How to Know When Your Perfume Has Expired-
Fragrance experts share when it’s time to toss that bottle.
The following written content by Omenaa Boakye
As a child, I remember seeing rows and rows of perfume bottles neatly stacked on my mother’s dresser (she must have had at least twenty brightly colored bottles in all different shapes and sizes). And now that I am older, I can say that I probably have a collection of twenty perfumes, if not more.
Over the years, I have received perfumes for every holiday that you can think, from birthdays to Christmas to Valentine’s Day. However, my growing collection has made me wonder if perfume expires.
Considering the price points of most fragrances, knowing whether or not to throw away a perfume you’ve had a while can be a hard decision to make. So does perfume really expire? If so, how can you tell?
Below, three of the country’s top perfumers share everything they know about the lifespan of perfume and how to tell if your favorite scent has expired.
Does Perfume Expire?
Unfortunately, once a bottle of perfume has been opened, it will eventually expire. I know, this is sad news to hear, especially if you have a few open fragrances sitting in your bathroom cabinet right now.
But the good news is, on average, an open fragrance can last about two years.
“Spraying a perfume allows air into the bottle which oxidizes the fragrance over time,” says Clement Gavarry, a senior perfumer at Firmenich, who has worked on creating many famous scents for brands such as Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Tom Ford and Chloé. “You’ll notice a severely reduced signature of the fragrance itself, it will not smell sparkling.”
But how long perfume lasts also depends on how it’s stored. “If the fragrance is kept away from sunlight and high temperatures, it will last longer,” Gavarry adds. “If the fragrance is kept in warm temperatures, the juice will turn faster, and it will only have a shelf-life of three to six months.”
How Long Can Perfume Last if Unopened?
This is a question that you may ask yourself every time you receive a new bottle of perfume, and frankly, with no expiration date on the bottle, it’s pretty hard to tell.
According to Givaudan perfumer Jacques Huclier, who has created fragrances for brands like Gucci, Thierry Mugler and Hugo Boss, an unopened bottle of perfume can last several years depending on how it is stored. “I recently had the chance to evaluate a never-opened bottle of perfume from the 80s and it was like brand new,” says Huclier. “There’s no cardinal rule, each fragrance has a different lifespan.”
That said, it’s definitely a good idea to finish one bottle before you start using another.
How Do You Know When Perfume Has Expired?
You can tell if a perfume has expired when the smell is slightly sour, especially as the top notes oxidize. This can have a slight metallic scent. Read more from InStyle.
