19 Other Uses of Perfume (Including 6 Hacks of What to Do with Old Perfume Bottles) that Work GREAT in 2020
1-minute quick read about other uses of perfume:
- How to dispose of perfume and cologne?
- Scented diffuser
- How to use perfume as air freshener
- Room spray
- Bulb aroma vaporizer
- DIY scented bath
- Scented toilet roll
- Fragrant tester on-the-go
- On the business card, notepaper, letter
- How can I use up perfume I don’t like?
- Remove grease stain
- Clothes disinfecting
- Furry baby odor remover
- Sell/exchange it
- DIY self-defense spray
- What to do with old perfume bottles?
- Recycling
- Flower bottle
- Bottle decoration
- Candleholder
- Liquid soap/lotion dispenser
- Sell it
- CAN expired perfume be used?
No if you want to use it on your skin, it may cause skin irritation, allergies, or even worse health problems.
Now let’s begin.
It’s upset some of the perfumes can’t be used up before the shelf life; what’s worse, if we happen to buy perfumes we don’t really like, every spritz can suffer. So what to do with leftover perfume? Throw it away? Your wallet is crying.
In this post, I’m gonna share some other uses of perfume that will give different purposes for your leftover, unwanted, or “expired” perfumes, and uses of perfume bottle to make them environmentally friendly.
How to dispose of perfume and cologne?
You can still use your favorite perfume other than on the skin though passing the shelf life:
1. Scented diffuser
One of the alternative uses for perfume is saving your $$ and risks buying unknown scented diffusers. Grab an empty diffuser bottle, mix using up perfume with distilled water in a 1:1 ratio (you can adjust it to your liking). The mixture may turn a bit of milky white. Put some reed diffusers in. Voila!
2. How to use perfume as air freshener
All you need to do is spraying the leftover perfume on dry cotton balls or unscented dried flowers. Once things are done, you can place these little fragrant wonders in the drawer, wardrobe, wherever else in the room, or under the pillow (in my personal experience, lavender scent works damn well relaxing my moods and helping with sleeping).
3. Room spray
Now that we have air freshener, can you use perfume as room spray? Mix 10ml of anhydrous ethanol with 50ml of distilled water in a mist bottle, add a few drops of unwanted perfume, and you’ll get a wonderful homemade perfume spray.
Now consider using it on the carpet, bed sheets, the clothes you’ll wear tomorrow, and other fabrics at home. Just remember to use it up within two weeks in case it goes bad.
4. Bulb aroma vaporizer
Spray or apply the perfume directly on the lightbulb, so when heated up, it will serve as the sources of fragrance to keep your home smelling good.
5. DIY scented bath
A few drops of perfume in the bathtub will make a simple aromatic bath. Imagine how soothing it is when we step into a bathroom filled with pleasing aroma after work!
Read more about clean smelling perfume like soap.
6. Scented toilet roll
This is a classic way for perfume uses. It will definitely boost your guests’ happiness when they smell the pleasing scent in the washroom, and the smell of toilet roll is part of that. Of course, if you don’t want to spray the perfume directly on toilet roll, spraying on its cardboard is a perfect alternative.
7. Fragrant tester on-the-go
Spray the perfume on the tester paper, and put in your wallet or bag, so the aroma you love will accompany you on the way.
8. On the business card, notepaper, letter
Sending scented paper to others shows your respect for them and care for details. Don’t you think it a good idea for recycling unwanted perfumes? Reminder: care for the sprinkles also. Your business partner may not love an oversprayed business card.
How can I use up perfume I don’t like?
You are not the only one wondering what to do with perfume samples, or perfumes you don’t like. No worry, you don’t need to tolerate its smell anymore! Instead of putting up with it, other purpose of perfume below will find its best chance.
1. Remove grease stain
One of the other uses of perfume includes greasing stains and residual tapes. No matter how hard we try, there can still be a trace of them on the cloth or handbag. Now your unwanted perfume will come into play. Just spray it on the cotton rag and wipe the grease-stained area. Likewise, this method will work the same on a tape stained spot.
2. Clothes disinfecting
The alcohol content in perfume is enough for clothes disinfecting yet not overmuch to damage them. Give the ready-to-wash clothes just one spray; or take out the cleaned clothes from the washer before the last cycle, soak them with a few drops. Simple as that.
