Why does my perfume smell different?

[astronaut]

Okay, so I have the With Love perfume by Hilary Duff. I love the smell because it is spicy and sweet. I bought the perfume in November and haven't used it yet. I kept it in the box. The reason why I haven't used it is because I still have samples from Sephora of the perfume hehe

Anyway, I was recently at Marshals and found a gift set of With Love for only 30 bucks, so I immediately bought it because it was a steal. I tried it and it didn't smell right. A little citrusy. It was a brand new bottle because I had to pump it about 2 times for it to spray. I actually was freaking out because I thought it was fake! Then today, I tried spraying the sample and it was sweet smelling. I washed up, tried the bottle I bought from Sephora, it was new too because I had to also pump it about 2 times. It was also a little citrusy smelling and lacked the sweet smell!

I'm positive that the samples are Hilary Duff's with love because I have 3 of them and saw the Sephora SA's squirt from the With Love tester to the little atomizer each time.

What happened? What should I do?

 

[hhunt2]

Yeah, that's odd. It might be b/c of the aging of the perfume. I'm not a "perfume expert" but I'm speaking from experince of my perfumes, I noticed a similar problem.

Clinique's HappyHeart was my favorite back in high school. I used it everyday. A year ago, my husband bought me a huge bottle as a present. After time I got sick of the smell. So I stored the perfume away, and the other day I took it out to smell it (I was going to give it to a friend) and it smelt different (as if it "aged", like Brandy or alcohol, haha. funny huh).

Maybe someone else will shed light on this subjuct b/c I'm a lil confused too.

 

[hhunt2]

Or maybe one is parfum and the other is toilette.

 

[Abbytabby]

I can't really help you but I had the same problem with a couple of perfumes. I can't remember one of them but the other was Pink Sugar. I had a couple of samples when it came out and really loved it but when I got an actual full sized bottle it smelled different. The friend who bought it for me (it was from Sephora so I know it was real) had the same problem.

I'd say it might be age or perhaps EDT vs EDP (not sure if With Love offers both) but I've had perfumes a lot longer than that not turn.

Oh, and actually there was another one that I remember now. Another friend sent me one of the older Sephora perfume sampler things. It came with like 8 samples and you could get a full size of the one you liked best. Well, I was figuring I'd want Stella since I'd tried it in Sephora before and liked it but the sample made me so sick.

 

[macface]

Perfums do expire I was told and I have experince the same situation

 

[Kayteuk]

I keep all my perfumes in the Dark, in their boxes, and in a cool area. This helps them last for YEARS longer!

 

[Kayteuk]

As I have just had a chemistry based exam, some sugary scents in perfumes are made by ESTERS (If your a chemist you hate these things!). Esters can break down in UV light sometimes, and also can be effected by changes in temperature and pressure.
So its best to keep it in cool dry conditions. That way perfumes will not loose their scent, I think that's what really happened!

 

[sweet28victoria]

I know for a fact that perfumes does gets bad...so if your going to store them for a long time atleast air them out once a week..if you have a budget try getting a small refrigerator(if your a perfume collector or have to many kinds of perfume/cologne)set it on a lower setting and store your perfumes there. Coz to tell you the truth thats what I do...I still have the perfume my Mom gave to me when I was 22 and Im 29 already, and it still smell the same!

 

[kaesiashden]

Perfumes made with natural oils, batches tend to vary, depending on season, quality of the materials being diffused.
Those also tend to age quickly.
The notes begin to breakdown.
The top note will "drowned" so to say in the middle note, then to the bottom.
Completely changing the scent and the lengths.
I'm not sure if Love is natural, or not.
But something about synthetic scents...
Synthetic scents don't breakdown as easy, but still need to be kept in cool dark places, as so they do not evaporate.

 

[zmnim]

I have perfume that's stored out of its box in a drawer since 2001 and it still smells the same...

 

[vikitty]

Wow, that is weird. I know oils will age a LOT and change; my BPAL ages sometimes with wonderful results, sometimes disasterous!

 

[shea_47]

I accidently left my vera wang perfume in the glovebox of my car in the summer (when it got uptp 35 celsius) and the scent never changed...