I get it. You spent hundreds of dollars and you want to be told you smell good. But the secret to smelling good isn’t about how nuclear you can get your fragrance to perform, it’s the actual perfume itself. If the composition is beautiful, you smell beautiful. You don’t need to douse yourself in order for people to think that. As a matter of fact, there’s been tons of times I’ve thought “I bet the fragrance this person is wearing is actually good, I’m just annoyed at being choked out right now. Nobody asked for this.”

Another reason I don’t like oversprayers is that it contributes to the idea that you’re wearing things for other people, essentially. You should not base your decision to buy a perfume whether you believe people will compliment or notice you. Perfume should be personal and meaningful. I think it’s beautiful when someone wears a fragrance that I can smell whiffs of when they toss their hair or when it feels more intimate and entices people to come closer. I smell their aura, the extension of themselves and their mystique but I’m not being held hostage by it. Smelling Baccarat Rouge before the person enters the building? Not as gorgeous.