A perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects and living-spaces an agreeable scent. It is intended to make people smell good and may also serve as a social signal of status and attractiveness.
The use of perfume is ancient and was probably practiced by early humans in some of the earliest civilizations. The modern art of perfumery began in the 19th century with the commercial synthesis of aroma compounds such as vanillin and coumarin that allowed the creation of scents that could not be produced solely from natural sources. Today, the perfume industry is one of the most important sectors of the fragrance business and Europe (particularly France, Italy, and Sicily) remain at the center of its design and production.
Perfumes can be composed using a variety of aromatic ingredients, with the most common being flowers and woods. The most popular flower-based perfumes are rose, jasmine, tuberose, ylang-ylang, and gardenia. Other florals used in perfumery include lily, hedione, narcissus, and scented geranium. The resins of trees such as frankincense and myrrh are also often used to produce fragrances, as well as the bark of cedar and the unopened flower buds of ylang-ylang and orchids. The fruity aromas of citrus fruits and tropical fruits such as yuzu are also frequently used in perfumery, as are the herbal notes of spices and herbs such as licorice and cinnamon.
The scents of these and other aromatic ingredients are blended to create perfumes that are usually marketed according to their strength: parfum or extrait (IFRA: typically 20-40%), eau de parfum (EDP: 15-30%), eau de toilette (Eau de Toilette: 15-20%), and cologne (IFRA: typically
Fragrance reviewers are an integral part of the perfume business and play a critical role in the marketing of new products, especially niche perfumes, by writing reviews and providing information on the history and composition of a given fragrance. They also help potential buyers by describing the character and quality of a scent, as well as the olfactory effects and wearability.
Smells are a primary way that humans communicate with each other and can have powerful emotional and psychological effects on the person wearing them. As such, the experience of perfume is a highly rewarding experience for its users. The exact nature of this reward is not fully understood, but it is known that the brain’s olfactory system and, in particular, the olfactory cortex (OFC) are involved in both the sense of smell and the processing of rewards. It is thought that the scent-triggered reward experience in humans involves the release of the dopamine neurotransmitter. This dopamine activation is thought to reinforce and prolong the olfactory sensory experience, as well as the elicited emotions.