Anyone ever experience a fragrance going bad?

[Flatbush Ave]

On this site posters always say that fragrances can last for years. But has anyone ever witnessed a fragrance that went bad? If so, how was your experience? Will just a note disappear? Will it be unwearable and you have to do throw it out (similar to expired food)? Those who have witnessed this, how long did you have the bottle?

Some of you have hundreds of fragrances from the 80s/90s. So I'm assuming you guys are bound to experience a fragrance going bad.

 

[hednic]

I'm sure there are some here that will say they have and I would no doubt believe them. Thankfully I haven't though.

 

[dmckean44]

Yes, Marc Jacobs for Men has a short shelf life and the top notes go a little sour after a few years. I've decided to stop buying it.

 

[yarn]

I have a bottle of Creed MI that I am certain has gone off - in fact, if anyone wants a sample of it to compare against 'good' bottles then I will happily send as I would like to confirm that it is the scent and not my nose that has gone off

 

[Poohdini]

I have recently experienced 4 of my fragrances going bad, and it is very easy to tell because the opening is not the same and smells like rubbing alcohol for the opening, the rubbing alcohol smell does go away but the fragrance itself still does not smell as strong and you can tell it smells a little stale. This happened to my bottle of clinique Happy, Chanel PE, YSL L'homme, and chanel allure homme sport cologne. Have had them for over 6 years now. But the strangest one is my chanel allure homme sport cologne, it smells nothing like it's supposed to anymore. To my nose it now smells like curry and woods, no longer do i smell the fresh lemons. I had to throw it away and buy a new one but I noticed that even the tester at sephora smelled like it had gone bad and smelled like gross curry, so maybe this cologne just goes bad very quick.

 

[TLS]

I have recently experienced 4 of my fragrances going bad, and it is very easy to tell because the opening is not the same and smells like rubbing alcohol for the opening, the rubbing alcohol smell does go away but the fragrance itself still does not smell as strong and you can tell it smells a little stale. This happened to my bottle of clinique Happy, Chanel PE, YSL L'homme, and chanel allure homme sport cologne. Have had them for over 6 years now. But the strangest one is my chanel allure homme sport cologne, it smells nothing like it's supposed to anymore. To my nose it now smells like curry and woods, no longer do i smell the fresh lemons. I had to throw it away and buy a new one but I noticed that even the tester at sephora smelled like it had gone bad and smelled like gross curry, so maybe this cologne just goes bad very quick.

As I just read your experience just wanted to know how they were stored.

 

[krooze]

Leave Diesel - Only the Brave in a hot truck for oh, say, a summer. You'll get some "off" notes. Rookie mistake.

 

[mumsy]

I have smelled many a 'bad' and 'off' perfume because of collecting vintage scents.

It depends on the perfume structure in the first place as to how it will 'turn' in the end. It is fairly comparable to any normal human aging. On some the top will just sag gently down to a floppy midriff and a big old bottom. Others will be rather sadly thin and smell pissy but their heart is still intact and once you ignore the piss the old soul is still in there and just as much fun. Others are just sour old dry crabs not worthy of any attention at all.

Being serious though, the notes that are going to mature, will. Such as sandalwoods, vetivers, patchoulis and suchlike. Others might fade and pale like delicate flowers but other flowers get deeper and flee into the mellowing woods for safety up to a point. Citrus's rarely last in any good form and the best you can hope for is that they just fade. That is why when added to the natural state, after loading on the treatment and temperature factors, there can be little prediction or constancy in the matter.

As when making a new perfume, some notes meld together well and others don't. When going in reverse, some unmeld badly and some don't. As each layer gets stripped, it depends what balance you have with what's left.

 

[CapriDog]

Now I am a bit worried. I probably should get a fridge to store the Tom Ford and Amouage bottles. Ay.

 

[TLS]

Now I am a bit worried. I probably should get a fridge to store the Tom Ford and Amouage bottles. Ay.

Please don't and get yourself a wine cooler :smiley:

 

[cacio]

I've started buying early, so I haven't had anything go bad in my possession yet, but I've bought many vintage frags, and many were in less than perfect conditions.

