Making Scent Last

There's nothing worse than spending a considerable amount of money on a perfume that smells great for five minutes and fades from your skin before noon. In some cases it's because you've gone noseblind to your own smell (otherwise known as olfactory fatigue), and the scent is still perceptible, just to those around you. Regardless: you want to smell great, and smell yourself smelling great. Here are a few ways to boost your scent and make it last longer.

Spray on your skin, then on an item of clothing you're wearing. A scarf or a tank top is ideal; some women spray right into their bras. Basically, you want to spray on something that sits close to the skin so that the perfume can interact with the warmth of your body.

Moisturize using a fragrance-free body lotion/cream. Do this before you put on your perfume, ideally right after you get out of the shower. Hydrated skin locks in scent better than dry skin, and the oils in the lotion help give depth to the fragrance, as well. This also works with a dab of a light, scentless oil, like jojoba.

Apply perfume over a matching body lotion. This is extra. Personally, I've never purchased a matching body product, because there are just too many great scents out there and not enough disposable income to go around, but if you love a scent enough to buy a matching body lotion to go with it, that's the winning formula—it pretty much doubles a perfume's longevity.

Just apply liberally. This one goes without saying, but I'm gonna go ahead and say it cause in some circles it's still unorthodox. Perfume nerds call this "spraying yourself wet" — that is, applying 3-4 sprays to the same pulse point. You might think this is a waste, or "too much," but in my experience, it's just enough to permeate a couple of layers of clothing and waft to the surface, giving you a nice little perfume aura. Depends on the perfume, of course. 

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND DOGS, DON'T RUB OR DAB YOUR WRISTS TOGETHER.
The purist in me begs you not to. The friction and pressure from rubbing your wrists together can change the structure of the perfume and cause the top notes to evaporate faster, which means you are RUINING IT (I'm kidding...or am I?) It's like adding hot sauce to a chef's dish before tasting it: sacrilegious.

But, you know. You do you.