How to Store Perfume

Keep Perfume in Its Original Packaging

The importance of storing perfume in its original box goes beyond aesthetics. Manufacturers design packaging with storage in mind, and it serves as an additional protective layer for the delicate contents inside. The box shields your fragrance from light and temperature fluctuations, which can compromise the integrity of the scent.

Even when you're not using a perfume regularly, keeping it in its original packaging provides crucial protection. This simple practice can significantly extend the life of your fragrance, maintaining its quality and potency for years to come.

Store in a Cool, Dark Place

A key way to ensure that your perfume stays fresher for longer is to store it away from direct sunlight. Whether you've opened the bottle or not, sunlight and even artificial light can damage your perfume.

This is because the introduction of light can break down the sensitive structure of a fragrance. Fragrances exposed to light will only last three to six months at most. What's more, the fragrance may start to change even before that. Often, fragrances exposed to light can give off a sour odour rather than the fragrant bouquets they're meant to emit.

Dark, closed storage spaces such as cupboards, drawers, or other similar locations are ideal for storing perfume. You should also keep your perfume in its original box as a way to offer the bottle extra protection against unwanted light. By keeping your perfume in a place free from both natural and man-made light, it's much more likely to maintain its chemical structure and continue smelling as it should.

Maintain a Consistent Temperature

It's not only light and temperature changes that can corrupt the delicate balance of notes in your precious bottles of fragrances. Very high and very low temperatures can also harm the quality of your perfume. Even if you find somewhere dark to store your fragrance, you'll need to consider whether the room is subject to heat from the sun or cool draughts from a nearby window or door.

For example, your wardrobe might be a great place to store your perfume if your bedroom stays the same cool temperature all year round and doesn't get much direct sunlight. But if a lot of light enters the room and it tends to overheat in summer, you should find another storage spot for your scents.

For these same reasons, you can forget storing your perfume in the bathroom or the kitchen. The kitchen can get very hot when people are cooking, while the bathroom tends to warm up a lot whenever anyone has a shower or bath. A guest bedroom or a hallway might be better options as people don't tend to gather in these rooms, meaning they offer quite consistent storage temperatures for your perfume.

Avoid Humid Areas

Water is also a force to fear when it comes to perfume damage. As with light and extreme temperatures, exposure to humidity will destroy a scent by causing unwanted chemical reactions to occur. This is yet more reason to avoid keeping your perfume in the kitchen or bathroom as these rooms tend to steam up a lot when in use.

If you live in a damp or humid environment, you might want to store your perfume in a room with a humidifier. This will ensure that there is no excess moisture in the air and that your perfume doesn't evaporate. Moisture can negatively impact perfume, altering its composition and reducing its longevity. In particularly humid environments, consider using silica gel packets near your perfume collection to absorb excess moisture.

Minimise Air Exposure

When you're wearing perfume, one of the reasons that the scent fades over time is because it starts to dilute when exposed to the oxygen in the air. Opening a bottle of perfume for a quick spritz only to put it back in storage is a big mistake as this starts off the oxidation process. With more oxygen and less scent in the bottle, the scent will begin to dilute.

Oxidation occurs when air gets inside a perfume bottle. Keep perfume bottles tightly sealed when not in use. Avoid frequently decanting perfume into travel atomisers unless necessary, as this increases air exposure.

Once opened, you'll only have two years at most to use the perfume up before it starts to lose its potency and clarity. Depending on how you properly store your perfume, an unopened bottle can stay sparkling for years, or even decades. With all this in mind, it's wise to avoid opening a new perfume bottle until you're ready to use it.

Displaying Perfume on Windowsills

Many people like to showcase their perfume bottles as part of their home décor. However, exposure to natural light and fluctuating temperatures can quickly degrade the fragrance. Perfume bottles, especially those with decorative designs, can be tempting to display, but doing so on a windowsill is one of the quickest ways to ruin your fragrance investment.

For those who love the aesthetic appeal of perfume bottles, consider displaying only empty bottles as decorative items, or keep your collection inside a closed cabinet with glass doors that filter out UV rays.

Storing in the Bathroom

The bathroom, despite being a convenient location, is one of the worst places for perfume storage. Highlight how frequent changes in temperature and humidity levels affect the chemical balance of fragrances.

Every time you take a hot shower or bath, the room fills with steam and heat, followed by cooling and drying—this constant cycle of humidity and temperature fluctuation is extremely harmful to perfumes. If you must keep fragrances in your bathroom, store them inside a closed cabinet away from the shower area and use them relatively quickly.

Frequently Opening the Bottle

Every time you open your perfume bottle, even if you don't use it, you're exposing the contents to air, which accelerates the aging process. Some perfume enthusiasts have dozens of bottles in their collection, but frequently opening each one to decide which to wear can significantly shorten their lifespan.

Try to be decisive about which fragrance you'll wear before opening bottles, and consider keeping your everyday scents separate from special occasion fragrances to reduce unnecessary exposure to air. Once a perfume has been exposed to air, the countdown to degradation begins, so minimize the number of times you open bottles you're not actively using.

Using Travel Atomizers

Travel atomizers are excellent tools for fragrance enthusiasts who want to take their scents on the go without compromising the integrity of their main bottles. These small, portable containers allow you to decant just enough perfume for a trip or to keep in your bag for touch-ups throughout the day.

When selecting a travel atomizer, look for high-quality options that seal tightly and won't leak. The best travel atomizers have minimal air entry during the filling process and protect against light with metallic or opaque materials. By transferring a small amount of your perfume to a travel atomizer, you can keep your main bottle safely stored at home and minimize its exposure to varying environmental conditions.

Regularly Cleaning the Bottle

Over time, perfume sprayers can accumulate residue that affects how well they dispense the fragrance. This can lead to clogging or uneven spray patterns, resulting in wastage or improper application.

To clean your perfume bottle, focus on the nozzle and cap areas where product tends to build up:

1. Use a clean, slightly damp microfiber cloth to wipe the exterior of the bottle
2. For the spray nozzle, a gentle wipe with an alcohol-soaked cotton swab can help remove dried perfume residue
3. Allow the nozzle to fully dry before using again
4. For atomizers that seem clogged, soak the spray mechanism in warm water, then allow to fully dry

Regular cleaning not only keeps your bottles looking beautiful but also ensures that your perfume applies as intended with each spritz.

Monitoring Expiry Dates

While perfumes don't come with explicit expiration dates like food products, they do eventually deteriorate. Learning to recognize the signs of a perfume past its prime can save you from wearing a scent that no longer smells as intended.

Here are some indicators that your perfume may have expired:

• Color changes: If your once-clear perfume has turned yellowish or murky
• Scent alteration: The top notes smell sharp, sour, or vinegar-like
• Thickness changes: The liquid seems more viscous or has visible particles
• Projection issues: The scent disappears quickly or smells significantly different from when you first purchased it

Most fragrances remain at their best quality for 3-5 years after opening. If you have vintage or sentimental perfumes you wish to preserve beyond wearing, ensure they're kept in ideal storage conditions away from light, heat, and humidity.