Perfume is a fragrant liquid that contains essential oils or synthetic aroma compounds, combined with other ingredients to create a unique smell. It’s a complex mixture that can make you feel fresh and confident, if it’s applied correctly. Choosing the right perfume for you can be a fun, exciting experience, but it’s also important to think about your mood, time of day and lifestyle. Choosing a perfume that reflects your personality can help you feel good about yourself, even when you’re having a bad day.
In ancient times, people used fragrances to emulate the odor of natural aromatic plants, including flowers, herbs and spices. Modern perfumery began in the late 19th century with the commercial synthesis of aroma molecules, such as vanillin and coumarin, which opened the door for perfumers to design scents that were previously impossible to achieve solely from natural materials. Since then, perfumers have been combining and improving these compounds to produce the thousands of different perfumes currently available in stores.
The earliest perfumes were based on natural essential oils, which are extracted from parts of a plant such as leaves, bark, roots and petals by crushing or distilling them. Plants were the primary scenting source in the early days of perfumery, but they have been joined by animal secretions and a wide range of chemicals.
Most perfumes have three structural components that give the fragrance its personality and amplitude. The first, called a top note, consists of small, light molecules with high volatility that evaporate rapidly after the spray or dab of perfume has been applied. This gives the scent its initial impression and is replaced after two minutes or so by middle notes, which are more intense and more lasting.
Middle notes are the heart of a perfume, with scents that evoke emotions like happiness or calm. They may include a single floral scent such as rose or jasmine, or a bouquet of flowers such as an orange blossom or lily of the valley. Middle notes also may contain herbal or woody scents like thyme, sage or ylang-ylang, which are more delicate than the sharper top notes.
At the bottom of a perfume are the base notes, which can last hours after the top and middle notes have dissipated. These can include resins such as amber and frankincense, wood scents such as sandalwood and agarwood, and musks from animals such as the musk deer or the glands of a musk ox. Musks are considered the best odour approximations of human sweat, and they are often used as a way to create a feeling of warmth in a perfume.
Scents in perfumes are not absorbed into the bloodstream as they pass over the skin, but instead reach the vomeronasal organ in the nasal septum, which detects odours and sends signals to the brain. These odours are known as pheromones and they affect the behavior of mammals, including mating and socialization. Perfumers can add scents that mimic these odours to make people more likely to attract each other and find themselves more desirable in the eyes of others.