Description of Perfume

The exact formulas of perfumes sold around the world are kept top secret by perfume houses, even so there are many perfume connoisseurs that overtime have become skilled in the art of identifying what makes up a perfume and the origin of the fragrance. The most sensible way to commence describing a perfume is its concentration level, the family it belongs to and the notes of scent, which will all affect the overall sense of a perfume.

Perfume oil is diluted with solvents such as ethanol, neutral smelling lipids like johoba, coconut oil or wax. Dilution of perfume oil is a must, because undiluted oils contain high levels of volatile components; that are likely to cause allergic reactions and even injury if applied directly to skin or clothing. Perfume extract is made up of 20-40% of aromatic compounds, eau de parfum 10-30%, eau de toilette 5-20% and eau de cologne 2-5%. As the percentage of the aromatic compound is lowered, so is the intensity and permanence of the created scent.

Grouping perfumes is like any form of classifying, it can never be completely an objective or final process. Many fragrances contain aspects of different families, unitary scents can hardly ever be found in perfumes, as it requires the perfume to exist only as a singular aromatic material. The classification of perfumes needs to commence with an understanding of what is used to create the fragrance. The traditional classifications which began to spring up around the 1900's are:

Single floral:

Fragrance dominated by a scent from one particular flower.

Floral Bouquet:

Containing the blend of several flowers in a scent.

Ambery:

A large fragrance class featuring the scents of woods, flowers, animal scents and vanilla. These can be enhanced by camphorous oils and incense resins, which date back to the times of the Victorian era, the Ancient Far East and Middle East.

Woody:

Fragrances that are dominated by woody scents, typically of sandalwood and cedar.

Leather:

A family of fragrances which features the scents of honey, tobacco wood and wood tars in its middle or base notes and a scent that alludes to leather.

Chypre:

Fragrances built on a similar accord consisting of bergamot, oakmoss, patchouli and labdanum.Fougere: Built on a base of lavender, coumarin and oakmoss, many men's fragrances belong to this family; characterized by its sharp herbaceous and woody scent.

Since 1945, due to technological advances in compound design and synthesis along with the natural development of styles and tastes; new categories have emerged to describe modern scents:

Bright Floral:

Combining the traditional Single Floral & Floral Bouquet categories.

Green:

A lighter and more modern version of the Chypre type.

Oceanic/Ozone:

The newest category in perfume history, a very clean, modern smell leading to many of the modern androgynous perfumes.

Citrus or Fruity:

An old fragrance family that until recently consisted mainly of "freshening" eau de colognes due to the low tenacity of citrus scents. Development of newer fragrance compounds has allowed for the creation of primarily citrus fragrances.

Gourmand: Scents with "edible" or "dessert" like traits. These often contain notes like vanilla and tonka bean, as well as synthetic components designed to resemble food flavors.

In 1983 a perfume consultant Michael Edwards developed a new classification method, called the fragrance wheel; he created this scheme to simplify the classification and naming system, Edwards also wanted to show the relationships between individual classes. The five standard families consist of Floral, Oriental, Woody, Fougere, and Fresh, with the previous four families being more "classic" while the latter consisting of newer bright and clean smelling citrus and oceanic fragrances that have evolved due to developments in fragrance technology. With the exclusion of the Fougere family, each the families are in turn seoarated into three sub-groups and set around a wheel:

Floral:

Floral, Soft Floral, Floral Oriental

Oriental:

Soft Oriental, Oriental, Woody Oriental

Woody:

Wood, Mossy Woods, Dry Woods

Fresh:

Citrus, Green, Water

Fougere:

The Fougere family is located at the center of this wheel, due to the fact they are a large family of scents that usually contain fragrance elements from each of the other four families.

Perfume is often described metaphorically as having three musical "notes", which make up the melodious chord of the fragrance. Over time the notes unfurl with the instant impression of the top note leading to the deeper middle notes, and the base notes gradually coming out at the final stage. These notes are carefully shaped with knowledge of the evaporation process of the perfume.

The top note scents are immediately apparent upon application of a perfume. Top notes consist of tiny, light molecules that evaporate quickly; they form a person's initial impression of a perfume and thus are extremely important in the selling of a perfume.

The middle note is the scent of a perfume that appears after the top note dissipates; the middle note compounds the main body of a perfume. The middle note also acts to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of the base notes, which become more pleasant with time. Not surprisingly, the scent of middle note compounds is usually more smooth and "rounded" Scents from this note class appear anywhere from two minutes to one hour after the application of a perfume.

