What To Do With Empty Perfume Bottles

We all have a favourite perfume we use every single day. In fact, some of us have multiple perfumes that we use regularly and we swap between them when it comes to different occasions. For instance, we might have a specific perfume we use for work purposes and then one that is best suited to nights out.

However many perfumes you have in your home, it’s likely you use them fairly quickly, especially if you are using them daily. After all, a few sprays a day means the bottle will end up needing to be replaced sooner rather than later. And in some cases, the empty bottle might have gone off before you have used it all.

The average perfume lasts around a year if unopened or three to five years if it’s been opened. When it’s time to get a new one, there is something you need to do first before you go to the shops to find your next favourite scent. And that is to decide what to do with empty perfume bottles. After all, there are lots of things you could be doing with them which will ultimately help the planet or give the pretty bottle a new lease of life. Therefore, here is what to do with empty perfume bottles.

Make your own perfumes

Instead of throwing away empty perfume bottles, it’s a good idea to keep it and make your own perfume. After all, the bottle is a great way to store your new creation which could become your go-to perfume. And having a go at making your own homemade perfume is a lot of fun to do with friends and family. There is a lot of information and guides online to help you through the process of making your own perfume.

You firstly need to have a good idea of what kind of scent you want to create with your perfume. After all, we all have personal favourite smells that we like to wear. You need to think of ideas of notes that will all work together to create a beautiful scent. The top note is the first smell you will encounter when you spray the perfume. This is normally lighter and sweeter yet will capture your interest and others. A lot of people go for a fruity or floral fragrance for this cent.

The heart note is the next scent to consider with this smell likely to last longer and make more of an impact. Going for something floral or spicy for this heart note. You can then finally need to choose a base note which is the smell that lingers for the longest. After a couple of hours, this is the smell that remains around you. This should be not as powerful as the others and a classic, woody scent often works well in this case.

After working out the notes for your perfumes, you need to invest in ingredients like essential oils which will help you to create that beautiful scent. You can also use fragrance oils instead to create that new perfume. You also need carrier oil which will help to ensure that the perfume is safe for your skin. Vodka is then used to make the perfume oil into an official eau de perfume.

Once you have made your creations, you can either keep them for yourself or even pass them on to your friends and family. After all, they will make lovely presents for a friend’s birthday or Christmas present. You could make a great side income from selling your own perfumes online as well so this is another good idea for making your own perfumes.

Create some children's crafts

It’s always a good idea to get crafty with the kids and the empty perfume bottles provide a great way for them to get creative. From painting the bottles to filling them with fun new things such as flowers or coloured sand, they can create a lot of fun things with the perfume bottles. They will love getting creative, especially during the summer holidays and they can keep the perfume bottle which is often pretty in design in the first place. During the winter holidays, they can also use it to make Christmas crafts and it could be a great idea for a mini Christmas tree. Older children could even make their own fragrances with their friends. By using the empty bottle, you can save money on crafts which can get expensive with the kids.

Create a room spray with an old perfume bottle

We all want our home to smell lovely. This is ideal for our family and for when guests come to visit. But room sprays are expensive to buy and you might not quite find the right scent for your home. After all, in the living room you might want a fun and lively scent to lift the spirits of the people in the room while in the bedroom you will want to create a relaxing and soothing atmosphere so will want a calming scent.

Therefore with your personal tastes in mind, you should create a room spray that will work perfectly for the room. There are lots of guides online on how to make the perfect spray for your room. They are easily made using just a few ingredients. Just find some essential oils you love and add these to the perfume bottle along with the emulsifier to help ensure the perfect concoction is created. Again with room sprays, you can either use them in your home or sell them to others to make some extra money.

Use the perfume bottles to make a flower vase

A lot of the perfumes you buy are in such beautiful bottles that it seems a waste not to put them on display and one good idea of using the empty bottles is to upcycle them into a flower vase. With the lid removed, they become a great vase for a flower. You can add water to the old perfume bottle and then get a fresh flower which can then be placed on a coffee table or even on the bedroom side cabinet which will add a touch of beautiful décor to the room.

If you use designer perfume bottles, it will definitely make the room look even more expensive. Vintage perfume bottles also work well if you want to create this style in your room. If you don’t want to be constantly watering the plant, you could always get silk flowers instead and place them in the bottle to create a modern, stylish look. And don’t forget you can always give the bottle a refresh before placing it on display.

From giving it a fresh lick of paint to drawing a beautiful design on the bottle, the choices are endless when creating a new flower vase to put on display.

Sell the perfume bottles

You would be surprised to know that a lot of people are going down the route of selling perfume bottles that they do not have a purpose for anymore. A lot of people like to collect them and the oldest bottles will sell for a significant amount of money.

After all, they might struggle to get hold of them now, so if you do have a bottle that you have had for many years, it’s worth listing this on display as there are definitely people interested in these rare, vintage bottles. If they are from a popular brand, they also sell well. The big fashion powerhouses have fans who will invest in these perfume bottles.

After giving them a spruce, it’s worth trying to sell them on sites such as eBay or Preloved to see if you can find someone interested. It’s much more appealing to do this and potentially make some extra cash towards your new perfume rather than just throw them away.

Recycle the old perfume bottles

As we all know, it’s so important for the future of the planet to make changes to our lifestyle. And ensuring your bottles are not in the trash is so important. So when you are finished with your empty perfume bottles, you should make sure you recycle them for the sake of green living. It’s easy to do once the bottles have been properly cleaned out. You will find now that a lot of perfume companies also have their own recycling system. And a lot of these will benefit you if you do go through them to recycle your own perfume bottles.

For example, here at The Fragrance World, we have our own fragrance system named the ScentCycle. With this system, you sign up and then send over three or more of the fragrance bottles. Once received by the team, you get a five-pound voucher towards buying your own perfume. Therefore, you are not only helping to be green but you are also getting rewarded for doing this. This covers both the smaller and the larger size empty perfume bottles.