How to Store Perfume in a Hot Climate: Keep Your Fragrance Smelling as It Should

Perfume is a blend of delicate aromatic materials dissolved mostly in alcohol. Stored well, a fragrance can keep its character for years. Stored badly, it can lose its brightness, darken or turn sour much sooner. In a climate like Egypt's, where summer temperatures stay high for months, where you keep your bottles matters more than most people think.

The three things that damage perfume

• Light. Sunlight, and even strong indoor light over time, breaks down fragrance materials. The fresh top notes usually suffer first.
• Heat and temperature swings. High temperatures speed up chemical changes, and repeated warming and cooling is especially hard on a perfume.
• Air. Oxygen slowly alters the composition. The emptier the bottle, the more air it contains.

Which notes change first

Not every part of a perfume ages at the same speed. Citrus notes such as bergamot, lemon and orange are among the most delicate, which is why a fragrance that has been stored badly often reveals itself in the first minute: the fresh, sparkling opening smells flat or sharp. Deeper materials such as woods, musks, amber and resins tend to hold up better. So fresh, citrus-led fragrances need the most careful storage, especially through the summer.

The best place: cool, dark and steady

A closet or a drawer in a bedroom, away from windows and away from walls that heat up in the sun, is ideal for most homes. Keeping the bottle in its original box adds another layer of protection from light. What you want is a place that stays dark and at a fairly even temperature. If your home has one room that stays cooler than the rest, that is where your collection belongs.

Places to avoid

• The bathroom. It is the most common place to keep perfume and one of the worst: heat and humidity from showers rise and fall every day.
• A sunny windowsill or open shelf. Beautiful for display, harmful for the liquid inside.
• The car. A parked car in an Egyptian summer gets extremely hot. Never leave a bottle in the glove box or on the dashboard.
• Next to heat sources. Avoid shelves near heaters, ovens or electronics that run warm.

What about the fridge?

For most people it is unnecessary, and moving a bottle in and out of the fridge every day creates exactly the temperature swings you want to avoid. Some experts suggest a refrigerator only in extremely hot conditions. If you do use one, keep the bottle boxed, away from food, and leave it there rather than taking it out daily.

Spray bottles, splash bottles and decants

A spray bottle with a sealed pump lets in very little air each time you use it. A splash bottle, which you open and dab from, lets in fresh air every time the cap comes off, and your fingers can carry oils from the skin into the neck. If you decant perfume into a smaller atomiser, choose a clean, preferably dark glass one, fill it close to the top so there is little air inside, and label it with the name and date.

Small habits that help

• Close the cap properly after every use to limit air exposure.
• Avoid shaking the bottle. There is no need to, and it adds air to the liquid.
• Use a travel atomiser for your bag, so the main bottle can stay safely at home.
• Don't stockpile. If a scent is for special occasions only, a smaller size is a better choice than a large bottle that sits open for years.

Travelling with perfume in summer

A bottle in a hot suitcase or a car boot goes through exactly the heat and temperature swings described above. On trips, carry a small atomiser in your hand luggage or bag rather than the full bottle, keep it out of direct sun at the beach or by the pool, and put it back in a cool, shaded place as soon as you arrive.

Storage starts before you buy

A perfume's life does not begin on your shelf. Where possible, buy from a seller who keeps stock away from sunny shop windows and hot storerooms, and check that the box and its seal are intact. When an order is delivered on a hot day, open it and put the bottle somewhere cool and dark as soon as you can, rather than leaving the parcel by the door or in the car. And if you smell a tester in a shop, remember that a tester that has stood under bright lights for months may not smell exactly like a fresh bottle.

How to tell a perfume has changed

Perfume does not usually become harmful, but it can stop smelling as intended. Signs include a noticeably darker or cloudy liquid, a sharp, sour or metallic opening, or a scent that seems flat compared with how you remember it. If the top notes smell off but the dry-down is still pleasant, the fragrance has started to turn. Our tips on making perfume last longer in summer cover how to get the most out of it on skin.

Frequently asked questions

Does perfume have an expiry date?

There is no single expiry date that applies to every fragrance. Many perfumes keep well for several years when stored properly, while the same perfume can change much sooner in heat and light. Some packaging carries a small open-jar symbol with a number of months, which indicates how long the product is meant to be used after opening. Your nose remains the best test.

Can I still wear a perfume that has changed?

If the colour or smell has changed noticeably, it will no longer smell as it was designed to. If your skin reacts to it in any way, stop using it.

Should I keep the box?

Yes, if you have the space. The box is one of the simplest ways to keep light off the bottle.

Treat your perfume like something precious: keep it in the dark, keep it cool, keep it closed.

Source: Refinery29, perfume storage tips