Well, if your friends are long-time friends, that could be why you didn’t see much of a reaction from them. People who have known us for a long time generally take a while to start reacting to pheros because they are used to the “standard you”. The new you might be a bit confusing to them, or they may discount whatever difference they are registering.
If you were looking for hits from strangers at dinner or the movies, maybe you just need to be a little more observant. Not all hits are over the top, and with people you don’t know very well (or not at all), you may not even notice a good hit because you don’t have a knowledge of their base behavior to compare to. You just have to learn what to look for: more glances, eye contact held for longer than normal (you know how strangers will dart their eyes away when they are caught looking at you?), open body language, sexual body language, etc. There is a good post on this by Tisha in the stickies section (How do I know if I am getting hits !!) that you should peruse if you have not already. Also familiarize yourself with body language cues. A lot of information on this can be found on the internet.
I don’t think you used too much. When I use MX135, I use anywhere from four to six sprays. The only thing I worry about is the heaviness of the scent with that dosage, not OD on the pheros. If anything I think it was a combination of friends being too familiar, your settings being somewhat impersonal, and hits flying under your radar.
Keep up with it! It gets easier to notice with time and practice. 