perfume penetration of common building materials

Today I learned that spilled perfume can soak through wallboard and still be easily detectable on the far side more than five years later. I know this because it was time to make the master bedroom closet usable, and we tried painting over the previous occupant's mishap (six coats of various sealers and paint), and it didn't work. Taking out the shelf didn't work. Cutting out the perfumy section of the board supporting the shelf didn't work. Chiseling away a layer of wallboard didn't work. All that, plus cutting a square foot hole in the wall worked.

In other news, five+ years offgased perfume didn't give me heart palpitations or anything, but I didn't exactly spend a lot of time snorting it or wearing it on my clothes.