Where a fragrance lives

A fragrance is not one smell. It is three, and they do not all live in the same place.

On the wrist it opens. Skin is warm there, and the first minutes are the loudest the bottle will be. Spray once, then leave it. A second spray only makes the opening longer, not better.

At the neck it settles. This is the part other people meet, and it should be quieter than the opening suggested. If you can still smell it clearly an hour later, you are wearing too much.

On cloth it stays. A collar keeps the dry-down after the skin has let it go. That is the note worth judging a bottle by — not the first minute in the shop.