Perfume, especially the good stuff, costs a bomb. Naturally you want to preserve anything like this and there are some definitive ways to store and use perfume so that you get the most for your money. Some are common sense, but others depend on very specific factors.

The first rule of perfume storage is to always keep it out of sunlight. Perfume goes musty and 'off' when it's exposed to the sun for too long and it will look dark yellow or orange colored in the bottle if it was previously pale. Preferably you should keep perfume bottles in the dark, even though they do look so lovely that you want them on display. If you can't bear to hide them away then at least choose a corner of the room which doesn't receive sunlight, or put them in a bathroom that is without windows.

There are guidelines on how to wear perfume too, and not just 'this one's cheap, don't wear it'. There's a reason why Women spray their wrists and neck and that's because these areas have the strongest pulse. When blood pulses through it pushes out the scent of whatever is on the skin; if that is perfume then it get sent out into the air, rather than simply sitting on the skin and being absorbed as it may do on the arms. For most people it's habit to spray the wrists and neck, but remember that if you're wearing a turtle neck or high collar top then you could be wasting precious perfume. Spraying perfume into the air and walking through it is good because it gives an overall coverage and especially of your hair, which (as you'll know, when you walk into and then out of a smoky area) traps scents very easily.

Of course spraying on the right parts of your body is good, but not if you've showered or bathed with a soap so strong it overpowers or even undermines the beauty of your perfume. Choose one that compliments your perfume instead, such as lemon soap for a citrus or bergamot tinged scent, or coconut shampoo and conditioner used with a musky, vanilla based fragrance.

Do bear in mind that what you eat makes a difference to how your skin absorbs a perfume too. Eat too much garlic, onions or curry the night before and these smells get trapped in your sweat and will confound the fragrance. While you might not actually smell of garlic specifically, this food detoxes your body and therefore gets purged through the skin and sweat, changing the scent from what it would usually be. If you have a very special perfume that only gets worn at special occasions, plan your meal carefully the day and night before you go out.

Once you've applied all of these guidelines to your perfume wearing and storage you'll be on the path to having your favorite fragrances for as long as you can possibly bear not to use them all up. No more throwing bottles away because they've gone stale or they just don't smell right on you.

Stan Tian

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