HIDE IT! Surprised? The best way to preserve perfume and keep it fresh for as long as possible is to keep it hidden. No jokes. Dark, dry places are the best places to store fragrances. The catacombs of a closet or a dark box are just perfect for storing a bottle of perfume.
How long will the fragrance last? Not only do perfume dilute and lose their potency over time, but discoloration and degradation can lead to bad-smelling perfume. Perfumes if stored incorrectly, can start to go bad after a few months. To prevent this, here are 15 tips on how to properly store perfume.
Perfume Storage – Everything You Need to Know
Lids closed until the first spritz
It’s important to note that perfume will stay pristine until it’s opened. Oxygen when introduced to a bottle of fragrance causes the scent to dilute and become oxidized. With more oxygen and less scent in the bottle, it’s only natural the smell becomes diffused. The clock starts ticking after the first spritz, so tick tick, be mindful of when you debut that new fragrance.
Dark Place are your best bet
Perfume bottles can serve as great home decor materials especially when the sun hits them, that splash of colours and crystalline visages across our bedroom can be really beautiful. However, they shouldn’t serve as a centerpiece on your vanity. At least not while the bottle contain fragrance still.
The introduction of light breaks down a scented liquid’s makeup and can melt its bottle too if it’s plastic. To avoid altering the sensitive DNA of a fragrance, store your bottle in a place free of both natural and man-made light to make your perfume last longer.
Store your fragrance in a dry place
Don't joke with water. Similar to other substances, water damage will destroy a fragrance. Heat affects a perfume’s make-up/composition. This can lead to unwanted chemical reactions.
Avoiding a humid environment can be tough if you live in a hot climate. Extra care is therefore recommended. Have a room with a dehumidifier? This is the ideal place to store your fragrances to keep them from evaporating.
Don't store your perfume in the bathroom
Yes I know, it’s called eau de toilette. That doesn't mean it should be stored in your bathroom. I know it's easier to store your fragrance in the bathroom, you spritz immediately after your shower but the most common storage mistake of fragrance storage is keeping bottles in the bathroom.
Again, always keep your perfume in a dry place. Bathroom most times are extremely humid, at best the temperature fluctuates; the perfect recipe for a perfume graveyard. Consider a closet or cupboard outside of the bathroom to store your perfume.
Retain the original packaging
When in doubt, keep it original. The fragrance original box will do just nicely. These boxes were made to hold perfumes, don't see it as irrelevant or flimsy.
Storing a fragrance in its original box can tremendously increase the life of the scent. When paired with a closet or dark cupboard, you have a fail-safe method of essence endurance.
Low-level over high-level shelves
This is obvious and very important to keep in mind. Storing a fragrance on the top shelf is a recipe for disaster. Spilling a bottle of perfume is sad and a waste of money and can leave a room smelling really strong for weeks.
If the bottle doesn’t break, the turbulence upon landing can breakup chemical bonds and destroy your scent. Consider low shelves when storing your perfume.
Cap the bottle
Oxygen is the worst thing to happen to a fragrance. When in a rush to go to work or that important meeting, don’t forget to cap that bottle of perfume. Leaving a bottle unhinged for even a couple of hours can alter the mixture’s balance and exponentially increase evaporation.
Don't shake the perfume bottle
We tell ourselves it's just a little shake but that shake no matter how little can jolt a perfume and alter the scent. Similar to oxygen, agitating a fragrance introduces unwanted oxidation via bubbles into our favorite scents.
Also, most perfumes are made with fragile chemical bonds and intricate mixtures that can be easily broken. Shaking your scent bottles can easily compromise formulas and leave you with an unattractive accessory.
Keep it original
Remember those extravagant bottles lined in front of the mirror back in the day? While they were and are beautiful ornaments, they are not the best perfume storage materials.
Decorative perfume bottles are fantastic bathroom ornaments but they can be one of the fastest ways to sour a sent. Original perfumes bottles and colognes are made airtight and have spray-heads to disperse just the right amount of fragrance and prevent air contamination.
Use travel size vessels
Going on that beacation, business trip? Destination wedding? Trust me, you're going to want to keep your fragrances as fresh as your look when traveling. To ensure the entire fragrance doesn’t go bad, purchase a smaller version of your perfume. Yes, you heard me. Travel size or pocket perfume are the way to go, it will also save you money in the long run.
As earlier mentioned, taking the cap off of your scent bottle, will inevitably start the decline process of the fragrance. By purchasing a travel-sized bottle, you won’t have to worry much about air exposure.
Avoid fluctuating temperature
Keep in a cool dry place says your perfume bottle. for a good reason I might add. Store your scents someplace cool and constant. Avoid keeping your bottle in polar temperatures whether hot or cold. 60 degrees is just about perfect for storage.
Constantly check for discoloration
More of a good habit than a storage tip. Discoloration in a fragrance can imply that any of the aforementioned precautions went a bit off track. It is ingredient dependent.
A blend made with natural ingredients will of course darken over time, but its scent will remain unphased. On the other hand, synthetic fragrance are not meant to discolor or turn oily. If such a transformation should occur, it’s a signal that your fragrance could lose its pleasing scent and longevity.
Store in an air-tight container
For those extra special bottles, you’ll want to go above and beyond when trying to ensure their longevity. The best method would be to double pack them. Keep them in their original box and then stuff the precious cargo into an air-tight bag, the more opaque the better.
The mix of no air and zero light will guarantee minimum oxidation levels, protecting your favourite fragrance from humidity and leaving the scent smelling great for a long time.
Extra layer of protection
Fragile cargo on board! If you plan on shipping perfume, use a proper perfume storage box for this. Glass can easily shatter, consider shipping your fragrance bottle in some bubble-wrap, duct-tape, and packing material like newspaper or styrofoam within a sealable cardboard box. You can go a step further by wrapping it in a duct tape labeled fragile.
Go for long lasting fragrances
Irrespective of your perfume storage method, certain scents notes naturally last longer than others. Green, citrus, and floral perfumes have a tendency to expire more quickly than other fragrances, whereas scents like oud will maintain more longevity.
Can cologne be stored in the fridge?
So much energy has been expelled on this topic. There is much debate around the topic, but you can in fact store fragrances in the fridge — depending on their type. The chilly temperature of a refrigerator can ruin a perfume’s delicate chemical balance. However, you can store your cologne and eau de toilette in the fridge because of their more robust chemical make-up.
It makes sense that perfumes are delicate. If not properly cared for, the fragile chemical makeup and fragile bottles can be a recipe for disaster.
Not to worry, that's why you've got us. With the right precautions, even the most expensive fragrance can be kept perfectly safe and its scent preserved.
I hope you found this helpful. Don't forget to leave a comment, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading!
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