Adding water to a bottle of perfume?
September 11, 2023 2:42 PM Subscribe
When on an overseas trip, I bought a bottle of Eau de Toilette as a gift. Upon arriving home, I noticed that the bottle is not full - it was a display model and I didn't realize it had been used as a tester. This is not a huge deal - the gift is more about the bottle than it is the scent, and the person receiving it may not ever use the fragrance; however, I don't want it to look like it was a tester bottle.
I can unscrew the top and add water to it. It's a strong scent and about 1/10th or less is missing. I would add a little water and then check the scent to make sure it's still acceptably fragrant. Given the ingredient list, which contains water, can I assume the additional water will incorporate into the medium, as opposed to separating?
Ingredients: Alcohol denat. (Sd Alcohol 39C), Aqua (Water), Parfum (Fragrance), Citronellol, Eugenol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, CI 42090 (FD C Blue 1).
TL/DR; do folks thin out their eau de toilette with water or do they use a different substance?
I can unscrew the top and add water to it. It's a strong scent and about 1/10th or less is missing. I would add a little water and then check the scent to make sure it's still acceptably fragrant. Given the ingredient list, which contains water, can I assume the additional water will incorporate into the medium, as opposed to separating?
Ingredients: Alcohol denat. (Sd Alcohol 39C), Aqua (Water), Parfum (Fragrance), Citronellol, Eugenol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, CI 42090 (FD C Blue 1).
TL/DR; do folks thin out their eau de toilette with water or do they use a different substance?
Well ... what I would do is:
Dump out the perfume that came with the bottle and completely replace it with an entirely different perfume.
posted by SageTrail at 4:19 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Dump out the perfume that came with the bottle and completely replace it with an entirely different perfume.
posted by SageTrail at 4:19 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'd vote a perfume alcohol base. *This link is not an endorsement to any product it is the first viable link on Google that wasn't amazon.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:27 PM on September 11, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:27 PM on September 11, 2023 [7 favorites]
I have not personally used the product recommended by AlexiaSky, but I’ve seen it recommended by people in Facebook groups for fragranced products.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:19 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:19 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ditto perfume alcohol base.
posted by kschang at 7:06 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by kschang at 7:06 PM on September 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I would leave it alone and tell the amusing story of how I ended up gifting a partly-empty bottle. Otherwise I would feel like I wasn’t giving an honest gift.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:49 PM on September 11, 2023 [17 favorites]
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:49 PM on September 11, 2023 [17 favorites]
No liquid unless you are a perfumier and know what you’re doing. Honesty, or add a quantity of decorative bead to raise the fluid level without dilution.
posted by chiquitita at 8:58 PM on September 11, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by chiquitita at 8:58 PM on September 11, 2023 [9 favorites]
If the recipient is a perfume lover and the perfume is rare or hard to find, they would love to have even a partial bottle of it.
posted by matildaben at 9:36 PM on September 11, 2023
posted by matildaben at 9:36 PM on September 11, 2023
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! Much appreciated.
posted by happy_cat at 9:47 PM on September 11, 2023
posted by happy_cat at 9:47 PM on September 11, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nanook at 2:49 PM on September 11, 2023 [7 favorites]