Can You Use Perfume To Make Your Home Smell Better?

Everyone likes to smell nice, but getting the perfect perfume can be difficult. What smells nice in the store may not smell as good on your skin or lack longevity, or you may just grow tired of wearing a certain scent. You might prefer a more tropical scent in the summer and a spicier one in the winter, leaving you swapping between a variety of perfumes without truly finishing any full bottles. This is perfectly fine, but it can feel like a waste to let an expensive perfume sit on a shelf and inch ever closer to its expiration date, which is typically three to five years after opening the bottle. Instead of letting that happen, find a new life for your perfume so you can enjoy your fragrances without spraying them on every day.

If you are looking for ways to repurpose the cosmetics samples cluttering your vanity, then using your perfume as a home fragrance may interest you. Some people suggest that you can do this by adding perfume to an oil diffuser, and while this is certainly an option, there are definitely some things to consider before giving this a try. There are a variety of types of perfumes and oil diffusers, and some are more likely to work safely together than others. The wrong combinations may even be harmful, so it is important to examine your diffuser and perfume before attempting this hack. When proper precautions are taken, this should be a successful way to enjoy your perfume throughout your home.

Before combining your oil diffuser and perfume, check both of them to see if this is a good idea for your products. Oil diffusers can be nebulizing, ultrasonic, heating, or evaporative. Nebulizing oil diffusers use pressurized air to push oil out of the diffuser, squeezing the oil into small droplets to enter the air. Ultrasonic diffusers use vibrations to agitate the oil and increase evaporation before pushing the oil droplets into the air using a fan. Heating oil diffusers warm the oil for scent, and evaporative diffusers let oil evaporate naturally from a porous surface and get dispersed by airflow. 

Once you determine which type of diffuser you have, you can assess your perfumes. Perfumes can be water-based, oil-based, alcohol-based, or silicone-based. Water-based and oil-based are the best for home fragrances in most oil diffusers. Alcohol-based perfumes are not ideal for breathing in all day, are flammable, and, like silicone-based perfumes, may have ingredients that will clog up your oil diffuser. Ultrasonic diffusers are especially prone to damage from this. 

Finally, it is worth considering if it is safe to diffuse perfumes into the air you breathe. Perfume as a cosmetic is regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration but only related to regular use. Even so, some perfumes contain contaminants that are linked with negative side effects when the products are used normally, so be careful with the perfume you choose. Overall, the research on the safety of diffusing perfume is extremely limited, so you must decide if it is worth the risk.

If you decide to try this hack, start by going through your perfumes and choosing the right signature home scent for your design style. Then, grab your diffuser. Nebulizing and ultrasonic diffusers may be more effective because they do not rely on slow evaporation or heat. When adding your perfume, start small with just a few drops. You might even consider diluting the perfume with water. Remember that more perfume can be added at any time later, but you do not want to risk clogging your diffuser or creating an overpowering scent by starting with too much. Make sure to clean your oil diffuser after each use, especially after adding perfume instead of essential oils, and give it a regular deep clean monthly.

If attempting to diffuse perfume seems too risky to you, there are other ways to keep your home smelling fresh and clean with items you already own. One way is by spraying perfume on fabrics around your home. Perfumes that are not alcohol-based can last longer when sprayed on fabrics, so you can get a good lingering fragrance by spritzing curtains or pillows in a room. This will let you use your perfume in a way that is closer to its intended purpose without it following you around all day. Just be careful about which fabrics you spray, and make sure you know the tips on how to get rid of cologne and perfume stains on laundry, just in case.