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Very bad

Posted by Robin on 14 December 2018 21 Comments

That almost unconscious application habit—misting a little scent on your wrists and then pressing them together before reaching for your neck—is actually “very bad,” says [perfumer Francis] Kurkdjian.

— Yet another article telling women they are doing it wrong: 5 Mistakes Most Women Make When Wearing Perfume—And How to Fix Them at Vogue. I will finish reading it as soon as I'm done rubbing my wrists together.

Filed Under: perfume in the news

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21 Comments

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  1. 50_Roses says:
    14 December 2018 at 10:18 am

    I don’t rub vigorously after applying perfume, but I do lightly spread it around, especially with oils and extraits. Otherwise, there is too much in one small area. The article had a rather glaring (and funny, at least to me) error–it referred to “large 6.8 milliliter” bottles, as well as to smaller “2.4 and 1.2 millilter” bottles. I’m pretty sure they must have meant ounces? Actually, I do wish all perfumes came in a 6.8 mL size.

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    • Robin says:
      14 December 2018 at 10:40 am

      I don’t rub vigorously, but I do rub a bit — old habit, plus, it’s not very bad — all it does is change the rate of evaporation a bit. With some perfumes, that’s a plus!

      If the user doesn’t care, why does Vogue care? None of the advice in the article is bad advice, I just don’t like the “you’re doing it wrong” tone and I am puzzled by the frequency in which beauty magazines scold their own readers this way. Nobody needs more rules about how to use their own products. It ought to be something cheerful and empowering like “5 ways you could use perfume better just in case you don’t have a million more important things to worry about already”

      And yes, I am sure they meant ounces! For a minute I thought Kurkdjian was recommending you only get samples :-)

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  2. Regina says:
    14 December 2018 at 10:18 am

    “very bad” rolls eyes
    “three months” FAINTS
    *the idea that decanting from a large bottle into several smaller bottles somehow helps perfume stay fresh* furrows brow, squints, shakes head

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    • Robin says:
      14 December 2018 at 10:41 am

      The 3 months is ridiculous. I should write an article on 5 ways magazines can stop trying to freak women out over nothing.

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      • Gi says:
        14 December 2018 at 11:33 am

        ?

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      • Sandman says:
        14 December 2018 at 12:49 pm

        Would you? Pretty please? I’d read it in solidarity but also out pure interest …

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      • cazaubon says:
        14 December 2018 at 6:56 pm

        Please do, it would be a public service.

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  3. 50_Roses says:
    14 December 2018 at 10:20 am

    The article also repeats the old saw about perfume going bad quickly and needing to be used up within a few months. Yeah, tell that to my bottle of vintage Arpege extrait,

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    • Robin says:
      14 December 2018 at 10:41 am

      Exactly!

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  4. SFguy says:
    14 December 2018 at 10:45 am

    A 30- to 40-year old bottle of 4711 handed down to me still smells so good! Stick that in your pipe FK.

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    • pyramus says:
      14 December 2018 at 6:01 pm

      I have a bottle of Molyneux Fête EDT from the sixties, Hermes Amazone perfume from the seventies, and too many to count from the eighties (Bal a Versailles, Parfum d’Hermes, Montana Parfum de Peau), all glorious, undamaged in any way, not even the top notes.

      Perfume is exactly like people in that you can’t predict its lifespan. I have had bottles that died within a year of the first spray, and others that I expect to outlive me.

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  5. Erin says:
    14 December 2018 at 11:54 am

    The only part of the article I’m going to follow is the spritz on some perfume and “then do absolutely nothing at all” bit.

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  6. pixel says:
    14 December 2018 at 12:09 pm

    I am still having an extremely hard time believing that a 1 second rub makes any difference to ye olde molecules. Ummmm, your skin temperature alone is going to make the perfume warm up, and stay warm, until it disappears. Does a little rubbing for a moment make any real difference?

    (Science nerd here)

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    • Schneeze says:
      14 December 2018 at 1:24 pm

      Don’t they say rubing your wrists together will ‘crush’ the molecules?

      CERN here I come! Who needs a Hadron Collider anyway?

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  7. Kevin says:
    14 December 2018 at 12:38 pm

    The one I ALWAYS love is the advice to use an unscented moisturizer to make fragrance last longer, while NEVER considering all the chemicals in a moisturizer that can cause a fragrance to change character — dramatically. (Men are also treated like idiots in men’s magazines…on every topic known to “man”: clothes, decorating, fragrance, grooming, cooking, you name it; just peruse GQ or Esquire.)

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    • Meg O. says:
      15 December 2018 at 9:02 pm

      Kevin, OMG YES. I tried doing a comparison on this between lady and fella mags once, on tone, wording, who was treated more like an idiot…zero difference.

      Also, I use unscented lotions, and had to stop buying one I otherwise liked because, I kid you not, it made all my perfume smell like vomit. No idea which chemical combo it was, but…ewww.

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  8. Sandman says:
    14 December 2018 at 12:47 pm

    I’ve never been tempted to use this phrase, but Monsieur Kurkdjian should feel free to take a frickin’ seat.

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  9. hajusuuri says:
    14 December 2018 at 2:18 pm

    How many people have enough dexterity to spray true using either hand? Maybe it’s just my idiosyncrasy: i’m lefty but tend to spray using my right hand and in fact, even being ambidextrous does not mean I can do everything well with either hand. With this said, the rubbing may be not only for spreading the volume but may also be the only practical way to get perfume in the dominant hand/wrist!

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  10. pyramus says:
    14 December 2018 at 5:56 pm

    Remember, ladies: EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING IS WRONG. You’re just wrong about everything, all the time, even something as simple and unscrewuppable as putting on perfume. Men have said so, and so it must be true.

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    • Jessica says:
      16 December 2018 at 12:55 pm

      HEAR HEAR

      ;)

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  11. cazaubon says:
    14 December 2018 at 6:52 pm

    FK can get stuffed. Spreading around a puddle of perfume by touching my wrists and arms together has never harmed the performance of a quality perfume. If he thinks this will harm his scents, he might ask himself why.

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