Perfume Storage - Page 4

Because my refrigerated frags are quite cold, I typically remove the bottles and let them warm up to room temperature, then I rotate them upstairs into my active wardrobe. I also let them warm up to cool room temperature if I'm going to spray some decants. The reason for letting them warm up for decants is that the ice-cold juice will cause condensation when I decant (by spraying into a vial or into a small funnel), meaning water gets into the sprayed frag by condensation. The decanted juice then looks cloudy because of water condensed in it. Letting the juice warm up first eliminates the problem.

If I'm spraying something that's in the refrigerator directly on myself, and not rotating the juice into my active wardrobe, then I don't mind briefly pulling the frag out of the fridge, spraying, and then putting it back in the fridge. But I do try to work quickly, so that there is not a lot of condensation on the bottle. And, if there is a lot of humidity, I may let the bottles warm up in a sealed ziploc bag, which keeps them dry.

Wine coolers at 55 degrees probably don't need this level of care with the cool juice. My refrigerator has gotten as low as 37 degrees, lately.

so I shouldn't be worried about spraying myself after taking it directly out of the fridge and putting it back? I plan to set my fridge to around 60~70 degrees. Since my mini fridge currently has no anti-frost I plan to keep the frag in their original box and then placing them in a zip-lock bag. Condensation will not build up inside the bottle of the original frag if the spray nozzle is secured correct? I should only be worried if its a splash/stopper frag?

So technically the only thing I should be worried about regarding condensation is if I'm planning to spray the frag into a decant bottle and condensation possibly damaging the outside bottle's sticker/paper? My collection is fairly new with some niche and designer fragrances and nothing over 10 years old.

Thanks again RP.

Yes, I think you've got it all straight. Don't worry about a quick spray and then putting it back. Especially with the cooling only being to 60-70 degrees. And if you had a frost-free fridge and lived far enough toward the poles, you wouldn't even have to worry about ziplocs. But I think with your humidity and a non-frost-free, you're probably smart to bag them. See how it works for you. You may be able to get away just bagging them when you remove them. I don't bother with ziplocs inside my frost-free - I just bag them when they warm up.

Definitely let your splashes warm up before decanting, as you suggest. Like you say, you don't have to worry about condensation inside spray bottles.

So far I've had no problems with refrigerating scents. As far as I can tell, the only scent which has suffered, was one that I didn't refrigerate over the summer (Neroli Sauvage). I could swear it's not as kick-ass on the topnotes as it used to be. I'm really wishing I had refrigerated it.

thank you so much RP. You really set my worries to rest about placing my frags into the fridge. The hot humid weather here in Taiwan is quite uncomfortable. Its a steady 32c/85 degrees in my room. So far I keep my frags in their original boxes and in a ziplock bag inside my last drawer which is close to the ground and then closed with the closet doors. The top and middle drawers I place my clothes in.

I hope my clothes inside the closet won't add in extra warmth in the closet where I place the frags in as well in the 3rd/last drawer. Placed a thermometer in there and is still a steady 32c.

Thanks again RP

@VevetDon25: The obsession begins. Welcome.

haha...

It sure is Matt. I've been enjoying my sample of Fumerie Turque all day but will try my best to resist purchasing it until the new years is upon us. I'll just have the wine cooler as a early xmas gift lol. Thanks for the welcome buddy

Hey guys, new to the forum.

Current collection is:

D&G Light Blue for summer
Pi by Givenchy for special occasion/romance
Creed Green Irish Tweed for everyday.

Thoughts?

Anyway, I read somewhere (probably here) that colognes last longer if you keep them in a fridge. Is this true, or is there any benefit to keeping cologne in a fridge?

Thanks.

Many, many things will keep a lot longer if refrigerated. This includes fragrances, and that's the benefit.

I agree with the refrigeration idea, however I don't believe that fragrant gems should be stored alongside your sodas and eggs. I'd advise getting a separate fridge for your fragrances so that you can set the temperature you want. If you can't get hold of a fridge, storing your opened perfumes in its box in a cool, dark place (like a closet), is the next best thing.

Heat and light are the worst things that affect the quality of fragrance, especially if the bottle is half empty. All fragrances will oxidise over time. Some types (such as colognes and those with a high citrus content) will go faster than others. Keeping them in the dark and cool will help a lot

As David Ruskin says, however...

people living in moderate climate zones (like Europe north of the Alps, have not needed extra cool storage facilities. Most of the well known waters produced in the last two centuries came from Grasse in southern France. It can get as hot there as in New York or Rome, and yet this didn't seem to have done much damage to perfumes. More important is the absence of light and an even temperature below maybe 25° to 30° Celsius. I own perfumes that are older than 40 years, and I am quite certain that they have seen neither refrigerators nor air conditioners. They are still good or acceptable.

