It is important to store essential oils at their best when enjoying your favorite essential oil fragrances. As a fragrance enthusiast, I have learned over time with trial and error that how you store your essential oils can make or break their quality and scent. From rewarding veteran oil fragrance users to opening the door into this newly found world of essential oils, this blog will equip you with essential tips for storing your aroma collection right.
Understanding the Importance of Proper Storage
Essential oil fragrances, like fine wine or gourmet cheese, need the right conditions to grow. Your essential oils are not indestructible. Ultimately, factors like light, heat, or air, will degrade the quality and potency while changing the scent profile of your essential oil. Thus, we should understand how to store our fragrances to prolong the duration of their shelf life as well as maintain the smell fresh and lively.
The Science Behind Essential Oil Degradation
Simply, volatile compounds are essential oils that evolve and change when exposed to the elements. Here are a few key elements to consider when storing your essential oil fragrances:
- Light Exposure: Essential oils can break down from ultraviolet (UV) rays. This degradation can change the fragrance reducing its efficacy, and changing the aroma.
- Temperature Fluctuations: Essential oils are complex and a variety of factors can cause them to break down leading to rancid or unpleasant odors. Usually, 60-70°F (15-21°C) is considered the ideal storage temperature.
- Air Quality: When oils are exposed to air they oxidize, so quality can slowly but surely start to decline. This is something you can help mitigate by keeping them tightly sealed.
Essential Storage Tips for Your Fragrance Collection
To ensure your essential oil fragrances last as long as possible, here are some tried-and-true storage tips that I’ve found helpful in my own experience:
1. Choose the Right Containers
The first step in preserving the quality of your essential oil fragrances is storing them in appropriate containers. Avoid light by using dark glass bottles (amber or cobalt blue). Plastic containers, however, do not react with the oils like glass does, and can leach chemicals over time, which glass does not. If you have bulk sizes, it could also be fun to decant some small amounts into these dark glass bottles for daily use.
2. Store in a Cool, Dark Place
Make sure to keep your fragrances far from direct sunlight and heat sources, finding a dedicated space as far away as possible. A dark cupboard or drawer. Don’t keep them in bathrooms or areas with fluctuating temperatures (such as near a stove or oven).
3. Seal Them Tightly
Always keep the lids to your bottle of fragrance clamped shut. Secondly, make sure your essential oil fragrances come in dropper bottles and the dropper on the bottle is pushed down tightly. It also helps prevent air from entering the bottle thereby oxidizing it. Plus, think of wax seals, that add a layer of protection.
4. Organize for Easy Access
For easy access, you could organize your essential oil fragrances by type or scent profile. Store stuff in storage boxes or trays or even spice racks so they are all close by and in order. This not only looks beautiful for your fragrance collection, but it ensures that you can remember what fragrances you own. I used to enjoy categorizing mine into floral, citrus, and woody notes which makes selecting a fragrance for the day a ritual.
5. Label Your Bottles
If you have more than one essential oil fragrance, labeling your bottles will be very helpful. Don’t forget to write down the name of the fragrance, date of purchase, and whatever information you want to include. This will ensure you don’t forget how long it has been since the fragrance has been stored. I like to have a writing diary for notes of how I find a particular scent to wear, so I can always go back and reference it.
Fragrance Care: A Personal Touch
As someone who loves their essential oil fragrances, I found I have to keep an eye on my collection. Here’s what I do to keep my scents in tip-top shape:
- Routine Checks: Periodically every few months, I’ll stop and check my fragrances. Therefore, when I’m done, I am looking for any separation, cloudiness, or change in color. If a fragrance is off, I ask if it’s still good or just time to say goodbye. Not only do I no longer lose quality, but I also have the chance to re-settle with the scents that give me pleasure.
- Decanting: If you have a larger bottle, you should decant some into a separate bottle for daily use. It helps minimize exposure to air and light, for the larger bottle, and thus minimize its exposure to these negative attributes. In other words, it’s a little travel companion for your fragranced journey.
- Experiment with Scent Pairing: For more adventurous types, pick a blended year or more ago based on your memory alone. Some oils are just perfect partner pairs creating a one-of-a-kind scent that is purely your own. Also remember to store any new blends in dark glass bottles, too! All of this creativity entails that every occasion can get that personal touch too.
The Benefits of Proper Storage
By following these perfume storage tips, you can enjoy a multitude of benefits:
- Extended Shelf Life: Essential oil fragrances stored properly can last for years, so you can help extend your favorite scents.
- Consistent Quality: The best way to keep your fragrances safe from light and air so you can savor the whole range and intensity of their scents when you open a bottle.
- Enhanced Scent Enjoyment: When you have your fragrances sorted and tidy to access and wear with ease. This overall drives to a better aromatic experience.
Conclusion
Maintaining the integrity of your essential oil fragrances, and therefore the enjoyment you get from using them is dependent upon the proper storage. If you keep your essential oils fresh, bright, and ready to energize your spirit when you need them, with a few simple storage tips and practices, you can.
However, as I move on with HBNO products, I remember when I create and when I smell up lovely scents. With minimal time spent proactively caring for your fragrance creations by investing a little time, you will reach the sensory and emotional high of the best scent spirits for them to provide benefits for years to come. It did you should remember that each one tells a story, and with your collection being a celebration of your story of fragrances, each scent matters.
