Traveling With Perfume: Do's & Don'ts

When traveling, your signature scent might not immediately come to mind as a source of stress — but if the bottle is too big for your carry-on, you’ll end up being forced to toss it when you go through TSA.

Still, this doesn't mean you have to leave your favorite scent at home. We’re here to share the dos and don'ts to keep in mind when traveling with your favorite fragrance. 

How Do You Travel With Your Favorite Fragrance?

We know your fragrance is just as important as the rest of the necessities in your toiletries bag. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to keep your fragrance with you when you head OOO — and we’ve got all the best methods.

Do: Pack Travel-Sized Bottles 

Fragrance travel bottles just might be your new best friend when you're going on vacation. These fun-sized scents have just the right amount of product to last throughout your trip, and can allow you to pack multiple options! 

Snif’s new mini bottles are designed for life on the go. Available in over seven scents (and counting), you can easily pack your favorite signature fragrance. Try bringing Way With Woods to your next getaway for the perfect cold-weather vacation scent featuring subtle and inviting woodsy vibes — perfect for daytime adventures and nightcaps alike.

Snif also offers sample sizes via our Try Before You Buy program — and our trial is a super easy way to test scents from the comfort of your home. 

When you order a full-sized 30 ml bottle from our site, you’ll receive an additional 2 ml sample size of the fragrance. Use it for the next seven days to take your new product on a test run.

If you don’t like the fragrance and want to try something different, return the 30 ml bottle free of charge. If you do like the smell, then go ahead and open up the full-sized fragrance for your enjoyment, and take the rest of your sample bottle with you on your next trip (after all, it’s the perfect size to toss in your purse). 

Don’t: Just Throw It in Your Bag 

Let’s start with the single most important tip we have for you: finding a TSA-approved spray bottle. 

Transportation Security Administration guidelines allow liquids less than or equal to 3.4 oz per 100 ml. Make sure your fragrance isn’t over this limit, or it will get tossed. Plus, a smaller bottle is super convenient and less likely to make a mess in your travel bag.

If you have liquids, creams, lotions, gels, pastes, or aerosols larger than 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters), they need to go in your checked luggage.

Don’t forget to follow the TSA's 3-1-1 rule, which states you can only bring 3.4-ounce containers in your carry-on bag that fit into one quart-sized bag (meaning you can't bring an unlimited supply of 3.4-ounce products with you). Even if your fragrance isn't over 3.4 oz., it still may be too bulky to pack in your quart-size bag. 

So, what does this all boil down to, and how can you make sure packing is still a breeze?

Our favorite hack is to look for your favorite scent in a separate travel size. All Snif fragrances are TSA-approved as it is, but we do offer all your favorite scents in mini bottles, too — and with our Mini Bestseller Bundle, you can easily snag three of our top faves for your next trip. This means you'll have a convenient way to bring your fragrance wherever you go, and it won't take up too much room or weigh your bag down.

You can also find a refillable fragrance atomizer bottle to help you on your travels. These bottles allow you to transfer any fragrance from its original packaging to the mini spray bottle. You can even get multiple spray bottles and take more than one scent. That said though, using an unmarked bottle may not be the way to go (more on that later), and it’s probably more convenient to just buy mini versions of your go-to fragrances and skip the extra work. 

Do: Vacuum Seal

Putting your perfume bottles in Ziploc bags and vacuum sealing them is a great way to get some added security and peace of mind — this way, your bottles won’t be loose in your bag, jostling around and left to their own devices. Even better, you can wrap the bottles in bubble wrap before sealing them.

If the idea of your suitcase getting one rough toss onto the plane stresses you out, putting your perfume bottles in vacuum-sealed bags can help you travel while knowing your favorite fragrances are safe and sound. 

Plus, if worse comes to worst and something does break, the liquid will be contained in the bag rather than spilling over all of your belongings.

Don’t: Travel With Unmarked Bottles 

If you can avoid it, don't travel with unmarked bottles. In rare instances, TSA has confiscated liquids that aren’t in their original packaging. There aren't any TSA rules stating you have to use the original containers for domestic or international travel, but you might still run into trouble going through security in another country.

Each country has its own guidelines for on-flight liquids. While you may get away with using unmarked bottles traveling domestically, you might have to toss them when going through airport security outside the U.S. 

For example, if you have a bottle of shampoo that cracks, you can transfer it to an empty, unlabeled bottle, and you shouldn't have an issue in America. However, other international airports may make you throw that bottle out at security. 

At the end of the day, it's better to be safe than sorry when traveling. Try to purchase your favorite products in travel sizes so you don't have to transfer them to unmarked packaging. After all, throwing your favorite scent away at security is never a fun way to start your vacation.

Do: Pack a Scent That Fits Your Travel Vibe 

People often pick a signature fragrance to wear on special occasions, like a wedding scent or graduation fragrance. Whenever you smell that scent, it will take you back to that special day — and there’s even scientific evidence that certain smells can be closely connected to your memories.

All of this to say, it may be fun to pick a scent specifically for your upcoming trip. Your fragrance can fit the vibe of your vacation and be a go-to whenever you want to reminisce about the amazing time you had. Pack a scent that works for daytime and nighttime, like Snif's Sweet Ash. 

This fragrance has low-key sweet and earthy scents that are inviting and addictive. It combines a blend of moss, woods, and fir balsam with hints of tonka and black vanilla bean for a long-lasting scent that’s perfect when you're on the go. 

You can also pack different fragrances for different legs of a long trip and change your scent for every new country! 

The Bottom Line

Traveling with your favorite fragrance can be simple and easy when you remember these dos and don'ts. Look for your chosen scent in travel-size containers and place it inside your quart-sized bag. Think about what you want your vacation scent to be and pick accordingly. These travel tips will have you flying through security and smelling amazing. 

Sources:

Perfume | Transportation Security Administration

The TSA 3-1-1 Rule: Liquids in Carry-on Bags | Trip Savvy

Here's Why Smells Trigger Such Vivid Memories | Latest Science News and Articles | Discovery