What do you do when your perfume goes bad?

[Pivot Point]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

Does it still smell good when you put it on? If so then I wouldn't worry about it.

It smells okay. It's not as sharp and sparkling as Knowing, but more woody and spicy--like a strong sandalwood--which is too heavy for my taste.

[goldengrain]

This might upset some, but in the places where I worked the female executives did not wear scent during the day. The secretaries and clerical people tended to.

You'd get on an elevator and smell dueling perfumes.

Sometimes you'd get on an empty elevator and know who had been the previous occupant because of the scent.

I think some of them had a 'signature' scent, became slightly immune to it, and put it on way too heavily.

A couple of times a lady could have been out all night because you could tell she should have taken a bath rather than used that perfume.

[AnonChick]

Plum isn't an essential oil. It's a synthetic fragrance. Sandalwood, IF they're not using a synthetic, is likely adulterated, since it is currently extremely rare and ridiculously expensive.

Essential oils are not vegetable oils. Essential oils -evaporate- when exposed to air. Vegetable oils do not. They're completely different things and can't be compared.

Vegetable oils can go rancid. Essential oils cannot. Essential oils can lose potency, and their aromas can fade or strengthen over time (grapefruit, for example, needs to be used up, since a 2-ounce bottle of it will become impotent after a couple of months. Rose, on the other hand, will become stronger and -more- potent, the longer it remains in the bottle).

Most commercial perfumes use synthetics, and in fact, if the ingredients list doesn't *specify* that the ingredient is an essential oil, then it probably isn't. There are a very few exceptions, such as "rose otto" or "attar of rose" for example.

Synthetic perfumes most definitely do change over time, can fade, or even smell completely different from how they smelled at the cosmetics counter.

Body lotions -will- change, if they include any vegetable based carrier oils. That would be - shea butter, coconut oil, palm oil, grapeseed oil, almond oil, etc. Jojoba won't change but all the others -will- eventually go rancid, and that will change the entire product.

People are more likely to be allergic or sensitive to synthetics than to essential oils, though anyone can be allergic/sensitive to anything. But synthetics are known allergens, while essential oils are generally not.

Also, essential oils tend to absorb quicker into the skin and evaporate, leaving only a lingering trace of aroma. Synthetics lack that quality. Patchouli also lacks that quality, but it is an exception to the rule.

[Pivot Point]

AnonChick-
That was a very informative post. Thanks.

[Cav Scout wife]

Originally Posted by Opsimathia

Essential oils don't spoil like vegetable oils. But all oils will tend to turn from extreme temperature changes. It shortens the shelf life. So its why you keep it at room temperature which is 73 degrees.

Yup!

I wear BPAL (Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab) perfume oils, and they are all in dark amber or cobalt colored bottles inside a closed box in my closet, 'cause it's the best for them is what I was told. Works for me! They aren't cheap to begin with (IMO, 'cause I mix and match WAY too much!), and I don't wanna "ruin" or reduce the shelf life of them by not doing that. Since it works for the oils, I have done it to all my perfumes.

[ucbrian]

There is a chance you got a lemon or it was contaminated during usage.

It's rare for quality perfumes to go bad.

Keep it in the fridge next time to delay any potential chemical reactions.

But a small bottle (2ml) and pour some in for when you use it; keep the larger bottle in the fridge and this also prevents contamination.

I personally have cologne from 10 years ago that still is 90% of what it was when I purchased it.

DON'T THROW OUT THE BAD PERFUME. Save if for a relationship that is going bad....you can wear it on your final dates as a symbolic gesture

[Pivot Point]

Originally Posted by ucbrian

DON'T THROW OUT THE BAD PERFUME. Save if for a relationship that is going bad....you can wear it on your final dates as a symbolic gesture

Since I am married, I hope it never comes to that.

[Pivot Point]

I have good news to report.

I contacted the company again, and asked to speak to a manager this time. The end result is that, as a goodwill gesture, they're going to exchange the perfume!

[hollygolightly]

I'm glad to hear that, especially considering Estee Lauder guarantees their products, and will take ANY item back, as long as it's something that is currently stocked.