Perfume Facts
Perfume has been part of fashion and culture since the dawn of recorded history, providing an ever-changing variety of scents to delight the senses. Master perfumers painstakingly create fragrances that capture the public's imagination from a nearly limitless combination of oils and compounds, relying on expertise, intuition and keen sense of smell to perfect their creations. Women and men today have an unprecedented variety of perfumes and colognes to choose from to find the scent that perfectly complements them. Does this Spark an idea?
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History
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The first perfumes were derived from incense, first used by the Mesopotamians around 3000 B.C. They discovered that soaking the fragrant woods and resins in oil produced a scented liquid that could be dabbed onto the skin. Perfume first became popular in Europe during the 17th century. Perfumed gloves became an essential French fashion accessory and England's Queen Elizabeth I mandated that all public places be perfumed. The development of modern chemistry in the 19th century enabled the mass production of perfume and turned perfume manufacture into a thriving consumer industry.
Perfume Creation
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The creative perfumer, or "nose", consults with the perfume brand's management on the type of scent and product image to be created. The target market is identified and the budget for ingredients and production is set accordingly. The perfumer relies on their chemistry expertise and discerning sense of smell to create a new fragrance. Today's perfumer has around 400 natural essential oils and compounds along with 4000 synthetic scents to work with, and the finished perfume will typically have 50 to 100 distinct ingredients.
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Perfume Manufacture
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The ingredients chosen by the perfumer are blended to form a concentrate, which is allowed to settle for several weeks for the ingredients to fully blend and mature. The concentrate is then diluted with alcohol until the scent's strength reaches its desired level and then it's dispensed into copper containers where it will settle for a few weeks before being bottled and distributed.
Selecting a Fragrance
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Test perfumes you're considering to experience their notes. The top note refers to the initial scent which only lasts a few minutes. The middle and base notes are the fragrance's lasting scents, emerging ten to fifteen minutes after application. Always test perfume upon your skin; testing on paper won't give you an accurate impression how the fragrance will complement you. Don't test more than three perfumes at once, as individual scents will become indistinguishable.
Wearing a Fragrance
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Perfume applied to your pulse points, where your blood flow is strongest, will offer the fullest scents. The best locations to apply perfume include your wrists, the back of your ear, the nape of your neck and inside your elbow. You'll enjoy a longer lasting scent by first applying a moisturizer to the location you'll apply your perfume.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit perfume image by ann triling from Fotolia.com
