"Old" perfume?

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suzukigrrl

suzukigrrl

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One of the guy's at work mother died, and he has been bringing me all her cool old stuff. I now have a collection of fabulous vintage scarves and purses, but I also have "vintage" perfume. Specifically, perfume that might be 10 years old. Is perfume still ok after 10 years? It doesn't go bad or change does it?

 
A life of perfume is 1 to 2years, and after that it can cause irritation on the skin, and should not be used, so you can just have the perfume for show, since it's vintage...

 
Most perfume goes bad after a year, it gets sour. Enjoy displaying the bottles!

 
I have some bottles that are that old and are fine. But I wouldn't swap or sell them unless to someone who collects vintage perfume bottles.

 
Well I tried some on and so far it hasn't irritated my skin. The scent isn't so bad now that I'm wearing it. I thought it smelled really weird in the bottle. I don't know if it is really my thing though. Anyone want a bottle of Lancome Tresor EDP, unknown age

 
a 10 yr old bottle of perfume isn't going to smell like it would of 9 years ago. Nothing like it unfortunately

 
Perfume might last longer that EdT. I believe (not sure) that perfume is more oil based while EdT is more alcohol based so it will evaporate faster changing the scent.

 
Since part of my job is preparing paperwork for hazardous shipments you might want to know this.

FedEx Express is a world leader in transporting dangerous goods, which can include many surprising items such as nail polish, cologne, perfume and even airbags.

Anyway, regardless of the carrier or method of shipment, always check with the carrier first because you could get fined, even as an individual for shipping hazardous materials incorrectly and/or without declaration. My best guess is that you would only be able to ship perfume ground through the Postal Service, which would be Parcel Post. You have to be set up w/ UPS, Fedex and DHL.

Sorry to go off topic, but I'm just lookin' out for ya, hun!

If you are not sure whether your commodity meets the definition of a dangerous good, contact the DOT at 1.800.467.4922.

 
Wow good info, I never thought perfume could 'go off', I guessed over time the scent would fade, and even faster if exposed to sunlight; I didn't know either that it was considered a dangerous good to transport!

 
Wow, that sounds like a cool job, Eightthirty. I do a lot of software testing, but it's primarily for stuff going overseas. I didn't know that about FedEx either!

I have some older colognes that really have retained their scents.

I never noticed an appreciable difference in my colognes in spray bottles but now I'll pay more attention. I'm still using an older Moschino. I still have a bottle of Arpege which reminds me of my mom who passed away a few years ago.

The one tiny bottle I have and love is 'Honeysuckle' from the Key West Aloe Factory, and I'm going to have to try to find more of that one of these days.

 
Thanks for the FedEx tip!! I knew that the USPS was weird about perfumes, but I didn't know that FedEx had a better policy!

 
If the perfume was well looked after ie. out of heat and light, it should keep pretty well for many years. Obviously, some keep better than others. My mum's had a bottle of diorissimo for at least 10-15 years and it smells lovely still, the top notes aren't as strong but the rest is fine, it's discoloured a bit.

Perfumes are most affected by heat, light and oxidation. Alcohol itself is a preservative, so how it goes off depends on how volatile the other chemicals are in the perfume which would tell you what notes/part of the character has been lost. The most volatile parts are the top notes, so those tend to go the quickest, but the perfume will retain most of it's character.

Older perfumes tended to be better made anyway, so I wouldn't worry too much. Your nose should tell you all you need to know.

Alcohol is what's considered dangerous to transport as it's flammable. That's why whenever I do swaps/cp's I always ask that alcohol not be mentioned on the CN22 declaration as it's prohibited from entering Oz, which is just plain ridiculous because people order all sorts of alcohol-based goods overseas and they get mailed around no problems. Otherwise Sephora and Aedes and the like would be out of a business.

 
I've had my YSL Babydoll for 10 years and it still smells the same, but some got bad after a year.

 

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