Many things can happen to a frag. Usually, as some were saying, top notes go first, especially citrus. They can simply disappear or turn into something less than pleasant, for instance, alcohol or varnish notes (for aldehydes). In general, a frag can develop musty notes or similar off notes, like the cardboard note of spoiled wines. If only the top notes are gone, the rest of the composition may still be ok, after the top has evaporated, so it might still worth to keep the frag and just wait for the bad part to go. But sometimes the off notes remain into the drydown, at which point a frag is simply unusable.

cacio

 

[bigbz]

Thankfully not yet!(haven't been in this hobby long enough I don't think) But I have has a citrus scent where I noticed the top notes are no longer as intense/strong as they used to be when first sprayed.

 

[CapriDog]

Please don't and get yourself a wine cooler :smiley:

Yes, that's a better option

 

[Lem]

Me. Lacoste Style in Play.

 

[sjg3839]

I haven't so far.

 

[Gamma]

I have a bottle of Creed MI that I am certain has gone off - in fact, if anyone wants a sample of it to compare against 'good' bottles then I will happily send as I would like to confirm that it is the scent and not my nose that has gone off

Weird, same thing happened to me. I purchased it only maybe 2 years ago, and earlier this year I wore it a couple of times and it was noticeably different. It became a little musty and not sparkling and light as it had originally smelled. I think it is nearly unwearable now, I'm confident that it's not just my nose but something that has changed in the fragrance.

 

[aphexacid]

I have a bottl of Issey Miyake that I bought around 1997. I think it's a little more bitter than what it should be. I tried comparing it to the newest version, and my old bottle is also a lot stronger than the new stuff. I'm I'm not exactly sure. Regardless, it's still great to wear every once in a while. Clearly not often enough because in 18 years I've only used half of a 4.2 oz lol

 

[yarn]

Weird, same thing happened to me. I purchased it only maybe 2 years ago, and earlier this year I wore it a couple of times and it was noticeably different. It became a little musty and not sparkling and light as it had originally smelled. I think it is nearly unwearable now, I'm confident that it's not just my nose but something that has changed in the fragrance.

Mine almost has a dirty feel to it and I remember it being brighter than it now appears

 

[Poohdini]

I keep all my fragrances in my walk in closet which doesn't get over 75 degrees. But the PE, ysl and Clinique I mentioned did get stored in a box in a friends garage in the summer for a few weeks while I was moving into a new house, which def could be the reason but for the chanel sport cologne I'm not sure why because it was always stored in a dark cool place. It could also be my nose as it is very sensitive.

 

[Bigsly]

If hednic has never experienced it then that's very strong evidence it's not a major concern. LOL. I have come across some decades-old ones with varnish-like qualities to the first half hour or so, but then that dissipates and the scent smells right.

 

[Flatbush Ave]

If hednic has never experienced it then that's very strong evidence it's not a major concern. LOL. I have come across some decades-old ones with varnish-like qualities to the first half hour or so, but then that dissipates and the scent smells right.

EDIT

Yeah, after thinking about it, it's weird that its never happened to him.

I have a bottle of Creed MI that I am certain has gone off - in fact, if anyone wants a sample of it to compare against 'good' bottles then I will happily send as I would like to confirm that it is the scent and not my nose that has gone off

How long have you had your MI?

 

[FISS80]

I had a decant of Italian Cypress that was in a plastic container that smelled horrid after I'd only had it for maybe 4-6 months. Not sure what the storage was like prior to as I acquired it from a swap.

