Dry skin is the real culprit
Scent needs something to hold on to, and that something is oil. Central heating starts in autumn, humidity drops, and skin gets thirstier without our really noticing. Perfume applied to dry skin evaporates off it at speed.
The fix is embarrassingly simple: moisturise the spot before you spray. An unscented body cream or a plain balm on the pulse points, left to sink in for a minute, will noticeably extend wear. If your fragrance comes with a matching body lotion and you have it, that's the ideal version, but any occlusive layer works. A tiny smear of plain petroleum jelly on the wrist before spraying is the old trick that still holds up.
Where you spray matters too. Pulse points are warm, which helps projection, but heat also burns through the top notes faster. Spraying somewhere slightly cooler and more covered — the inner elbow, the back of the neck under the hairline, the chest under a shirt — gives a lower, longer-lasting wear.
Let fabric do the work
Autumn's great advantage is that we are suddenly all wearing wool, cashmere and heavy cotton, and textile holds scent far longer than skin ever will. A light mist on a scarf, the inside of a coat collar, or the lining of a jacket can carry a fragrance through the whole day and greet you again the next morning.
Be sensible about it: spray from a distance, avoid silk and anything pale or delicate, as oils can mark, and test on an inside seam first. Hair is another excellent carrier — but spray perfume onto a brush rather than directly onto strands, because alcohol is drying, particularly if your hair is coloured.
