Where and how you apply your fragrance makes a massive difference in how long it lasts from morning until evening.

• Moisturize first: Apply an unscented body lotion or a tiny dab of petroleum jelly to your skin before spraying. Hydrated skin acts like a primer and locks in fragrance oils, whereas dry skin simply absorbs the liquid and burns off the scent quickly.

• Target your pulse points: Focus your sprays on the inside of your wrists, the base of your neck, your inner elbows, and even behind your knees. Your veins sit closest to the skin in these areas, emitting natural body heat that acts like a diffuser to project the scent.

• Let it air dry: Never rub your wrists together! This is a very common mistake. Rubbing creates friction and heat that breaks down the delicate top notes of the fragrance, ruining the intended scent and making it fade much faster.

• Time it perfectly: The absolute best time to apply perfume is right after you towel off from a shower. Your skin is clean, and your pores are slightly open, allowing them to absorb the fragrance molecules perfectly.

Where You Store Your Perfume Matters

Your environment can either preserve your expensive bottles for years or ruin them in a matter of months. Heat, light, and oxygen are a fragrance's three worst enemies.

• The worst places: Keep your bottles out of the bathroom and the car. The steam, high heat, and humidity from your daily showers will degrade the perfume oil rapidly. Similarly, the extreme temperature shifts in a car glovebox will quickly turn a beautiful scent sour.

• The best places: To keep the chemical bonds in your perfume stable, store your bottles in a cool, dark, and dry environment. A bedroom drawer or a dark closet shelf is ideal. Better yet, keep the bottle inside its original cardboard box to completely block out sunlight.

Everyday Habits to Keep in Mind

Keep these general rules in mind to protect your clothes, your hair, and your nose.

• Spraying on clothes: Fabrics hold onto scents significantly longer than skin does. However, be careful—if you are using a dark-colored perfume oil, it can easily stain light-colored clothing.

• Scenting your hair: Hair is incredibly porous and catches scent beautifully as you move. But because standard perfumes contain a lot of alcohol, spraying them directly on your head can dry your hair out. Opt for a dedicated hair mist instead.

• Avoiding the over-spray: If you wear the same fragrance every day, you will likely develop "nose blindness." Your brain eventually tunes the scent out so it can focus on new smells in your environment. Just because you can no longer smell your perfume by noon does not mean everyone else can't!

• Knowing when to toss it: Perfumes do not last forever; an average bottle has a lifespan of about 3 to 5 years. If the liquid drastically changes color, becomes cloudy, or starts smelling sour and metallic, it is time to throw it away.