To Rub or Not to Rub: I Say Spray {Fragrant Reading}
If you ever wondered what is the best way to apply perfume onto your skin please go read my response to Gretchen on the Beauty Hatchery as well as those of other writers....
I wanted to explain that I initially made a poor choice of words regarding what I believe is the effect of rubbing perfume onto the skin. I used the expression "crush the molecules" an image that is often used to describe the chemical and physical reactions due to rubbing perfume onto one's skin. I realize now that people took it literally to mean something like the fission of an atom which is not what I had in mind.
I had noticed empirically and casually even before hearing anything about it that there seems to be some displacement and flattening of the structure of the perfume when you rub it in. In fact so much so that I believe a perfumista can play with either dabbing on perfume, spraying it from a closer or farther range, rubbing it in if you wish to do so and in so doing will make subtle differences appear. It is hard for me to believe that the combined action of rubbing plus spreading on a wider surface of skin won't have any impact on the rate of evaporation of the notes, especially of those that are the most volatile but I would be interested to learn more about that.
PS: By the way I do dab but I don't rub.
Please visit Gretchen's blog, the Beauty Hatchery for more opinions about this question:
Photo is from Getty Images.
