Guest Author - Fran Loudas

Get the most out of your fragrance purchase with these tips:

1. Don't apply fragrance directly from the bottle with your fingers. Oil from your skin will enter the bottle and affect the fragrance. Use an atomizer or apply fragrance to a cotton ball and then apply to your skin.

2. When applying fragrance, spray fragrance from the ankles up. Remember, fragrance always rises! Also remember the golden rule of perfume – spray sparingly. You can always add more, but if you go overboard and spray too much a shower is just about the only thing that will get rid of it. You don't want your friends and co-workers to know you're around that much do you?

3. Try to keep your perfume off your clothing. Apply the perfume only on the skin where it has a chance to develop and mellow. Also, bear in mind that perfume can stain some delicate fabrics, especially silk, so it's best to apply your perfume before you dress.

4. Don't buy a fragrance just because it smells good on a friend. A fragrance is as individual as you are and will smell differently as it reacts with your own chemistry.

5. When shopping for a fragrance try not to sample more than three fragrances at a time, after that your nose can no longer distinguish the scents. Try smelling the coffee beans that are on the fragrance counter in most department stores between samplings. The beans help to "cleanse the palate" and will allow you to try more perfumes (that's what they're there for).

6. Protect your fragrance from heat and light to prolong its scent -- store it in the bathroom cupboard, not on the counter with your blow dryer and curling iron.