately, there’s nothing wrong with wearing perfume every day.
And why would wearing perfume every day be bad? There’s nothing wrong with smelling amazing all of the time! If you keep in mind the appropriate number of sprays, there really is nothing wrong with it.
In fact, wearing perfume has several benefits. Smelling great is, of course, one of them, but when you wear a fitting fragrance, you’ll be perceived as more attractive, more confident, and more professional. We wrote an extensive article about the benefits of perfume, which you can find here!
If you want to read more about wearing perfume every day and the benefits of it, you can read this article that goes more in-depth on the topic!