Fragrance is the term most often used to describe a pleasant odor. It can also refer to a combination of different fragrances that are blended together. The word fragrance has many synonyms, including perfume, scent, and redolence. Fragrance chemicals can also have a bad impact on the environment, especially when they are emitted into the air by people wearing the fragrance.
The perfume industry uses a special language to distinguish the source, purity, and technique used for each fragrant extract. These extracts are often referred to as tinctures, essential oils, or absolutes, but the most common are called perfumes. Perfumes are diluted with an alcohol, often ethanol or a mixture of ethanol and water, to make them suitable for use on the skin. The concentration of a perfume is indicated by a reference to the perfume-oil-based product from which it was derived, such as Eau de Parfum (EdP), Eau de Toilette (EdT) or Concentrée (C). The dilution may also affect how the fragrance lasts on the skin.
Perfumes are made from combinations of the fragrant compounds in a variety of plant and synthetic sources. Plant-derived components include essential oils, which contain a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, ethers, alcohols, and esters. Traditionally, natural animal-derived materials were also important in the development of perfumes. However, because of concerns over environmental issues and animal welfare, most fragrances currently use only synthetic ingredients.
Most perfumes are formulated with two to five categories of fragrance chemicals, each of which contributes to the overall aroma. The most prevalent categories are floral, woody, oriental, and fruity. Each of these fragrance chemical groups can have a variety of aroma chemicals, but most commonly they consist of a combination of a number of terpene and aromatic molecules.
The floral category includes a wide range of scents, such as rose, jasmine, orchid, and lily. These can be combined with herbs, spices and fruits. The herbal category encompasses scents such as thyme, rosemary, and lavender. The woody category consists of fragrances such as cedarwood, patchouli, and sandalwood, which are often blended with the other botanicals in order to create a more complex fragrance.
The fruity category consists of scents such as orange, pineapple, and grapefruit, and can be combined with other flowers and woody fragrances. The exotic and woody categories can be combined to form a musky or animal-like scent. The gourmand category, which is meant to evoke the scent of food, contains fragrances such as vanilla and tonka bean. Some perfumes, such as Guerlain’s Angel, contain a blend of several of these categories, which can be considered an abstract or synthetic cuisine.