Exact Answer: 3 – 5 Years
A perfume is a liquid that is fragrant and is used to give a pleasant smell to one’s body. Perfumes can be of various types with a variety of different smells. Typically, perfumes are made from essential oils extracted from aromatic flowers and spices.
Some of the common perfume scents are floral, citrus, fruity, spicy, woody, fresh, vanilla, etc. One can opt for a certain perfume that suits the occasion. Nowadays, several perfume brands have come up with a separate set of fragrances for both women and men.
How Long Do Perfumes Last?
| Conditions | Duration |
| The lifespan of a perfume | 3 – 5 years |
| The duration for which perfumes stays on the body once applied | 2 – 24 hours |
Most perfumes are made by extracting scented oil from natural ingredients. These ingredients could include anything from plants and flowers for making rosy, floral, and other aromatic smells to the earthly smell of the soil after rain for making petrichor perfumes.
Often high-quality pure perfumes belonging to the luxury brands are aged for months or sometimes even years to ensure different scents are perfectly blended to create a proper scent for the perfume which is quite pleasing to smell.
Research has shown that fragrance can have a dramatic effect on our lives. Thus, perfumes can go as far as boosting human emotional status and can even arouse a person. When a person uses a particular perfume regularly, people in his surroundings start associating the perfume’s smell with that person.
As perfumes can be made up of countless smells, the shelf life of each scent is bound to be different. However, it is observed that the average lifespan of a perfume is about 3 to 5 years. Nevertheless, some fragrances might last for a longer duration as well.
Even an unopened perfume bottle would not last for long, as with time, the scent of the perfume starts fading, and thus, it is better to immediately start using the perfume after it is bought to prevent it from going to waste. Even though perfumes do not expire in the same way food does, it is never advisable to use expired perfumes as they may irritate the skin.
Why Do Perfumes Last This Long?
A perfume can go bad even if it is kept unopened. This is because perfume is made for natural essential oil which loses its potency over time. Thus, all types of perfumes, whether opened or not eventually go bad after a certain period.
As perfumes are in liquid form they evaporate when sprayed on the body. This is because as soon as the perfume comes in contact with the air, it immediately starts evaporating as it is exposed to oxygen and many other gases in the atmosphere. Therefore, care should be taken to keep one’s perfume bottle properly closed. If one leaves the perfume open for long, it might completely vaporize and vanish into thin air.
Exposure to heat and oxygen might react with the chemicals present in the perfume and alter its fragrance. This can change either the color or smell of the perfume. However, certain fragrances might last for a sufficiently long duration if stored properly.
Moderately cool temperatures are suitable for storing perfumes, as in such conditions there is not much risk of the perfume losing its smell due to direct exposure to sunlight. Thus, a cool and closed shelf or a cupboard in a dark room is ideal for storing perfumes.
The average lifespan of 3 – 5 years for perfume would only hold if it is stored properly. Also, the duration for which a perfume could last would depend on the quality of the fragrance and concentration of essential oils it has. The higher the concentration of the scented oil is present in the perfume, the longer the perfume will last.
Conclusion
Man’s sense of smell is quite powerful and thus, perfumes are still being used today. The way a person smells can be influenced by the type of perfume one wears. Thus, it is necessary to choose one’s perfume wisely and carefully and ensure that it goes well with one’s personality.
Generally, most perfumes last for about 3 – 5 years from the time it was first manufactured. However, exactly how long the perfume would last hugely depends on the quality and concentration of the perfume oil.
As time passes one’s perfume would not smell exactly as it used to smell when it was first opened for use. This is because the fragrances used in the perfumes become less potent with time and thus, the scent goes on becoming less evident.
