Increasing the Longevity of your Perfume

There is nothing quite like a beautifully designed perfume bottle on your dressing room table that serves as an aesthetically pleasing décor piece and leaves you smelling like a million dollars at the same time. However, storing your perfume in the wrong place can be damaging to your valuable perfume.

• Expiration on Perfumes:

Often people will ask what the expiration date on a perfume is. Most perfumes have an expiration date of 3 to 5 years. However, I have a bottle of perfume that is over 25 years old and smells great. This is due to carefully storing the perfume to extend its lifespan.

• Heat:

Heat is public enemy number one for your beautiful fragrance. Exposure to extreme fluctuations in temperatures will cause your scent to spoil much faster and will affect the odor and deterioration. Exposing your perfume to the heat of the sun or the humidity of running a hot shower or bath will break down the chemical bonds that gives the fragrance its scent. This is not the only reason to keep your perfume away from heat. The oils and alcohol within the perfume expand when hot and could result in your bottle breaking from the pressure within it.

• Light:

Exposure to direct sunlight and artificial lighting will impact the smell and coloration of your perfume. Perfume bottles are also not completely sealed and is subject to evaporation over time. Exposure to light will enhance the evaporation process.

• Don’t open your fragrance too often or leave the cap off the bottle:

Leaving the cap off your fragrance or opening your fragrance too often can also have negative consequences. Once the bottle is open or the cap is removed, the scent inside the bottle is being exposed to air and can lead to your perfume oxidizing and altering the scent.

• Taking note of strange changes to your perfume:

After long periods of time your fragrance can turn darker and develop off-odors if not stored correctly, however if your perfume is stored correctly, it will last the full duration of 3 to 5 years.
Bear in mind that perfume color change is not always a bad thing and can be an indication of longevity. Often when a perfume turns darker, it means the perfume has evolved and not necessarily that it is spoiled. Natural ingredients in perfumes are unstable, this is how the scent is created. Clean fragrance lines are composed of natural ingredients such as rose, vanilla bean and sandalwood. Therefore, it is not uncommon for molecules to break down, oxidise and evaporate, causing the color of the perfume to change over time or during the production process.

• Storing your Perfume Correctly:

Do not store your perfume on your dressing room table, in your bathroom, car or any other place where it will be exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations or light. The fridge is also not a storing place for your perfume. Just as your fragrance is sensitive to extreme heat, it is also sensitive to extreme cold and it will ruin your perfume. Much like red wine, your fragrance needs to be stored in an area where the storing conditions are optimal. Storing your perfume in an upright position in its box in your cupboard is the best. Your cupboard will not be exposed to extreme heat or cold, nor will it be exposed to too much light.