Have you had a fragrance go bad on you?

[jtdrago3]

Wondering if you’ve had a fragrance that has changed a lot over time smell wise? I feel like my Dior Homme Intense has changed. I’ve had it for a year and a half. Went through 60ml and the top notes don’t seem the same to me anymore. I’ve tried to keep it in good condition but the temp in my apartment does fluctuate a lot. Or perhaps I’ve just worn it so much I’m nose blind to certain parts of the fragrance.

 

[PrinceRF]

Hasn't happened to me yet, fortunately.

 

[Larry Hoover]

I've only had samples that I ordered smell bad once I tested them. Probably bad storage.

 

[toasty]

I've got a split of Xerjoff Mefisto that's definitely not as it was.

 

[slpfrsly]

Wondering if you’ve had a fragrance that has changed a lot over time smell wise? I feel like my Dior Homme Intense has changed. I’ve had it for a year and a half. Went through 60ml and the top notes don’t seem the same to me anymore. I’ve tried to keep it in good condition but the temp in my apartment does fluctuate a lot. Or perhaps I’ve just worn it so much I’m nose blind to certain parts of the fragrance.

Fragrances definitely change over time and some are more volatile and will weaken (where others get stronger). I don't think you're describing a perfume going 'off'. That has quite a particular smell, often a bit like body odor, rotting vegetation, a strong alcoholic smell etc. A change in perception is also possible as well, of course, but generally speaking I think you should trust your perceptions. Consider the covid potential of course and how that might have inteferred with your senses, but otherwise, gut instinct is reliable. If you notice a change in the fragrance over time, it's probably changed.

 

[hednic]

Hasn't happened to me yet, fortunately.

Nor to me.

 

[maxwell_]

Only once. I received a 2017 batch of ADG Profumo in a swap and it was definitely off compared to 2021 batches.

 

[banusist]

I bought a 1.5 oz of Stetson and after a year it smelled of nail polish remover.

 

[Fragnanimous]

Yes, two very expensive and my most cherished fragrances.

 

[Franco65]

not yet!

 

[ScentSensei]

So far I haven't had this happen to bottles, samples or decants(hunts for wood or wood veneered object to knock on). I've been so worried about my sense of smell going 'off' more than my fragrances for the past couple of years!

 

[Hyde65]

Creed Windsor flacon. My greatest fragrance regret.

 

[emtee]

Couple of older Creeds where the top notes have gone a bit but after 5 mins they smell great

 

[dougczar]

Yes. One of the main reasons I have greatly slowed my purchases over the last year or so.

I had a Split of Jardin d'Amalfi go sour, a bottle of Bond No. 9 Scent of Peace for Him, and Bond No. 9 Bleecker Street go off. I was surprised about the BN9 scents, since I assumed they were mostly synthetic, and I assumed that synthetics would be more stable. I store the bottles in my basement so they are cool and dark all the time. I replaced the Jardin d'Amalfi with a full bottle about a year and a half ago. I sure hope that bottle doesn't turn on me.

 

[Ken_Russell]

So far have not experienced this even with vintage fragrances with at least a few decades of age

 

[RedRaider430]

I have had a couple of Chanels go bad....namely Allure Homme Sport and Allure Homme Cologne Sport.

 

[RedRaider430]

Yes. One of the main reasons I have greatly slowed my purchases over the last year or so.

I had a Split of Jardin d'Amalfi go sour, a bottle of Bond No. 9 Scent of Peace for Him, and Bond No. 9 Bleecker Street go off. I was surprised about the BN9 scents, since I assumed they were mostly synthetic, and I assumed that synthetics would be more stable. I store the bottles in my basement so they are cool and dark all the time. I replaced the Jardin d'Amalfi with a full bottle about a year and a half ago. I sure hope that bottle doesn't turn on me.

I had a split of Jardin d'Amalfi go bad on me one time.....at least I THOUGHT it did. And I was very surprised because it happened in a relatively short amount of time after I received it. Didn't really make sense. Then I got to wondering if maybe it was just the juice in the uptake tube and I just needed to spray it out. So I gave it several sprays and I'll be darned if that didn't fix the problem.

I think this tends to happen much more often with decants than with factory bottles. Since I discovered this, I've noticed it with a few other decants as well.

 

[ChuckW]

Maybe a couple, but not very many in all my years. My wife had a Bond go bad.

 

[The Colognnoisseur]

So far, so good.

 

[deltasun]

I have a couple of bottles that have turned. They're from my signature scent days when I stored them in my bathroom 24/7/365. They've also been through a lot of moves and storage lockers that were not temperature controlled. One is a 2009 Le Male and the other is a 2006 Vera Wang for Men. I still keep them around. The off-putting smell only lasts about 5 minutes, then they're great the rest of the way.