Fréderick Malle developed their own perfume cooler for shops. I do not know whether this is mainly a marketing gag or not.

Well, up to now, I only kept my frags in dry and cool, yet not refrigerated environments, like shelves and cabinets with no direct exposure to heat and sunlight and it was more than all right, considering that I constantly use, stockpile and collect frags since 1997 and, even without any refrigeration, did not have ANY problems (in terms of deterioration, decrease in lasting power and of other qualities). Yet, if I had something like a wine cooler/wine refrigerator/refrigerated and/or air conditioned minibar, I would consider using it as a storage space for my frag wardrobe.

Hmm! all great Ideas, I will indeed do that for my vintage frags, though as for my Kouros,Azzaro and Rive Gauche I'd keep them in hands reach!

I keep mine on a shelf in our bedroom out of direct heat and sunlight. The heat in the room is fairly constant throughout the year (high teens to low 20s degrees C) as we have solid and very thick stone walls. I've kept frags that way for nearly 15 years, with my oldest frags being about 7-8 years old. I've never had a problem and those 7-8 year old ones smell the same as they did when I first bought them.

DEFINITELY keep them out of direct sunlight. And, as narcus says, I think the most important thing after that is a constant temperature (within reason - I live in the UK so it rarely goes above high 20s degrees C outside in the sunlight) - I once kept a large part of my collection in a small fridge that was set to about 3-5 degrees C and during one summer we had a powercut in the day when no one was home. About 7 hours later I got home to find that pretty much all of those frags were now useless, with some of them verging on just smelling like lightly scented water. I lost some VERY good juices that day and I truly believe it was the sudden change from chilled to very warm that did it. Ever since then I've not put any in a fridge and they've been absolutely fine.

I know a lot of people do use and recommend fridges, and I'm not saying don't use one, but I always tell the above story to let people know that there are potential problems with using them, even though I have not heard of anyone having experienced this same problem.

Thanks narcus and great_badir, for sharing. That's what I have suspected all along... cold storage is not without its risks. I doubt if the big discounters keep their stock in a chilled warehouse.

We use a fridge; since we stared doing that, I haven't had a single fragrance go "off".

Fortunately power outages are really rare in our town -- maybe once per year, if that, and brief when they do occur. But if your area is prone to outages, that would be a serious consideration.

A dry cooler should do the trick. I'm not too sure about keeping them long term in a fridge. You might risk clogging your spray or altering the chemistry. I say treat them as you would with good wine.

I agree with heparfumerie in that perfumes should be stored in a similar environment as wine...a consistently cool, dark space. If you are tempted to refrigerate... keep in mind that self-defrosting refrigerators (most household refrigerators) will remove moisture and possibly accelerate oxidation and evaporation of your perfumes if kept in them for any long period of time. If you decide to do so, enclose each bottle in individually sealed bags to forestall premature deterioration.

Good point. Our Kenmore compact fridge isn't self-defrosting. When I bought it I thought that could prove to be a nuisance, but now I'm glad of it.

Keep in mind that kitchen fridge is usually set on 4°C, while the wine fridge can be set somewhere between 10 and 14. I would definitely use the second range if I could choose. But I think the constant temperature of 16-18°C would do fine.

so far my stuff is fine just kept in the relative darkness, sometimes it gets so hot I move it to the vicinity of the airconditioner.

So, in short terms... the temperature does not affect the quality of the perfumes. Am I right?

Light is the greater enemy. Fragrances left on my dresser top, not indirect sunlight but still exposed to ambient light, deteriorated within about 2 years. I would avoid keeping fragrances at high temperatures as well.

Hi All,

I have started storing perfumes in the refrigerator for the past 1 week along side other stuffs (Vegetables and other food stuff).
I would like to know if it is harmful to store perfumes alongside food ?

Cheers!!!!

I personally wouldn't do it

I wouldn't put fragrance in the fridge. It has to be stored in a cool dry place, the fridge is not dry and it is cold not cool.

I'm no expert and won't pretend to be. I have seen stories by a couple of people in here who had stored frags in fridge and ran into a power failure wherein all their frags went flat with the temp change.

See if others weigh in. I know Le Labo makes great show of keeping their stuff in a cooler until you buy it.

Not the best idea IMO.

I would use a mini fridge for fragrances if I wanted to go that route. I'm happy keeping them in cool dark places like drawers and closets.

I refrigerate and have done so for many years without any problems...

I keep most of my bottles in the fridge, they seem to do just fine. I don't think a regular kitchen fridge is the optimal storage, but I am reasoning that it's better to store them a little too cold than too warm.

I started keeping mine inside the boxes on the lower side of my fridge.

