The "proper" way is simply having enough coverage over the hot spots of the heat spreader if there is one or completely over the die if it's bare.
There's no such thing as "too much paste". The mounting pressure will squeeze out the excess and at extremely thin layers, the differences in thermal conductivity of most pastes is pretty much negligible. Not applying enough for coverage I would argue is more "not ideal" than a harsher sounding "too little paste," as some is better than none, but a heat sink at all is better than nothing. Of course, having so much paste that it gushes out is a problem for conductive pastes (most aren't), but most of the time you're just left with a mess to clean up whenever you pop off the heat sink.
If you want some methods that are more or less tried and true, a pea sized blob or an X pattern should do, regardless of the processor type. If it's a bare die application, cover the die, and maybe add a dollop on the heat sink where it'll make contact.
Another thing to consider is reliability. Obviously not every paste is created equal in terms of thermal performance, but not every paste is created equal in terms of reliability in a wide range of conditions. For instance, Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut is the darling for a lot of people, but it's actually a bad paste to use for bare die or other higher-heat applications as it starts degrading at around 80C. It's also a thinner paste, which could potentially lead to issues with pump out (where the thermal expansion/contraction of the paste is enough such that it literally moves out from between the heat sink and the part). This could be exacerbated by coolers that don't exert as much mounting pressure as others. Supposedly bare die heat sinks are lighter on pressure, because higher mounting pressures would result in a cracked die.