How to Properly Store Perfume

Your favourite scents are a combination of delicately assembled ingredients and notes. When stored or handled incorrectly, these subtle fragrances can break down and cause the perfume to oxidise and expire. Our scents – including the iconic La Vie Est Belle and Idôle ­­­– are the result of decades of fragrance expertise. This essential guide to storing your favourite perfume will make sure that perfectly paired fragrances continue to embody you until the very last drop.

Storing perfume correctly relies on careful placement and usage. Through this article, we answer the best way to store perfume, and shed light on common questions – including how long perfume can last and if perfume expires.

Read on for the best tips on perfume storage.

Finding your perfect scent is a moment worth celebrating. Fragrances help to show our personality and mood, so it can be devastating when a scent loses its intensity or fades out of recognition. The answer could come down to your perfume storage.

Oxidisation occurs when oxygen in your bottle changes the molecules of the fragrances, reducing the overall scent. This can occur through exposure to light, air and heat.

If you’re wondering how long does perfume last, the answer is varied. Like any product with a delicate formula, perfumes will fade over time. Whilst each fragrance has a shelf life depending on ingredients used and its inclusion of alcohol, the vibrancy of a scent can be protected and extended with the right treatment. To understand how to make your favourite perfume last, read our tips below.

Whether you prefer floral scents like Hypnôse Eau De Parfum or fruity scents like Trésor, there are easy and effective ways to keep the vibrancy of your scent going strong. Our perfumes are carefully and expertly layered to show the essence of you, so it’s important that they’re stored correctly, in order to let each note shine through. Our best tips for how to properly store perfume are below.

It’s a common misconception that storing perfume in the fridge prevents oxidisation. Actually, the level of cool in a fridge can ‘shock’ fragrances, damaging and decreasing their level of intensity. This happens because the cold temperature of fridges break down scent molecules and reduce the overall depth of scent. So, unless you live in an extremely hot climate, there’s no reason to store your perfume bottles in the fridge.

Perfume bottles might be an aesthetically pleasing addition to your space, especially when they catch sunlight. Unfortunately however, this is bad practice in trying to protect your perfume’s scent. Instead, keep your bottle away from light and heat by storing perfume in a closed cupboard that stays cool, dark and dry. The humidity that can come from bathrooms also affects the strength of each fragrance note, as it can cause the breakdown of essential oils within the formula. So, choose a cupboard in an area of the house that tends to sit at a stable temperature. Good perfume storage can also be achieved through keeping your scent in their original boxes between uses, for added defence against the elements.

Handle your perfume carefully

Save the swishing for glasses of wine, and the shaking for your deodorant. Excessive and unstable movement increases your scent’s exposure to oxygen – remember oxidisation?  Exposure to air is also why you should avoid opening your perfume bottle.

When applying your perfume it’s also important to be careful, so that you protect the length and vibrancy of wear throughout the day. Use light spritzes on skin, hair or clothes – you can also spray your fragrance upwards in front of you and ‘walk’ through the scent for a complete capture. When spraying onto your neck or wrists, make sure skin is moisturised with a deeply-hydrating moisturiser like the Nutrix Royal Body Moisturiser. Hydrated skin ensures that your perfume will sit properly and not transfer.

There are some things worth using minimally – but your perfume should hold a regular place in your day-to-day rituals. There’s no use storing perfume properly if it’s not going to be used! Not only does it ensure that the scents are being used to their fullest capacity, but it aligns your specific fragrance to your personality. As perfumes do have varying shelf lives, make sure to enjoy them. Your perfume should perfectly encapsulate who you are, so don’t shy away from wear. If you also have multiple fragrances, you can experiment with mixing them too, to get the most use and experience new layers of scents.

Now that you know how to properly store perfume, learn how to maximise your eyes using volumising mascara