No personal research done, but I would avoid storing fragrances along side food. I use a mini fridge and wine cooler for that purpose.

I would go for a temp controlled wine cooler at about 50 F

I keep mine in a cupboard in a cool room and they last well with no spoilage. Cool is better than cold for fragrances as some perfumes react badly to cold.

Hmm...It could possibly solidify...If unattended..some fridges have a knack of doing so;.. though a miniature wine cool as mentioned sounds great...strictly for the purpose of frags

- Balava

I keep my entire collection in a mini fridge. During the summer months while at work, I leave the air conditioning off and the fridge on the lowest setting keeps them safe. During the winter months I just leave the fridge unplugged and it protects them from the changes in temp from the furnace.

Whenever I open the door I get a big whiff of every fragrance in there. When my collection was small over the summer I also stored drinks in there and the cans and bottles would smell of fragrance. This fridge is ruined as far as storing food in it. But that's not it's purpose anymore anyway.

That being said, and knowing how easily things in the fridge start taking on the smells and tastes of whatever else is in there, no I would not put fragrance in a food refrigerator or vice-versa.

Well... don't know if it's worth a fridge if you really use constantly the perfumes you own. Keerping them away from direct sunlight and himidity/"house"heat will be enough, I guess.

Fridge will help if you plan on keeping fragrances stored for decades... also, may be useful if you live in an extra-hot country. On hot weather, I doubt perfumes last longer than 7-8 months if not stored properly.

I have done some research in fragrance storage and can verify that it does prolong fragrance viability for as long as fifty years or more. Ideal storage for most fragrances is ten degrees Celsius and for citrus fragrances, eight degrees Celsius. I have become so involved in this hobby of ours that I now have four refrigerators exclusively for fragrance. The wine cooler types are good if ambient room temperature does not go beyond 80 degrees F. otherwise set at the lowest temperature on a food storage type refrigerator and monitor the temperature. Do not combine fragrances with food. Bottles should be in their boxes with notations of where purchased and when. Store bottles standing upright. Some feel going to such lengths to store fragrance is strange behavior to be sure but, not for those of us who are "into" fragrance as heavily as some of us are. If you have questions pm me. People take great pains to store vintage wine. Why not fragrance?

Tesla, please share this research.

A freaky deaky encomium amen!! darn right, I am currently in the presumptuous means of buying a wine cooling fridge!! considering it's getting up to 40+ Celsius in Australia...though I store My frags in a dim and saturnine vicinity/Nook.

So, at the moment I guess It'll still be adept and well..though I feel as If I'd be more intact and inclined with my frags if
I can monitor them at a apropos temp.

- Balava

Thanks for these super posts. I have already removed all my perfumes from the refrigerator and would think of buying a wine cooler to store them.

I store all of my backup bottles in a mini-fridge. However, I have a thermometer in there to make sure the temperature is always above freezing (5 degrees C is good), and I put all of them in Ziploc storage bags first so that moisture is not an issue. Where I live, a mini-fridge is less expensive than a wine cooler.

This makes some sense.

Thank you very much for the info! That really is very helpful. I'd have to buy a fridge for my Cocoa Mademoiselle so I'll be able to preserve it for as long as I live..

You can stick any frag in the fridge for 30 mins, take it out and smell the difference immediately.

Maybe this is OT, and probably answered to in another thread, but isn´t the humidity in regular fridges bad for the frags?

More OT: OK, I´ll reveal my ignorance by asking this question - what stength is likely to turn/go bad first? Pure perfume or EdT/cologne? Is there any difference, and why? Does the alcohol % count?

Hope for an answer to this........TIA

Yes, humidity can also be a big problem, but generally I think it's humidity combined with heat and/or light that's the real killer. I'm not sure that fridge humidity (or, rather, condensation) will have much of a detrimental effect.

As for what goes first - if I remember rightly, in chemistry terms the pure perfume will go before anything else because it has the highest concentration of oils and natural ingredients, whereas the higher alcohol and (usually) synthetics content in a cologne and EDT shoud keep them as they are for longer. HOWEVER, I believe there are exceptions to every rule and, not that I have experienced this with my collection, but I have known an AS to go LONG before a pure perfume kept in exactly the same circumstances.

I've never owned a pure perfume (don't really see the point in them and I'm not one of these people who has a major downer on synthetics), but I've had colognes and EDTs that have lasted just over 10 years and I've recently acquired a 30-odd year old bottle of Brut 33 cologne that smells absolutely fine and a 20+ year old bottle of Yardley Classic Gold (I thought it was AS, but I think it's actually an EDT cos it's too oily for an AS), which again smells like it would've done the day it was put in the bottle.

