How to Store and Preserve Your Perfume Collection

No matter how much you spend on a fragrance, you don’t want it to go bad. The longevity of your scent is as equally as important as the longevity of fragrance’s shelf life. While one affects how long the perfume lasts on your skin, the latter influences how well the fragrance rests on your shelf. If your fragrance resides in a way that doesn’t allow for proper preservation, it won’t matter how long the scent lasts on your skin.

This is why storing and preserving your fragrances is of the utmost importance. And likewise, it’s why we’ve created this helpful perfume storage guide.

Dark, Dark, and More Dark

This may be the more obvious point in increasing your perfume’s longevity; store it in a dark place. While this may feel obvious to many, it is surprising how often the allure of showcasing gorgeous perfume bottles exposing them to the evils of sunlight. Of course, we humans enjoy the sun for a variety of reasons, however sunlight tends to break down scents inside bottles. This is due to sunlight’s ability to increase the oxygen inside the bottle which begins a process of oxidization, and that means bad, bad things for your fragrance.

Of course, it can hurt the heart to tuck away these beautiful bottles – but often, it’s the best thing you can do in preserving the life of your fragrances. This advice extends to perfume samples as well.

Avoid Humidity

Like oxygen, moisture is a key component in breaking down many substances, including perfumes. That’s because water reacts with other substances and those reactions change the dynamics of the substance. When it comes to a scent you desire on your skin, that’s not a desirable process.

Avoiding humid and moist environments isn’t easy. But let’s begin with the obvious – your shower. If you take hot showers and you likely do, you don’t want your perfume bottles in the greater vicinity. In other words, never store your perfume or fragrance bottles in your bathroom. This happens more often than we’d like to admit because fragrances become an endearing, therapeutic part of our hygiene protocols. But bathrooms, not only due to showers, attract moisture and humidity.

If you live in humid places such as the tropics or the south United States, you’ve got an added layer of complications due to annual humidity levels. Btu all isn’t lost. First, find a room that’s less exposed to the elements. Recall, point one involved finding a dark room, this already is likely a step in the right direction. Second, if you can, grab a dehumidifier and leverage that to strip out the room’s moisture. Alabama and Florida are beautiful places to live and fortunately, taking a few precautions helps your fragrances enjoy these experiences as much as you do.

Only Open When Needed

The initial spritz begins a process. Once you use the fragrance for the first time, the fragrance is exposed and the process of breakdown begins. This article isn’t about stopping that process because that’s impossible, or would require you to never use the fragrance. That’s not logical or even, fun. The point of this guide is to increase the viable, fruitful existence of the fragrance for as long as possible. The first spritz begins the break down process and that’s OK so long as you are using the fragrance for your beautification. But if you are only spritzing out of boredom or curiosity, you might reconsider.

The best advice is to keep the bottle sealed until you are first spritz ready. If you aren’t using the fragrance, make sure the bottle is sealed. No, this doesn’t mean you should keep it closed forever, that’s not the point of your purchase. Use the perfume when you want to use it with an understanding of how the science of fragrance works.

Keep The Perfume In The Box

The original perfume packaging can help store the fragrance. Many people have no idea about this and often only prioritize keeping the bottle. But the box is often made to help store the perfume. This is due to many designer fragrances lining the boxes with aromatics. Additionally, the boxing is one more layer of protection from light and moisture.

TLDR: Best Storage Places

• Closet
• Refrigerator
• Dresser Drawers
• Avoid windows, basements, and certainly, bathrooms