How Perfume Makes You Feel Special
For many of us, there are certain people in our lives who make us feel special. They might be sisters, aunts, mothers or grandmothers who always dote on you or friends who just seem to have a way of making your day better. When they have a birthday or Christmas, it is important to thank them for being so awesome. What can you get them that will last and give them a sense of your appreciation? Flowers are great but they can die quickly. Chocolate is delicious but it won’t stick around for long either. How about a special perfume? Perfume is an oil-based odorant that is used to create a lasting impression on the skin. It consists of several different components including the perfume oil itself, fixatives (natural or synthetic substances that prolong the life of the perfume by slowing its evaporation) and solvents (the liquid in which the perfume is dissolved). Perfume can contain from ten to hundreds of ingredients. Modern perfumes typically use natural and synthetic aromatic plant extracts and chemicals to compose the olfactory effect they want. When you wear perfume, the molecules in the fragrance mix with your body’s chemistry to produce an unique blend that is called your personal signature scent. The way you smell at one point in the day is completely different than how you smell at another, and it can change throughout the course of your day as well. The reason for this is because perfume has a very complex structure consisting of top notes, heart notes and base notes. Top notes are usually light and volatile and evaporate the quickest. They are followed by the heart notes, which usually have more herbal, floral or spicy elements and the base notes which are the lingering scents on your body. Historically, perfumes were made with a wide variety of natural raw materials that some might consider odd, if not downright gross. The earliest perfumes included such smelly delights as musk (obtained from musk deer glands), ambergris (whale vomit) and hyraceum (petrified hyrax feces). Today, modern perfumes are created in laboratories with the help of a wide variety of natural and synthetic compounds. It’s a good idea to moisturize your skin before you apply perfume as it helps the scent last longer. Using matching body lotions or shower gels that include the same fragrance can also extend the longevity of your perfume. Also, applying your perfume to pulse points like the wrists, neck and behind the ears can be beneficial as these areas of the body produce more heat and will warm the perfume and allow it to disperse more evenly. It is widely believed that the way a person smells can influence their mood and even affect behaviors. Although this theory is largely based on speculation and anecdote, it is thought that certain smells can trigger a chemical response in the brain that can make you feel more confident and attractive. Some perfumes are even marketed as having aphrodisiac properties, claiming that ingredients such as Jasmine and Ylang ylang can prompt intuitive sensual responses in others.
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