Unless you're keeping your collection on the bathroom shelf by a window in a hot sunny country, most average collections should be fine for a few years just in your room, out of direct (natural and artificial) light. If you have a large collection that will likely see you through for more than that, then a dry cupboard or dark shelf is recommended. If you have REALLY special stuff, then a drinks cooler might be a good idea. I personally NEVER recommend a fridge for reasons I've already stated in this thread.

BIG thanks for your kind answer, great_badir!!

I *know* Frédéric Malle store their frags at approx. +13,5 degrees C. I store mine in a dark cupboard in my rather cold bedroom, which seems to work just fine.


Does anyone here suspect that some manufacturers put a "secret ingredient" in their frags, to make them turn faster, so that they can sell more? That would not be so smart in the long run, I guess. But these days there is no "long run" in this industry, I think. (or maybe I´m just being crass)

Ya, I think that's why they recommend wine coolers vs. fridges, wine coolers obviously aren't as cool or dangerous. Though I have been sticking my frags in the fridge for no longer than 45 mins or so, for the past few years and notice nothing bad happening to the juice inside. Quite beneficial.

I keep my stuff in a mini fridge with no freezer on the lowest setting during the summer (it gets into the 90s inside with no ac) and shut it off at night and I turn it off during the fall/winter. A fridge that's off and closed acts to keep the frags dark and it seals them from temperature variations. The benefits of cool storage far outweigh the risks of keeping them out in the open or in a closet where it's the same temperature as the rest of the place. Frags don't go bad from a sudden change, it's from being improperly stored for a prolonged period of time.

I've never had an issue with anything going bad or weakening in the few years I've done this. The people who buy from me can attest to this.

So how else can my little unfortunate experience with a fridge and the subsequent years of "improper storage for a long period of time" on a shelf in the bedroom be explained?

I admit in hindsight that 3-5C was probably a little too low (but this was in the days before places like BN and very early days of the web), but apart from that there was nothing else to explain why they went bad so quickly - they were never in light, direct or otherwise, that 3-5 was ALWAYS constant (even in the winter) and there were no other variables that I can think of...

How much can one expect a fragrance to change over time? If one was to buy a "vintage" fragrance that was 10 or 20 years old, could they expect it to smell the same as the day it ws bottled, or is that highly unlikely? Do certain conditions related to storage (i.e. heat) change some notes, but not others? Answer as many of these questions as you wish, and add details if you have more knowledge on the subject. Thanks.

The top notes, being more volatile, are generally the first to go and will be the most vulnerable to heat and light. Properly stored, a fragrance can be good-as-new after 10 years. I'm not a collector of vintage frags per se, so I'll let someone else address the 20-year scenario...

depends on several things mainly:

1. actual composition/type of the new fragrance
2. storage temperature
3. storage light level

Heavy woody/Orientals using low volatility notes will likely be unaffected by minor changes in temperature or light, but lighter citrus/fresh scents where the composition is heavily reliant on high-volatility notes of a natural origin, may be totally ruined by a year of sunlight or high temps/humidity.

The answer can range from "not at all" to "throw it away". Kept properly, however, fragrances of 10 or 20 years old will change little. In many cases, when kept properly, they will actually get better. That'a why people will pay for vintage, sometimes (that and the fact that they have not been reformulated).


Possible at 10 years, but unlikely at 20. There are multiple reasons for this. Even perfectly bottled and kept in the dark, unopened, with no exposure to oxygen what wasn't already in the bottle, fragrances kept under anything but "preserve the head of Elvis" temperatures must undergo some small amount of chemical reactions over time. But I have to say that the differences may be less than those due to reformulation. People routinely have 20 year-old bottles of certain fragrances where perceptive noses fight over the differences enough that people are advised to go ahead and buy the new stuff.


Heat and light can change things, and every different type of molecule, and every type of mixture, in every type of container, will have a different story. There are some generalities. Overall, oxygen is worst, light next, and heat last. Worst case is a splash bottle on a sunny, warm window-sill. The one molecular generality which is easily made is that volatile things tend to escape more easily by evaporation, thus leading to loss of top notes.


I suggest searching on several discussions which included me and Astaroth. Both of us got into things pretty deeply.

Everybody is agreed - oxygen and light are bad boys, and you need to keep those away from your frags. Spray bottles in dark drawers pretty much does that. Whether you want to go for the third step, cooling, is not critical, IMO (and I'm a guy with a fragrance fridge for my vintage and future vintage).

i have fragrances that have been stored in good conditions for 10 to 20 years and still as good as new.
i keep the fragrances i want to store in a refregerator and some of them in a closet in the basement so no light can harm them.

Avoid light. Keep them in their boxes..

My dad has an old bottle of Acqua di Parma which he left by the window and it's ruined.