Are your perfumes your prized profession? Find out ways to make them last longer, especially during hot summer months.
Perfumes are women’s weakness, are they not? So many perfumes to buy, so many fragrances to revel in but the dollar rate gives us a quick reality check. Let’s be honest, perfumes are more like prized possessions these days. They are nowhere near cheap, are precious and quite fragile so to preserve them the longest we can is the ultimate goal.
If you are wondering why you need to preserve perfumes, let us give you a low down. Did you know perfumes degrade over time, becoming cloudy, discoloured, oilier and you can tell that the scent dilutes and changes. Perfume degradation starts the moment you open its box. The boxes do serve a purpose other than decor with keeping the fragrance away from light. Preventing oxygen from getting inside. Though the general lifespan for perfumes depends on their storage, you can use them for 3-5 years. Once opened, your best bet is to enjoy the fragrance until empty and make sure to store it properly until then.
In especially humid and hot places, the natural oils and essences in fragrances start clotting as they break down. To avoid that. Its important to note the best ways to store your fragrance and keep it fresh.
How Do You Know It’s Losing It’s Charm
You know when you know – you can tell when your perfume has now deteriorated completely or has started losing its charm by observing if the formula has become chunky, smells sour, acidic, or metallic. Though rare, an allergic reaction such as a rash is also an indicator.
Keep Perfume Bottles Away From Light & Heat At All Costs!
Even though you might want to store your perfumes in your bathroom for convenience or out on the table, beware that direct sunlight can rapidly degrade your perfume. Maybe if you have a super opaque bottle, you might get away but the darker the storage the better your perfume will smell. Bathroom’s are the worst place to store them because of the fluctuations in temperature, humidity and direct sunlight.
Heat too, breaks down the chemicals in the perfume responsible for the scent. Direct sources of heat can also affect the plastic bottles. It is imperative to keep your perfume collection away from sources of direct heat.
Dark, cool and dry places are the optimal storage places to be able to keep your perfumes smelling their best for as long as possible.
Don’t Open and Close Perfumes Unnecessarily (PS: Moms Are Right)
Perfumes are highly sensitive to air, humidity and temperature fluctuations threatening their longevity. Thus, the caps should be sealed at all times when not in use and avoid opening and closing the bottle too often. How many times have you had your mom scold you for smelling her perfumes again and again? Turns out she was right and it is indeed ruining them.
Unlike humans, perfume’s worst enemy is oxygen. It only accelerates the aging process and turns the fragrance sour. So closing the perfumes tightly is key.
No Need To Shake The Perfume Bottles
If you have heard that you should shake your perfume before using, its actually a myth! The formula is pre combined to stay stable. Shaking only incorporates air speeding the breakdown process and can also lead to leakage as glass bottles are extremely delicate. So remember, no shaking!
The Colour Changes
As over time your perfume gets exposed to the detrimental elements listed above, it starts to change colours. If a particular perfume of yours was a light golden colour and is now turning into a dark, oily caramel shade – it has more than likely gone bad.
Storage Places To Avoid & The Ones That Are Optimal
A quick recap – humidity, heat and light are all bad for your perfumes, so take note of the all the places that are good storage places for your perfumes and all the ones that aren’t.
The optimal and Safe options include: Bedrooms, closets, dresser draws, cabinets and THE LAST resort (Refrigerator). On the other hand, the places that you need to avoid at all costs are high shelves, bathrooms, in front of windows and basements.
Looks like you probably will have to do some perfume re arranging now after reading this, don’t fret, we are in the same boat!
Also, food for thought – We tend to save our “prized possessions” such as our perfumes, clothes etc. only for what we consider to be important/special occasions, however specially in the case of perfumes its best to use them whenever we want and consider everyday a special day.