The base notes are the scent that appears after the disappearance of the middle notes, the base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring profundity and strength to a perfume, compounds of this class are often the fixatives used to hold and boost the strength of the lighter top and middle notes. Consisting of big, weighty molecules that disperse slowly, compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not apparent until thirty minutes after the application of the perfume or during the period of perfume dry-down. Some base notes can still be detectable in excess of twenty-four hours after application, particularly the animalic notes.

The History of Perfume

Perfume is thousands of years old; the word "perfume" comes from Latin per fume "through smoke". The Egyptians were one of the first civilisations to incorporate perfume into their culture, followed by the ancient Chinese, Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, and Romans. From the religious ceremonies involving the burning of incense to the embalming of the dead, perfume was an essential part of the Egyptian culture; the Egyptians began to bottle perfume around 1000 BC. The two key methods of use during this time, was not only the burning of incense but also the application of balms and ointments. Perfumed oils were applied to the skin for either cosmetic or curative purposes. Egyptian women used both perfumed creams and oils as toiletries and cosmetics as preludes to love-making; the use of perfume then spread to Greece, Rome, and the Islamic world. The ancient Islamic cultures continued to further develop perfumes by refining the harvesting and manufacturing of perfumery processes, to include other aromatic ingredients. Hence, the history of modern perfumery had been marked by introducing spices, herbs and other exotic substances, such as Jasmine and Citruses.

During the seventeenth century perfumed gloves became popular in France and in 1656 the guild of glove and perfume-makers was created. The use of perfume in France grew steadily; the court of Louis XV was even named "the perfumed court" due to the fragrances which were applied daily, not only to the skin but also to clothing, fans and furniture. The eighteenth century saw a ground-breaking advance in perfumery with the creation of eau de Cologne which was diluted in bath water, mixed with wine, eaten on a sugar lump as a mouthwash or used for enema. As with industry and the arts, perfume underwent intense transformations in the nineteenth century. Changing tastes and the development of modern chemistry laid the foundations of perfumery as we know it today. Alchemy gave way to chemistry and new fragrances were created. The French Revolution had in no way diminished the taste for perfume, under the post-revolutionary government, people once again dared to express a desire for luxury goods, including perfume.

With the turn of the century, fragrance houses such as The Crown Perfumery that was founded in 1872 by William Sparks Thomson began to emerge in Europe. Thomson catered to the high society in London and Europe; he launched a collection of floral fragrances called Flower Fairies. Queen Victoria granted the Crown Perfumery her own crown's image to top the fragrance bottles; In 2002 Clive Christian discontinued the Crown line of fragrances. Eventually bottling became extremely important, perfume maker Francois Coty created a partnership with Rene Lalique. Lalique then produced bottles for Guerlain perfume, D'Orsay, Lubin, Molinard, Roger & Gallet, just to name a few. Baccarat then joined in, producing the bottle for Mitsouko (Guerlain), Shalimar (Guerlain) and others. Brosse glassworks created the memorable bottle for Jeanne Lanvin's Arpege perfume, the famous Chanel No.5, and most recently for Parfums Raffy single note fragrances.

In 1921 Couturier Gabrielle Chanel launched her own brand of perfume, created by Ernest Beaux, it was called Chanel No.5 because number five was Gabrielle?s favorite number. This was the perfume that would make her fortune, her trade mark simplicity was expressed in the shape of the bottle, a design which has never been altered and helps to make it the world's largest selling perfume. Chanel had not only found the right perfume, but the ideal way to market it. She was the first designer to do so in her own name, she enabled clients who could not afford her clothes, to share in the Chanel aura. The name on the label was a product as much as the perfume itself. Chanel also brought out No. 22 in the year 1922, Gardenia in 1925 to celebrate Chanel's favorite flower, and Boise de Iles in 1926. In 1927 she brought out Cuir de Russie based on the male fragrance. In 1970, one year before Chanel's death, Henri Robert created No. 19, its name marks Gabrielle?s birthday (l9th August) it is the house's second best selling perfume.

The 1930's also saw the arrival of the leather fragrances, and florals which became quite popular with the emergence of Worth's Je Reviens, Caron's Fleurs de Rocaille and Jean Patou's Joy perfume. With French perfumery at its peak in the 1950's, other designers such as Christian Dior, Jacques Fath, Nina Ricci perfume and Pierre Balmain started creating their own fragrances. In recent years the popularity of celebrity fragrances has made an impact on the perfume industry, today there are over 30,000 designer perfumes on the market and perfumes are no longer for the wealthy. The perfume industry has undergone several changes in technique, material and style, all of which have created the modern perfume industry; one that still incorporates creativity, mystique and romance along with marketing to appeal to the masses.