Many people are unaware that perfume application tips exist and should be used. Have you ever tried heading for the perfume section of a department store then proceeded to spray various brands on different parts of your arm? Even if you sprayed one scent on just one part of your arm (like one brand on your wrist and another brand on your forearm), if you have sprayed around four brands total, you will probably find yourself getting confused as to which brand is best for you. The simple scientific reason for this is that your two vital senses for choosing perfume (which are the interconnected sense of smell and the sense of taste) will have been overloaded by the sheer amount of fragrance reaching them.



To avoid this sensory overload, the first of the perfume application tips is: rely on fragrance blotters. These are minute porous cards that the perfume sales staff will give you so you can label them with the name of the scent on one side then spray the perfume on the other. This is one way by which the different scents avoid mixing together when they are emitted from the cards and you can rest your nose by breathing plain air in between card sniffs.

The second of the perfume application tips is: wait before sniffing. The perfume substance you sprayed on the card has to sit awhile (maybe a few minutes) before you can get the proper effect. You literally cannot spray then sniff in two swift motions. Also, by sniffing at once, you accidentally wind up snorting up the substance itself into your nose which may be quite painful if it reaches your mucous membranes.

The third of the perfume application tips is: change direction for awhile. Meaning, try smelling something a bit different, like maybe your own body odor (yes, one expert says you should try sniffing your armpit) to change the way your nose is smelling or how receptive it is to scent. This helps you prevent nose fatigue.

The fourth of the perfume application tips is: try not to test out too many perfumes at one time. For one thing, you probably will not have enough money to buy more than one or two bottles per visit to the perfume counter anyway (unless you are fantastically rich and can afford multiple visits, in which case, good for you.) But if you limit your choice between two to three types of perfume only, your nose gets a chance to be more discerning as to what impression it gets about a fragrance.

The fifth of the perfume application tips is: once you have narrowed down your selection for this visit to just two or three, you may dispense with the porous cards and just spray on a small part of your arm. Try spraying each type of perfume on an area distinctly different from where the other perfumes were sprayed ? meaning, put some distance between them. Or maybe you can spray one on each arm (which makes for a more reliable sniffing test.)

The sixth of the perfume application tips is: if you notice that the smell about the place (meaning, the perfume retail counter itself) seems to be heavy with scent ? even many scents combined ? you would be better off coming back in the early morning when the perfume counter opens. At that time of day, there will probably be no or few customers trying out perfume so the air is not yet saturated with different trial scents. An atmosphere with many combined scents is just as confusing to your nose as trying on many scents on yourself.

The seventh of the perfume application tips is: trust your instincts. If you have a companion who is insistent that you buy one brand and type of perfume because he happens to like it, but your gut (meaning your nose) tells you it probably would not suit you, then recommend to your friend that you would like to go somewhere else (until he forgets all about his obsession about that type of perfume.) A perfume which does not suit you is a waste of money, and you will probably regret buying it anyway.