 

[herbert7890]

Sadly I have to report one of my bottles of Aventus has gone off (will probably discard it during the weekend. It was the R01 batch (which was awesome). Main differences between reg and stale are:

Upon Spraying: Lots of rubbing alcohol smell, barely any fragrance smell

5 mins later: kinda sour mild scent, which feels similar to Aventus but 90-95% diluted in water. Its a total skin scent, which is even more strange, as this batch was reallly really strong when the bootle had not turned bad. You can't even smell the ashy part.
45 mins later: scent is complety gone 100%

Now, I have to admit it was probably my fault for this, since the temperatures at my house (Puerto Rico) have been reaching 95-103 including humidity factor, for the past 4 months. Now i'm really worried about the rest of my fragrances, specially Creeds (since the one that turned was a Creed). Im freaking out and don't know what to do!! Please, if some of you can recommend me a good fridge or wine cooler, I would really appreciate it. I have heard the only problem about wine coolers is finding one that has racks that could hold fragrances. I'm really really mad right now about this (you dont have a clue). I feel like I lost a part of me!! One of my babies just died

I guess this will only serve as a word of advice for people living in hot weather, buy a fridge or something, as I will do. Its not worth having a lot of expensive fragrances if they all turn bad on you.

 

[Diamondflame]

Only with the older vintages from the '70s and '80s where I've noticed missing citrusy topnotes and aldehydes gone weird within the first few minutes of spraying. But the body of the fragrance remains intact as far as I could tell. I believe most fragrances can keep for 10 years or longer if kept in the dark at room temperatures or lower. No wine coolers necessary IMO. After all the largest components in modern fragrances comprise of synthetics and these resist degradation /oxidation far better than natural ingredients.

 

[FISS80]

I tell this story every time the subject comes up. My wife has D&G The One that I bought her at least 5-6 years ago. She keeps it on her dresser. No care to remove from sunlight or temperature changes. She has even left it in the car in the NC heat for 2-3 days and it still smells just as good as it did when I bought it for her. Go figure.

 

[HankHarvey]

Some of mine have turned. Most are still fine. Seems to happen after the ten year point.

 

[Wheatstraw2]

Oh definitely. It takes a long time, though. My experience is that most fragrances go rancid in about 15 years, even if stored properly. It's not bordeaux we're talking about here. I don't own any ouds long enough to know, but I assume they're the only category that might not deteriorate over time. I think that the underestimated cause of damage is half-empty bottles. If you raise up the ratio of air to fragrance, the juice will go south, never to return, in a faster period of time.

I've made plenty of vintage purchases of "properly stored" full bottles online and, let me just say, I'm not going to be doing that anymore.

I don't know how to describe the smell of rancid essential oils. It's just not attractive.

Yes I've had bottles go bad but, like I said, it takes a while.

 

[MegaMav]

I havent had any go bad, but we'll see what happens with my father.
He keeps the castoffs I give him in a cabinet in the bathroom, same room as a shower.
We'll see how long they last.

I keep mine upstairs in by bedroom under the sink in a cabinet close to the floor where its coolest and dark.
However, I have around 30 full bottles. This thread is motivation to cut bait on a few more bottles to actually use them before they turn.

 

[Bigsly]

Oh definitely. It takes a long time, though. My experience is that most fragrances go rancid in about 15 years, even if stored properly...

Oh how I wish people would sell me their 20+ year old Patou Pour Homme for original prices (since it must all be "bad" now)! LOL.

 

[HankHarvey]

Oh how I wish people would sell me their 20+ year old Patou Pour Homme for original prices (since it must all be "bad" now)! LOL.

Patou Pour Homme. A basenotes golden idol.

Even my decant of L'Heure Bleu couldn't make it past the 12 year point, although one could argue it was wearable. Seems like the newer stuff has better staying power, maybe more synthetic.

 

[Flatbush Ave]

Sadly I have to report one of my bottles of Aventus has gone off (will probably discard it during the weekend. It was the R01 batch (which was awesome). Main differences between reg and stale are:

Upon Spraying: Lots of rubbing alcohol smell, barely any fragrance smell

5 mins later: kinda sour mild scent, which feels similar to Aventus but 90-95% diluted in water. Its a total skin scent, which is even more strange, as this batch was reallly really strong when the bootle had not turned bad. You can't even smell the ashy part.
45 mins later: scent is complety gone 100%

