12 sprays and counting...

I really like Burberry London. I have the original, with its accompanying aftershave and shower gel. I also have the Special Edition flanker from 2008. But the longevity and projection are confounding me.

As an experiment, I've been gradually increasing the number of sprays I use to see what it's going to take to beef up this fragrance. The other day, I used a total of 12 sprays: 2 on each arm, 3 on my neck, 3 on my chest and 2 my tee shirt. The good news is that it did increase the longevity to a reasonable 8+ hours, from a pitiful 3-4 hours with only 3 sprays. The bad news is that one hour after application, my girlfriend couldn't smell it from 2 feet away.

It would be nice if it would project a bit more, although I also appreciate the value of a more polite sillage. The problem is more that, at this rate, I'm going to rip through the bottle in no time. Not really very economical and I feel like I'm forcing it.

Any thoughts or comments?

Thanks BOOMER and d4N13L for the recommendations on alternative fragrances. I think there was a thread recently too, on how Burberry London is similar to Bogart PH.



If it is simply a matter of skin chemistry, then I am envious of the two of you!

If I'm putting it on my clothes, however, then maybe there is some inconsistency in the production quality? Or is there such a thing as clothing chemistry?


Today I've got 4 sprays on me and 5 on my shirt. We'll see how it goes...


This is a good point and there are definitely some situations in my life where low sillage is actually desirable. For example, some people at my workplace are hyper-sensitive to fragrance, but they don't seem to be bothered by scents that stay closer to me. If only London would stick around long enough without 12 sprays, maybe I could appreciate this more

I wish skin chemistry was the number one factor. I have been moving more of my sprays onto my clothes and it makes only a small difference to the longevity.

Yesterday I sprayed 2 on me, 4 under my tee shirt, and 3 on top of my tee shirt. Managed to get about 6 hours. Today I'll try 10 sprays, which would be 2 less than my original post and a modest improvement to economy by spraying mostly on my clothes.


I totally agree about what a fantastic, classy and smooth scent Burberry London is. The problem is not olfactory fatigue however, because I have double checked with my girlfriend when I have met up with her after wearing it for x number of hours. She confirms that this scent doesn't last on me

If it isn't just skin chemistry or olfactory fatigue, I can only think there must be batch inconsistency...

Update: lately, I've been wearing about 20 sprays of Burberry London Special Edition 2008 and find that to be about right. I went up as high as 25, but that ended up being a bit too heavy... somehow too dense. It never seems to project much, but at 20 sprays (14 under my clothes), it does last all day

I wonder what percentage of the population could be anosmic to some of the ingredients? I've never had a comment, positive or negative, from anyone except my gf. Even at 20ish sprays, she doesn't notice it until she's LESS than 12 inches away... next time I wear it, I'll have to make a point of asking more people if they can perceive it or not.

Seeing as a lot of my application is going on my shirt now, thereby mitigating the effect of skin chemistry, could it be that I have a bad bottle of the 2008 special edition?

Or maybe this fragrance is just designed so that it can't be over-applied? I had a sample set of the regular Burberry London, so I used it in conjunction with the aftershave and body wash, but it didn't project much either and longevity was below average. Using half the sample in one go (approximately 2.5mL), I did get it to project about 2 feet for the first couple hours...

Here's a little follow up. My flanker of the 2008 Special Edition is finished and I also went through another sample of the regular Burberry London just to double check. It's basically impossible to over apply this stuff!

Applying 10+ sprays definitely improves the longevity, but the projection remains minimal, compared to more powerful fragrances like Sung Homme, Azzaro, Fahrenheit, etc. To refute what several people have suggested here about over-application, I have asked a bunch of different people in different situations if they can smell it. I did not ask if it was too strong, because that is more subjective, just whether they could smell it at all.

With the 2008 Special Edition, I've applied 18 or 20 sprays and at least three different people, on separate days/locations haven't been able to smell it at a normal conversational distance. This is within 2-4 hours of application.

With the regular Burberry London, I used the shower gel, aftershave balm, and a 1.5mL splash of the EdT sample and 20 minutes later asked a group of 8 people whether they could detect it. People sitting at the same table could, while people at the next table could not. 2 hours late, it was back to imperceptible at conversational distance for everyone, just like the 2008 flanker.

My conclusion is that anyone who likes this fragrance, but has trouble with the longevity, should try about 10+ sprays, mixing them between skin and clothes. I don't think that 20 sprays is really necessary, because I have found diminishing returns on longevity improvement and so it becomes wasteful. For me 12 sprays is probably best.

On the other hand, Burberry London is a good option for a more safe, reserved fragrance for work because a reasonable 3-5 sprays means it won't project very much. It's also good for a situation where I might need a scent for 6ish hours, but don't want it to last all day, like if later in the day I'm planning a workout or will be meeting up with someone who is fragrance sensitive.

Of course, results may vary, so this just reflects my opinion and experience.