Perfume doesn't last forever. Heat, light and air slowly break down fragrance materials, and a bottle kept in the wrong place can smell flat, sour or sharp within months. Kept well, most perfumes stay good for several years. Here is how to store perfume, perfume oils and the bottles you decant them into, with a few points that matter more in UAE heat.
What damages perfume
- Heat. Warmth speeds up the chemical reactions that change a fragrance. The fresh top notes go first, so an overheated perfume smells heavier and flatter than it should.
- Light. Sunlight, and UV especially, breaks down many fragrance materials and can change a perfume's colour. Clear bottles on a sunny shelf suffer most.
- Air. Oxygen oxidises fragrance. The emptier the bottle, the more air sits in it with the perfume, which is why the last quarter of a bottle often changes faster than the first.
- Humidity and temperature swings. Repeated warming and cooling pushes air in and out past the cap, and damp can affect labels and caps.
How to store perfume
Keep it cool and dark
A drawer or cupboard in an air-conditioned bedroom is ideal: steady temperature, no sunlight. Keep the original box if you have it, since it blocks light completely.
Not in the bathroom
The bathroom is where most people keep perfume and it is one of the worst places for it. Hot showers raise the heat and humidity several times a day.
Never in the car
In a UAE summer a parked car can get far hotter than the air outside, and a perfume left in the glovebox or door pocket can spoil in days. If you want a scent for the car, carry a small decant in your bag and take it with you.
Keep the cap on
Put the cap back on after every use. A spray bottle is sealed by its pump, but the cap stops the nozzle from drying out and keeps dust and light off it.
The fridge: only if it is dedicated
A fridge is cool and dark, which is why some collectors use one. A kitchen fridge isn't ideal: it is opened constantly, food smells can reach the bottle, and taking a perfume in and out every day creates the temperature swings you are trying to avoid. A cool cupboard is enough for most people.
Storing perfume oils
Perfume and fragrance oils contain no alcohol but follow the same rules: cool, dark and tightly closed. Keep them in their original bottle, or in amber or dark glass, and out of the light. For larger sizes, don't leave a mostly empty bottle for months; move what is left into a smaller bottle so there is less air in with it. Some materials, such as vanilla and some resins, darken naturally with age without smelling any different.
If you make your own blends, let them rest in the dark for a few weeks before wearing. Our guide to making perfume oil at home explains this resting stage.
Decanting
A small bottle to carry with you means the main bottle stays in the cupboard. For a spray perfume, a 10ml travel spray works well; for an oil, a glass roll-on bottle. Use glass rather than plastic, since some fragrance materials react with plastic, and fill the decant close to the top. For larger quantities, see our perfume bottles and matching caps and pumps.
How to tell if a perfume has gone off
- The opening smells sour, sharp, vinegary or metallic.
- The fresh top notes are gone and it goes straight to the base.
- The colour has changed a lot or the liquid is cloudy.
A spoiled perfume isn't dangerous to smell, but it can irritate skin, so stop wearing it on skin if it has clearly changed.
Shake or not?
There is no need to shake a finished perfume, and doing it often mixes more air into the liquid. A homemade blend that is still resting is different: a gentle swirl every few days helps it come together.
Storing perfume well is half of making it last. The other half is how you wear it: see how to make perfume last longer, and the difference between eau de parfum, eau de toilette and cologne.