26 Beauty Habits to Break Right Now

Are You Rubbing Your Wrists Together After You Apply Perfume? 

We used to. But a recent conversation with Givaudan perfumer Yann Vasnier broke us of the habit. The friction increases the interaction between the fragrance and your skin's natural oils, which can distort the scent, he explained. (And, by the way, if anyone's ever told you not to rub your wrists because you're "crushing the fragrance molecules"—not possible. (You can't split atoms with your toes either.) So spritz—and then hands, and wrists, off. Vasnier's prescription for the perfect, subtle sillage (French for the trail of fragrance left in a woman's wake): one spritz on each wrist, two on the neck, one on the décolletage. Body heat at these critical points helps diffuse the scent. 

— Jenny Bailly