Fragrance oils and shelf life

[Suchisam]

Just wondering if anyone has tips for extending the shelf life of fragrance oils. For instance can I add ROE? I saw mention on another post about adding vitamin E to essential oils. Can you refrigerate them? I've been buying fragrances like a woman possessed, I've gone through the looking glass and now I'm back and realizing I should probably do my best to extend their shelf lives.

 

[TheGecko]

As with a lot of things light, heat and oxygen can be harmful. For “light” brown or green bottles are better that clear, and glass is better than plastic. I keep my FO is the garage and I’m in Oregon so we only have a few weeks of cold and a few weeks of hot so average is around 60F. And we currently don’t spend a lot of time in garage, so it’s dark most of the time. If that changes (I’d like to move my soaping out there), I’ll have cupboards for my FOs.

 

[Suchisam]

As with a lot of things light, heat and oxygen can be harmful. For “light” brown or green bottles are better that clear, and glass is better than plastic. I keep my FO is the garage and I’m in Oregon so we only have a few weeks of cold and a few weeks of hot so average is around 60F. And we currently don’t spend a lot of time in garage, so it’s dark most of the time. If that changes (I’d like to move my soaping out there), I’ll have cupboards for my FOs.

A soaping set up in the garage would be awesome! I'm in Montreal so I can't even get into my garage in the winter sounds like you have some nice mild weather over there, lucky! The temp is pretty much the same all over my house and all my FOs are in brown bottles thank goodness. That's why I was thinking mini fridge on low don't know if that would work. I suppose a fan could work too. Or adding some kind of antioxidant... Probably overthinking haha

 

[dibbles]

I've been buying fragrances like a woman possessed, I've gone through the looking glass

I can relate. FWIW, I have never added anything to my FOs. I soap, and they are stored, in my basement which is dark most of the time and the temp stays in the low to high 60s depending on the time of year. I've never had a FO smell off and I've been making soap for 7 years now.

 

[TheGecko]

A soaping set up in the garage would be awesome! I'm in Montreal so I can't even get into my garage in the winter sounds like you have some nice mild weather over there, lucky! The temp is pretty much the same all over my house and all my FOs are in brown bottles thank goodness. That's why I was thinking mini fridge on low don't know if that would work. I suppose a fan could work too. Or adding some kind of antioxidant... Probably overthinking haha

I just used some FOs that I bought almost three years ago...in clear plastic bottles...and they were fine. When I first started soaping I kept my FOs in a bag in the laundry basket, then moved them to drawer in my soap cart (rolling kitchen island). But I quickly outgrew the drawer so my husband put a shelf above the cart (opposite the kitchen window) for my FOs and colorants. The FOs were then moved down to the three little shelves on the side of the cart when I had been storing some of my base ingredients, but that didn't last long as I started buying larger bottles of FOs. So I bought an over-the door pantry rack only to realize that it wouldn't work for the garage door as it is an exterior door so hubby wall-mounted it just inside the garage.

We had some folks here who have used FOs and EOs that were years old...someone even had some that were 20 years old and they were fine.

 

[Suchisam]

I just used some FOs that I bought almost three years ago...in clear plastic bottles...and they were fine. When I first started soaping I kept my FOs in a bag in the laundry basket, then moved them to drawer in my soap cart (rolling kitchen island). But I quickly outgrew the drawer so my husband put a shelf above the cart (opposite the kitchen window) for my FOs and colorants. The FOs were then moved down to the three little shelves on the side of the cart when I had been storing some of my base ingredients, but that didn't last long as I started buying larger bottles of FOs. So I bought an over-the door pantry rack only to realize that it wouldn't work for the garage door as it is an exterior door so hubby wall-mounted it just inside the garage.

We had some folks here who have used FOs and EOs that were years old...someone even had some that were 20 years old and they were fine.

Oh yeah? 20 yrs? Haha good to know! I'll have the air-conditioning up soon enough so it'll be nice and crisp in my house