Flower | Blossoms and Twigs

Iris Rhizome

Perfume (Latin "smoke" which means "through smoke") was heavily favored by the Egyptians, Romans and Arabs. In East Asia, the perfumes are incense based. People used to make perfumes from spices and herbs like bergamot, myrtle, coriander, conifer resin, and almond trees. The use of flowers came only after Avicenna, an Iranian doctor and chemist showed the process of distillation, oils could be extracted from the flowers. In 1370, upon Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, the first modern perfume - "Hungary Water" was performed by the mixture of scented oils in alcohol solution.

The composition of a perfume is of vital importance and is handled by an expert known as a perfumer, who deals with primary scents like rose, jasmine, cola, etc., esters such as switches; Linalool as mixers and hydroxycitronellol as fixatives and resins, wood scents, and amber bases. The resulting odor is a metaphor of music three "notes" ie, top notes (consisting of fast evaporating small size molecules) like citrus and ginger aromas; half notes (consisting slow evaporation of medium size molecules) like lavender and rose scents, and the base notes (consisting of slowest evaporating molecules greater size) as fixatives etc. All these notes work together like a musical chord.

Perfume oils contain volatile compounds in high concentrations and therefore have to be diluted by solvents, so the injury is not caused when applied directly on skin or clothing. The common solvent is pure ethanol or ethanol mixed with water. Fractionated coconut oil or wax, neutral smelling like jojoba, fats, can also act as solvents and dilute the perfume oil. The perfume oil is mixed with other aromatic compounds. In general, the percentage of aromatic compounds in perfume extract is 20% to 40% in eau de parfum is 10% to 30% in eau de toilette is 5% 20%, and water cologne is 2% to 5%.

The oil concentration in a perfume along with other aromatic compounds, determines the intensity, longevity, and the price of perfumes and is therefore a closely guarded secret of every perfumer and perfume house. Adjusting the percentage level and notes of the perfume, variations the same brand can be created like Chanel's Pour Monsieur and Pour Monsieur Concentrée.

Classification of perfumes is never complete, because of its nature, always evolving. The traditional classification comprises of categories like single floral, floral bouquet, Ambery, Woody, Leather, Chypre, and Fougère, while classification is composed of bright modern floral, green, Oceanic / Ozone, Citrus / fruit and Gourmand. In 1983, Michael Edwards, a perfume consultant, created a new fragrance classification "The Fragrance Wheel", which classified and sub-grouped five standard families, namely Floral (flowers, soft floral, floral Oriental), Oriental (Soft Oriental, Oriental, Woody Oriental), Woody (Wood, Mossy Woods, Dry Woods), Fougère (has fragrance elements from all families), and sweet (Citrus, green, water).

Perfumery has used a variety of sources such as herbs, animal and synthetic sources in developing perfumes. Plants used as a source of aroma compounds and essential oils. The plant parts used are the following:

1 - Bark (cinnamon, husks);
2 - Flowers (rose, jasmine, Osmanthus, TUBEROSE, mimosa, vanilla);
3 - The flowers (citrus, ylang-ylang, clove);
4 - The fruits (apples, strawberries, cherries, litsea cubeba, juniper berries, vanilla, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit);
5 - Leaves and twigs (lavender, patchouli, citrus, violet, sage, rosemary, hay, tomato);
6 - Resins (labdanum, myrrh, gum benzoin, Peru balsam, frankincense / olibanum, pine, fir, amber, copal);
7 - Roots, bulbs and rhizomes (roots of vetiver, ginger and iris rhizomes);
8 - Seeds (coriander, cocoa, mace, cardamom, anise, nut nutmeg, caraway, Tonka beans);
9 - Woods (agarwood, birch, rosewood, sandalwood, pine, birch, juniper, cedar).

Animal sources include Ambergris, castoreum, Musk, Rom terpenes, Honeycomb, and civet. Other natural sources include Lichens and protists. Synthetic sources include synthetic odorants synthesized from petroleum distillates, pine resins, etc. Modern perfumes are mostly made from synthetic sources as they allow the fragrance not found in nature, Calone as a synthetic compound that imparts a marine metallic scent ozonous. Synthetic aromatics are more consistent than natural aromatics, and are therefore widely used today in modern available perfumes.