Protect Your Perfume From Summer Sweat With These Spraying Hacks

There's something glorious about long summer days, but it can be hard to feel fresh and composed when the heat really sets in. From prioritizing your lightest, breeziest outfits to searching for a sweat-proof makeup routine, summer demands a few accommodations. As it turns out, even your perfume game may need a tweak.

Here's the thing about summertime and your fragrance collection: Not only do warm-weather perfumes tend to feature lighter scents that fade faster but the summer heat can also make your perfume evaporate even quicker. Plus, your fragrance may have to compete with other seasonal smells like sweat, sunscreen, or chlorine — all of which can muddle its scent.

Long story short, applying perfume for your summertime lifestyle isn't the same as setting and forgetting a winter fragrance. To help your perfume stand up and stand out, you may need to alter your typical approach, from incorporating unscented lotions for scent-preserving hydration to spraying your clothes instead of your skin.

If you want your perfume to last better against sweaty summer days, it couldn't get much easier than this: Simply try spraying your 'fit instead of your usual pulse points. "If you want to get the best of your perfume, I would perfume your clothes," Mathilde Laurent, fragrance expert and Cartier's in-house perfumer, told Who What Wear. "As the skin is warmer, the perfume will always evaporate quicker. ... Perfuming your clothes is a good way to smell it and to keep it on for longer."

As another potential perk, perfuming clothing rather than skin can sidestep the natural interaction between your body chemistry and the scent. "Skin is volatile and everyone's skin is different, so if you want a true reflection of the fragrance, spraying it on your clothes is much better," Mona Kattan, founder of the fragrance brand Kayali, told Refinery29. This quick switch can even help you branch out into tempting scents that may not usually play as well with your unique body chemistry.

For another alternative, Kattan added that misting perfume into your hair can help its scent last even further. Before you start spraying your tresses, though, maybe compare the pros and cons of this trick. Some experts argue that you should never spray perfume on your hair because the scent's harsh alcohols can contribute to dry, frizzy strands, even weakening the hair shaft and encouraging split ends. As such, you may want to ask a trusted hair professional in your life if this trick is right for you and your hair before committing to it.

Bright summer sunshine might be good for the soul, but warm weather can also leach the moisture from your skin. And if your skin is already dry, it loses hydration even faster. With your moisture evaporating so quickly, you might also lose your perfume. (It is a liquid, after all.) To help protect your skin and keep your fragrance in place, a little moisturizing goes a long way.

For instance, petroleum jelly is a viral scent-locking option, but can products like Vaseline really make your perfume last longer? Well, the intense moisture-sealing qualities of Vaseline do help keep your skin hydrated, so applying a layer on your skin before your perfume can help prevent the scent's fast evaporation. However, the Vaseline may dilute your perfume, and some petroleum jellies have their own smell, which may interfere with the purity of your fragrance. Thus, while it could work, petroleum jelly might not be the absolute best option.

Instead, a fragrance-free body lotion may be a better option. "Apply an unscented moisturizer where you're going to apply your fragrance," beauty and wellness content creator Anastazia Dupee advised Bustle. Dupee also suggested applying another layer of the same unscented moisturizer on top of your perfume to keep it in place. There are plenty of fragrance-free options on the market, so you have flexibility in your selection, but if you're looking for a good place to start, check out CeraVe's Daily Moisturizing Lotion, which took home top marks in the moisturizer category of the 2024 Glam Beauty Awards.