Do you have that perfume that you only wear for special occasions? If so, what do you consider a “special day?” There are many people that have that one bottle of perfume that lasts for many years because they only wear it when they feel the occasion calls for it.
What you might not know is that perfume has a shelf life. That means hanging on to that favorite fragrance for years on end is doing more harm than good. Just make every day a special occasion and you won’t find yourself tossing a once perfectly good bottle of perfume in the trash.
How Long Does It Take Perfume to Go Bad?
What most people don’t know is how long a fragrance can live. The truth is that a fragrance can last an average of 3 to 5 years, but that’s not a rule of thumb. Fragrances have many qualities that can affect their shelf life. Some perfumes are like a fine wine that gets better with age, while others simply can’t stand the test of time.
How you store your perfume also comes into play. If you store it out of direct sunlight, you are in business because sunlight is perfume’s worst enemy. You also want to make sure you store it away from radiators and other sources of heat.
In other words, keep your perfume in a bedroom drawer. Some people will keep it in their refrigerator because oxygen, abrupt temperature changes, heat, and light destroy perfume.
That’s a lot of work to preserve perfume.
When Should You Toss Perfume In the Trash?
So, when should you throw perfume away? Just talking about perfume being tossed in the garbage is sinful. Again, make every day a special day so you don’t have to worry about throwing away a favorite fragrance.
But, if you must hang on to one for a while or you already have, here are the three things that will tell you whether a perfume is good or bad:
- Simply smell it to see if it smells “strange.” Either the scent is “off” or completely gone when it’s bad. If it smells fine, keep it and use it before it goes bad.
- Check out the color to see if it has changed. If the color is darker, this means the fragrance is altered.
- Take a look at the label to see what is inside. If the ingredients include citrus notes, then the shelf life is shorter than a fragrance without citrus because citrus evaporates faster. The notes that last the longest include woody, oriental, cypre, and oud, but those with all natural ingredients with no preservatives won’t last long either.
But What About Fragrances That are Over 100 Years Old?
Yes, it’s true that there have been fragrances recovered that are hundreds and even thousands of years old. It’s obvious that these fragrances were used for special occasions because they still exist in some form. You can’t really knock these fragrance conservators for the fact that perfumes weren’t as abundant in their times.
There are even recovered perfumes that have never been opened, which are sought after by collectors. Unfortunately, your Burberry perfume will most likely not become a collector’s item in your lifetime, so you might as well enjoy it before someone does in 150 years in which it would lose its scent and never leave the bottle.
There is a degree of sadness in a bottle of perfume that wasn’t thoroughly enjoyed by its owner.
Enjoy Your Perfume Today, Tomorrow, and Every Day
So, don’t hang on to your perfume like Scrooge McDuck does the cash in his money bin. Find fragrances that you love and wear them to your heart’s content. They are here for you to enjoy every day rather than once in a while.
Be known for smelling nice all the time rather than only smelling nice on certain days. You won’t regret it.