Perfume is a complex mixture that comes in liquid form and is sprayed or rubbed on the skin. It has been a part of daily life since ancient times and is a popular way for people to smell good. Many different ingredients are used to make perfume and there is a long process involved in extracting, blending and producing the finished product. Understanding how perfume is made is a fascinating and interesting topic.
A lot of time and money goes into the production of a small bottle of perfume. The ingredients needed to make the fragrance are quite costly and difficult to find. Thousands of flowers are needed to produce one pound of oil. This is because the oils are extracted from the petals and other parts of the flower using a solvent such as benzene or petroleum ether.
To make the perfume more affordable it is often blended with synthetic chemicals. This allows more people to enjoy the scent of perfume and reduces the cost. Synthetic chemicals can also create scents that are not found naturally.
In the early days of perfume making natural flowers, herbs, grasses and other plants were used for their pleasant aromas. The first recorded recipes of perfume dates back to 1221 in the monks of Santa Maria Delle Vigne or the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy. In the 16th century, the personal perfumer to Catherine de Medici took refinements of the Italian art to France. By the end of the eighteenth century perfume was in fashion and had become associated with the status and power of the social classes. The more expensive the perfume the more important the person was deemed to be.
Fragrance researchers have studied the reasons why people choose particular scents and have found that mood has a large impact on the kind of perfume that is chosen. A person might feel romantic and choose a delicate perfume or want to be perceived as strong and confident and go for something more musky. Other factors include the occasion, such as a date or job interview and even a person’s personality.
A person’s memory and emotions are also influenced by the smell of a perfume. It is believed that this is why certain scents come to mind when someone recalls a particular person or event. It is also why perfumes can be so nostalgic.
Manufacturers use a musical metaphor to describe how a perfume develops over time, with the top notes forming the initial impression and then the middle and base notes taking over. Perfume experts carefully blend the different parts of a perfume so that they all work together harmoniously.
Perfumes are grouped into five major families, with each having sub-groups to further define the different scents. The classic categories are Floral, Oriental, Woody, Aromatic Fougere and Fresh. Some perfumes are more ambiguous and can belong to several families. For example, Chanel No. 5 is traditionally classified as an aldehydic floral but is often described as being more of a soft florid or chypre.