3. Furry baby odor remover
If you have a feline/canine family member, you will thank the unwanted perfume after cleaning the floor with a few drops of them. I know you refuse its scent, but furry baby’s places seem to smell less adorable:(
4. Sell/exchange it
I know some users on social media created the exclusive community for people to sell/exchange perfumes: Fragrance Swap! on Reddit, Gents Scents Fragrance Family on Facebook, Fragrance Marketplace on Facebook, and much more.
I haven’t made any transaction on those places, so regretfully I couldn’t offer experience about how to tell a fake one. But just hang out there for a while, you’ll learn the lessons.
5. DIY self-defense spray
All you’ll need is a mist bottle for this. But I wish you’ll never actually use it on any day of your life.
What to do with old perfume bottles?
Empty cosmetics bottles are not always useless. They can be reborn as a useful gadget or house decoration. If you don’t know what to do with empty perfume bottles, here are some perfume bottle hacks worth trying.
1. Recycling
Sephora has a recycling program on its French website, announcing that an empty perfume bottle will enjoy a 20% deduction for your purchase. Fragrancex also offers a program to recycle or donate unwanted cosmetics.
I also heard Origins counter used to accept any brand of empty cosmetics containers in exchange for a free sample. But I’m not sure whether the plan still works.
2. Flower bottle
Seeking something adorable to decorate your office desk and home space? A DIY flower bottle can be a good idea. Grab an empty perfume bottle, rinse it thoroughly and dry off, then you can put your favorite fresh/dry flowers in.
3. Bottle decoration
Beautifully designed perfume bottles are everywhere. If you are not a flower person, perhaps consider using them as interior decorations? What you’ll do is pretty much like making a flower bottle, but instead of putting flowers in, you gonna put pearls, crystals, jewelry, or any other decorations you love.
For a perfume collector who has more than one bottle, you can even rearrange them based on color and size to create a special art decor of your house.
4. Candleholder
No need to worry about wax dripping on your table, the perfume bottle will hold it perfectly. The next time planning a candlelight dinner, the DIY candleholder may arouse more romantic ambiance!
5. Liquid soap/lotion dispenser
The first thing you need is a proper pump that suits your empty perfume bottle. Clean the perfume bottle and pour the liquid soap into it. Your washroom will have another new pretty decor:)
6. Sell it
Collectors on Etsy and eBay may be searching for your empty perfume bottles to recreate for sale, or to decorate by themselves. But at first, you may need to open an online shop to attract potential buyers.
CAN expired perfume be used?
In the end, I will clarify something that has long been misunderstood: “expired” perfume. Short answer: no if you want to use expired perfume on your skin.
Actually, there is no expiry date for perfume the way people ever thought. Perfume is a compound made up of a fragrance base dissolved in alcohol (there are also some dissolved in perfume oil that is known as oil-based perfumes).
This configuration of perfumes work the same as some wines: the older wine, the better. As the alcohol evaporates, the remaining will smell deeper. Besides, alcohol is great for sterilization and preservation.
So this means we can use it forever? Unfortunately no. Factors including light, temperature, and water in the air can affect the scent of a perfume that has been long-time opened, causing the slight change of ingredients, especially for some citrus perfumes. Their top notes tend to smell sour or become a bit strange.
However, perfumes of oriental woody notes are much more stable. On the contrary, they may have turned bad not long after direct sunlight or be put in the bathroom where there is full of water.
So how do we tell when a perfume has gone bad? The answer is smelling the scent and checking the form, instead of seeing the color. Normally, the change of color happens before that of scent.
It’s easy for specific ingredients to change the color. Say vanilla. A blue perfume containing vanilla may turn yellow after some time yet still can be used. But if it turns out to smell strange, you’d better stop using it any longer.
Besides, wearing “expired” perfumes, which are essentially chemical compounds, may cause skin irritation, allergies, or even worse health problems.
Perfumers’ initial intention is that perfumes should be used up as soon as possible so that they can keep the original, natural scent. So how to store perfumes? They need to be kept with the cap sealed, away from light and heat to prevent discoloration as much as possible.
However, I know lots of perfume collectors and bonkers pursue the mellow sweet aroma which can be smelt only from vintage/old perfumes aged over the decades. This works the same as doneness of beefsteaks, or aging wines.
There are also some collectors who prefer the advanced and refined ingredients which can only be found in the early version of certain perfumes. Due to rising costs and/or shortage of resources (like musk), the contemporary version may use low-grade ingredients or more artificial ingredients than before.
Now it’s your turn:
Which other uses for fragrance do you wanna try the most?
Making using up perfume as a scented diffuser?
Exchanging it for a fragrance you like?
Or you plan to start an online shop selling unwanted perfume bottles?
Let me know in the comment.
