Most decants are good for around a year of normal use once you start opening the vial regularly. A sealed, unopened decant lasts much longer than that. What actually shortens the life of a decant is air getting in every time you open it, not a clock ticking from the day it was poured.
Why decants age faster than the bottle they came from
A decant has a lot more air relative to liquid than a full bottle does, and that ratio gets worse every time you use it. A small vial filled close to the top still has a little headspace above the liquid, and that headspace grows every time you spray. Each time you open the vial, that air gets swapped for fresh air, and fresh air carries the oxygen that breaks fragrance down. A 100ml bottle goes through the same process, but you open a decant far more often relative to how much liquid is left in it, so the effect shows up sooner.
Frequently asked questions
Does it matter if my decant is a spray or a dab vial?
Yes. A sprayer never lets anything back into the vial. A dab vial means a wand or a fingertip goes into the liquid and comes back out carrying skin oil and whatever else was on your hand, which shortens the fragrance's life faster than air exposure alone. Every decant we pour goes into a fresh glass spray atomizer, not a dab vial, for this reason. See how decanting works for the full process.
Does the container material matter?
Yes. Fragrance is a solvent, and it will slowly pull plasticiser out of cheap plastic over time. Glass doesn't have that problem. That's why we pour into glass atomizers, not plastic vials.
How should I store a decant to make it last longer?
Keep it upright, out of direct light, and away from heat sources. A car, a sunny windowsill, and a steamy bathroom are the three places that shorten a decant's life the fastest. Our full storage and care guide covers sealed bottles too, if you're holding onto a full bottle as well as decants.
Can I tell if a decant has actually gone off?
Trust your nose against a fragrance you already know well. A decant that's turned usually smells flatter or sharper than it should, sometimes with a vinegar-like edge. If something smells off, don't keep wearing it just because the vial isn't empty yet.
Looking for a specific fragrance to try in a smaller size? Browse what we carry, hand-poured to order in Regina.