Count the sprays you put into the air, not the sprays from each bottle. Two moderate perfumes at a normal dose are four sprays of scent. Start lower than you would with one fragrance, and let the supporting bottle do less than the lead.
Start the support at one spray
- One spray of the supporting fragrance is enough to tell what it adds.
- Keep the foundation at the dose you already know. If that dose is already strong, lower it before you add anything.
- Add a second spray of the support only after you have lived with the combination. The opening is a poor reason to spray again.
The support should change the lead. It should not match it spray for spray.
The total matters more than the bottle
- A loud perfume plus a loud perfume is two performances. One of them needs to become a single spray, or leave the combination.
- A sheer mist can take a slightly freer dose than an eau de parfum. A heavy mist does not get that freedom.
- Shared rooms need a smaller total. What feels polite alone can feel like too much once a second product joins it.
Heat lowers the number again. See how to layer fragrances for hot weather.
Where the sprays go
- One spray on a collar and one on skin can feel stronger than two sprays on the same wrist, because fabric and skin release scent differently.
- Sprays near the face and chest reach other people sooner than sprays on the lower body.
A*Men pairs that heavy gourmand with lighter fresh partners, including Acqua di Giò. Keep the fresh one to a single spray until the drydown tells you otherwise. Aventus mixes fresher partners and heavier ones. Set the dose from what you actually sprayed. Which fragrance should go first covers order. The fragrance layering guide is the overview, and Layering has the other bottles.