What to do with all that old perfume?

image: unknown source

Today is laundry day and the house smells like heaven- thanks to an old bottle of Habanita eau de cologne. It smelled alright but I just never wear it. Perhaps the top notes have burned off too much or perhaps it's just not my scent. In any case, I hate to throw perfume away- but I accumulate so much of the stuff! So what to do?

                                    image: a Source Parfumee in the village of Gourdon in Provence

Well, there was an unfortunate late night run in with a skunk this week... and quite a few of our old towels picked up the odor after we used them to blot our dogs (after washing them with the prescribed odor-eating mixture of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda.)

                                                                image: hprints.com
I washed the towels in Tide with Febreze to no avail- they came out of the machine as stinky as they went in. Then I got the idea to try something a little different. So I mixed the Habanita cologne with some water (about 1/2 the volume of the perfume) and it turned an even, milky white. I then added several tablespoons of this liquid to liquid Woolite and rewashed. The towles smelled good out of the wash but I was really impressed  when they came out of the drier as clean as ever but with a divine sweet smelling scent and no trace of skunk (or the heaviness you usually associate with Habanita).

Next week I think I'll try scenting something else via the wash... maybe a load of bedsheets.

The Vintage Perfume Vault, where the scent of yesterday's vogue lives.