Try This Hack To Make Your Perfume Last 10x Longer (Even On Sweaty Days)

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April 26, 2022 — 10:03 AM

How can you make your perfume last longer? We’ve uncovered more than a few ways—not to mention some common mistakes that can make your fragrance evaporate within the hour. But with warmer weather well on its way, you might be looking for extra tips to increase your perfume’s longevity (summer sweat, after all, can easily get in the way of your signature scent). 

Enter, fragrance layering: To keep your perfume from wearing off, experts recommend spritzing on top of a hydrating body lotion, ideally one with a bright, sophisticated scent. 

This tip works twofold: First, fragrance lasts longer on well-hydrated skin. That's because a healthy, moisturized lipid barrier offers more natural oils for the fragrance to cling to—whereas the juice will simply dissipate on skin that's dry and cracked. So if you have a rich and creamy formula with moisturizing oils and butters, go ahead and slather on; it will grab onto the fragrance and help the perfume leave a stronger trace. 

However, if you want to take this tip a step further, you could always try your hand at fragrance layering. Meaning, grab a scented body oil or lotion and layer it underneath your perfume—not only can it keep your skin hydrated (which makes the aroma last longer) but the added notes can enhance your fragrance experience, too. Some brands will even offer a body oil and perfume duo for this very reason, but you could always choose separate products with scents that complement each other well.

"When different scent notes hit together, then you have an even more robust collection of top, middle, and bottom notes. That definitely helps to make the fragrance last," says Cat Chen, founder of clean fragrance brand Skylar. 

If you’re looking for a scented body lotion to layer, feel free to check out our list of favorites. Or might we suggest our neroli postbiotic body lotion? It offers the freshest, most subtle aroma: For top notes, you’ll smell bergamot, ylang-ylang, and petitgrain. In the middle, neroli is the predominant note, and the base is warm cedarwood. 

I consider it the skin scent of body lotions: Skin scents, if you’re unaware, are a subtler, cozier alternative to the more elegant, high-impact perfumes—sort of like the "no-makeup makeup" of fragrance. "In order for someone else to even smell them, they have to be pretty close to you," says celebrity makeup artist Rosie Johnston, founder of by/rosie jane, and I find that mbg’s fragranced formula subtly clings to the body in a similar way. Then when I layer a skin scent perfume on top of it, the two mingle together and offer a slightly stronger, more enchanting edge.