Now, I have to admit it was probably my fault for this, since the temperatures at my house (Puerto Rico) have been reaching 95-103 including humidity factor, for the past 4 months. Now i'm really worried about the rest of my fragrances, specially Creeds (since the one that turned was a Creed). Im freaking out and don't know what to do!! Please, if some of you can recommend me a good fridge or wine cooler, I would really appreciate it. I have heard the only problem about wine coolers is finding one that has racks that could hold fragrances. I'm really really mad right now about this (you dont have a clue). I feel like I lost a part of me!! One of my babies just died

I guess this will only serve as a word of advice for people living in hot weather, buy a fridge or something, as I will do. Its not worth having a lot of expensive fragrances if they all turn bad on you.

How long have you had your Aventus?

 

[Wheatstraw2]

Patou Pour Homme. A basenotes golden idol.

Even my decant of L'Heure Bleu couldn't make it past the 12 year point, although one could argue it was wearable. Seems like the newer stuff has better staying power, maybe more synthetic.

That's a good point on the synthetics. I'm willing to believe that the newer stuff has a better chance at real longevity, for that reason. But I don't know.

 

[G.303]

I've had a few in my time.... Not many... I have more shower gels that get funky...

 

[salsa]

Yes I had issey miyake pour homme go bad after a few years in the bathroom. It was about 7 years old ( to me ) and spent five years in the bathroom


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NeoXerxes]

This thread is terrifying. :shocked:

Still, more detailed experiences would be helpful. We need information on both storage conditions and on how long you had the fragrance.

 

[RedRaider430]

I have only purchased two that were obviously degraded. One was Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrien. It wasn't just the top notes....the whole thing was spoiled and wasn't even close to the smell of Eau d'Hadrien. It was basically just an alcohol smell.

The other one was a spare bottle of Creed Green Valley. The last time it was made was 2006, I believe, and there are several reports across the internet of some of it going bad. It started off okay, but about 30 minutes into it it took on a musty ammonia-type smell. It eventually went away and the base notes dried down fine and left a good scent. I'm thinking it may be the ginger that goes bad, as I have experienced this same kind of smell with Vetiver 1948, which also has ginger in the mid-notes.

 

[Bigsly]

That's a good point on the synthetics. I'm willing to believe that the newer stuff has a better chance at real longevity, for that reason. But I don't know.

I've got dozens that are 30 or more years old and there are no bad drydowns. I can't really speak to top notes because I try to avoid most of them, but what I have noticed is that it seems as though some liquid in the tube can take on a vinegar-like quality but if you spray that out and get to what is in the bottle, it's fine. And I am very surprised at how good the very old splash bottles I've obtained are. I've written extensively on this subject on my blog, making one obvious point: you would not see the ebay prices for vintage where they are (and apparently rising) but you would see plenty of threads at BN, Fragrantica, MUA, etc. complaining of "bad" scents if it was common for scents from say the 60s to about 1998 to mostly have "gone bad."

 

[herbert7890]

How long have you had your Aventus?

About a year and 3 months. 100% of the time it was above 85 degrees, most of the time being at 90+. I dont know if its the "high amount of natural ingredients" in Creeds, but this is truly devastating for me Why coudnt Love and Luck turn bad instead? Had to be Aventus.............. Right now im searching desperately online for Beverage coolers, wine coolers, compact fridges but im confused with all the variety and I really dont know which of the 3 types is best for perfumes.

 

[NeoXerxes]

About a year and 3 months. 100% of the time it was above 85 degrees, most of the time being at 90+. I dont know if its the "high amount of natural ingredients" in Creeds, but this is truly devastating for me Why coudnt Love and Luck turn bad instead? Had to be Aventus.............. Right now im searching desperately online for Beverage coolers, wine coolers, compact fridges but im confused with all the variety and I really dont know which of the 3 types is best for perfumes.

Was your bottle also exposed to sunlight?

 

[herbert7890]

Was your bottle also exposed to sunlight?

Nope, just inside the closet, in a shelf (which is always closed unless I open it to select my fragrances. The heat in Puerto Rico is extreme and I learned my lesson, the bad way.............