How do I make my fragrance last longer? It’s a question that keeps both perfumers and perfume-wearers up at night. 

The longevity of a fragrance isn’t necessarily an indicator of its quality, but we typically wear perfume because we like how it smells — we want to get whiffs of it throughout the day. To not be able to smell the perfume we’ve chosen to wear kind of defeats the purpose. 

But as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever — perfume included. A spritz of your favorite scent will inevitably fade over the course of the day, but there is something that can help slow down that process: a perfume primer.

Over the past year or so, an increasing number of fragrance brands, from House of Bō to Future Society, have released scentless sprays meant to extend the longevity of your perfume.

But do fragrance primers actually work? Ahead, experts weigh in on the art of making your perfume last.

Not all fragrances are created equal

Perfumers work with an incredible number of natural and synthetic olfactory molecules, some of which are more tenacious than others. All fragrances have top, middle, and base notes, categorized by how quickly they evaporate from the skin after spritzing, and thus become “un-smellable.” 

“Your top notes are the first to go and are usually lighter and more volatile: think citruses,” says Emma Vernon, host of “Perfume Room,” a podcast on all things fragrance. “Base notes – think woods, mosses, resins – last longest and are ultimately what you’re left smelling hours into the wear of a perfume.”

The concentration of perfume oil in a fragrance also helps determine its longevity. Extrait de parfums generally contain between 20 and 30 percent perfume oil and tend to stick around the longest; eau de parfums are diluted to around 15 percent perfume oil; eau de toilettes five to ten percent. 

Stay hydrated

So, how do perfume primers work? “One of the main factors in how long fragrance lasts on the skin is whether your skin is sufficiently moisturized,” says perfumer Beckielou Brown, co-founder of Altra. Dry skin will absorb the perfume oil in a fragrance, causing it to dissipate faster, while moisturized skin creates a base that perfume oil can cling to.

Most perfume primers are essentially spray-on lotions that moisturize and create a barrier between your skin and your scent. This, according to Brown, helps minimize chemical reactions between a perfume and your skin’s natural oils, sweat, and pH level.

Future Society, a fragrance brand that imagines the scent of extinct flowers, launched a perfume primer in January that has garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews. The product, Optimal Habitat, is formulated with moisturizing agents like ceramides and Sr-Hydrozoan Polypeptide. 

It also contains arginine and citric acid, which help lower your skin’s pH level. “This, in turn, extends the wear time of your fragrance,” says Christina Baio, Future Society’s head of product development. “Skin with a higher, more alkaline pH will not retain fragrance as well. Lots of factors can raise the pH of your skin to be more alkaline, like using hard water when you shower, so applying our primer prior to fragrance sets a balanced foundation for scents.”

To buy or not to buy?

Vernon encourages anyone considering buying a perfume primer to temper their expectations. No perfume primer will magically transform your eau de toilette into an extrait, Vernon notes, but it might help those faster-evaporating top and middle notes stick around longer.

Vernon is also wary of prescribing specific metrics to primers — it’s impossible to guarantee that a primer will reliably and consistently increase the wear of a perfume by, say, eight hours, or amplify its sillage, or scent trail, by 150 percent.

For Vernon, perfume-enhancing tricks like applying lotion under and over a spritz of fragrance don’t make a noticeable difference. Future Society’s Optimal Habitat is the only primer she’s tried that works: “I’ve found it either helps or is neutral, but it’s never detracted from any scent,” she says. “Optimal Habitat is not a night and day drastic change. But compared to all the tips and tricks that people do discuss, this is the only one that’s had any effect for me, so I will gladly keep using it.”

Perfumer Alie Kiral, founder of Pearfat Parfum, has noticed an uptick in “primer” and “booster” fragrance products. She hasn’t tried any of them, and doesn’t think she’ll invest in the future. “If I am trying to make sure my perfume is detectable, I'll make sure I apply to clean, lotioned skin on the inner crook of my elbows, behind my knees, and on my decolletage,” she says. “That has always worked well for me — why fix it if it isn't broken?”

Work with what you have

If you’re not quite ready to invest in a fragrance primer, there are other tricks you can try. Because your skin’s moisture level can affect the wear of your perfume, Brown recommends applying a layer of oil-based moisturizer (fragrance-free, of course) to the area(s) you typically spray.

You can also add a spritz or two to your clothing. “Your clothes don’t exude body heat to break down or absorb fragrance as your skin does,” Baio says. (Of course, you’ll want to skip this step if your perfume has a deep color to it.)

Lastly, spraying your brush with perfume before running it through your hair (or just spraying your hair directly) can help create a stronger, longer-lasting fragrance cloud around you.