You’re Probably Storing Your Perfumes Wrong

TikTok is saturated with shelfie videos that show off enviable perfume collections and tips on how to make your fragrance stretch longer, and work harder, for you.

But now, the app has sparked a new conversation about where to store your perfumes so they don't go bad and live only half the life they were intended to.

While we all know you shouldn't keep your perfume out in direct light (where the bottles are exposed to temperature changes) or facing the sun all day long, there are a few more unsuspecting environments that could unwittingly spoil your collection.

In a viral video with over 4 million views, 'fragrance fairy godmother' and content creator Professor Perfume called out the "visceral reaction" she has to aesthetic photographs of fragrances displayed on bathroom counters.

"It's come to my attention that nobody on TikTok or Pinterest knows the proper way to store perfume," she says in the video. "If you keep your perfume in the bathroom, when you shower, all the steam, all the temperature fluctuations, are going to spoil your perfume a lot faster than if you store them correctly."

And it makes sense, as you want your perfumes to remain cool and dry, to prevent them from weakening over time.

We get it. A beautiful glass bottle with ribbons and aesthetic labels glistening against the sun on a windowsill or on a marble counter next to the mirror might look radiant, but you're essentially throwing money out the window.

Fellow perfume reviewers encourage that we keep bottles tucked away in a drawer or cupboard with a door — out of sight and out of mind — so the molecular structure of the scent isn't affected.

If you want to take it one step further, you can keep the bottles in their original box like a vintage toy collector for further protection. Thankfully, if you go down this route, the boxes are usually just as pretty to look at, offering a way to keep them on display in your room without spoiling them entirely.

Taking it to the greatest extreme, you can also store your perfume bottles in the fridge, but Professor Perfume says you don't need to "take it that far" for them to last for years and years. It might be worth noting, however, the ideal temperature for storing fragrance is between 12 and 22 degrees Celsius (do with that information what you will).

But at a bare minimum, you should always keep the lid on your perfume to prevent oxygen from sneaking into the bottle, no matter which room you pop it in.

We suggest that you meet perfumes halfway: keep your fragrances out of the heat, light, moisture and humidity. Store them in the dark where possible, and weigh up whether you prefer the value of having the bottles out on show versus the quality of the product inside.