Since getting into the hobby about 5 years ago (and learning how to store my bottles properly), I've not had any more turn on me. Incidentally, I have a bottle of Aspen after shave that's gone through the same "abuse" as the two above and it's not turned at all. I bought that bottle in the early 90's.

 

[Bonnette]

Mine usually get better (or stay the same) with age. Temperature fluctuations would have to be extreme and never-ending to cause serious damage to perfume stored away from UV light. But evaporation is a continual threat, despite one's best efforts to prevent it, and regardless of ambient temperature - that might be what's changing the concentration (and thus the overall effect) of your fragrances.

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

For me none of them have turned but I have picked up a few that were already gone south.

 

[Pippin06]

Hasn't happened to me, though I did purchase a bottle of vintage aramis a few years back that was already turned. In fact, it's been my experience that the new fragrances I purchase always improve as they age. Another thing I've discovered is that when purchasing on amazon, the fragrances that have batch codes from several years back smell better when I receive them than the ones with a very recent batch code. Just received a new bottle of aramis Tuscany I purchased new on amazon. Looked up the batch code, and it's from 4 years ago. Smells amazing, and has solid performance.

 

[MELBOURNE21]

Haven't experienced this, but this is a true story -

Before I got into fragrances , I would always keep a bottle or 2 lying around.

And I used to keep them in the glove compartment of my car !!

These 2 bottles would survive many years in there,afrom freezing temperatures to scorching Aussie Summers !

Surprisingly, nothing ever went wrong with them and they never went off!

 

[Renato]

I had a 20 year old splash bottle of an old scent go bad on me, such that I threw it out.
For spray bottles, the top notes of my Tiffany for Men definitely changed for the worse, but the scent becomes the same after 20 minutes of wearing.
Regards,
Renato

 

[dogtoe]

A bottle of YSL Opium pour Homme started smelling like urine after about 6 years stored poorly in my bathroom and my 2010 YSL Nuit de l’Homme started pumping out spontaneously and lost a lot of its spiciness, again stored poorly in my bathroom where I use space heaters to take comfortable showers in the winter. Everything important is now in wine coolers.

 

[ILikePeeps]

For me none of them have turned but I have picked up a few that were already gone south.

This. I've picked up bad/altered ones, but I can't say any of mine have noticeably turned over the years.

 

[L'Aventurier]

I've had decants "fast forward" to the basenotes and lose all their top notes, because they were badly sealed.

I've also had a few bottles go "off" when I was a teenager and young man, because I used to leave them on my dresser in the sun all day. They picked up that dreaded celery off-note, that often occurs when bergamot, among other delicate essential oils, is exposed to direct sunlight for too long.

I've been collecting for about 20 years now, and luckily nothing I own has gone off, because everything is kept in a dark cupboard or original box. Fluctuating temperatures are fine (my home varies between 18C and 36C in the summer), but I never keep fragrances out in the open or in a bathroom (too much quick fluctuation throughout the day with showers and baths).

 

[sjg3839]

Not as of today.

 

[gerbick]

yep... Creed Silver Mountain Water. Not sure what went wrong with that bottle - it was crimped tightly, no spills or gaps from what I could see, but maaaaan it turned into a funky mess. It was so bad that the Creed rep just replaced the bottle. I thought I had done something wrong but it was alongside a bunch of other bottles in a dark, temperature controlled environment.

 

[dealt7faux]

Alas, yes. An old bottle of Dior Eau Sauvage. It skunked, and wound up smelling like a mildewed cellar.

 

[Marty McFly]

Hugh Parsons the blue bottle (now called 'traditional',) had two bottles go bad after 6 months each. This used to be my all time favorite fragrance, but after some time, it would start to develop a celery top note that ruined it for me. This was about a decade ago, and I used to keep my fragrances in the bathroom, so it may have been due to storage/humidity from the bathroom.

I also still have half a bottle of 20 year old bottle of Moschino Uomo? and the base is super strong and bright, but the top notes are off.

I have about almost half a bottle of D&G PH, also about 20 yrs old, and while I can't exactly remember how it smelled, I sprayed it a few months ago for the first time in years and it smelled off to me.

Hmm...I still have a nearly half-full bottle of JPG Le Male from 2001...haven't sprayed it in about 20 years, now I'm tempted to test it.

 

[cazaubon]

I’ve had a few go off, including an unopened refill bottle of Kilian Pure Oud, which really surprised me. The others were L’Artisan.