Perfume

Perfume is made up of alcohol combined with a fixative, essential oils or chemical scents. Cologne is essentially a diluted version of perfume. Perfumes generally contain up to 30% essential oils whilst colognes only contain 1 -2% oils.

Some perfumes contain just one scent such as verbena but most have a combination of a high note, the first scent that reaches you, middle notes, sometimes called heart notes, which is the personality of the perfume and finally the base note which lingers on.

It is important to remember that perfume reacts with each person's body scent to create a unique aroma. That's why the same cologne can smell so differently on different people. This is why you should try perfume on your own skin before buying otherwise you may be disappointed. A good rule of thumb is to never test more than three perfumes at a time.

Fragrance falls into six basic groups:

• Florals: jasmine, lilac, gardenia, rose
• Herbal: lavender, bay, sage
• Exotic: musk, ylang-ylang, vanilla
• Spice: cinnamon, ginger, cloves
• Wood: pine, sandalwood, cedar
• Fruit: lemon, orange, peach

The Basic Formula

All perfumes, from cost effective drugstore to high end designer brands, have the same basic formula:

Water + Alcohol + Fragrance Oils + Chemical Compounds

These four ingredients form the basic structure of a perfume, but the variations of fragrant oils and chemical additives used in each perfume are endless. Some ingredients found in your favorite scent may even surprise you!

Function

The materials used in a perfume depend mostly on how a perfume is used. Perfume, the most expensive fragrance, may contain rare flower oils, for instance. Perfumed soap, on the other hand, may contain low-cost materials. But all perfumes contain basic ingredients like flower and plant oils for scents, animal substances for fixatives, and alcohol and water. A wide range of synthetics are also used in perfume-making, either as imitations of rare scents, or in the development of new scents.

Types

There are three types of fragrances that are important when it comes to perfume-making. Perfume is the most concentrated form of fragrance oil, producing the strongest and longest-lasting fragrance. It's also the most expensive, and may contain up to a hundred different ingredients! Eau de parfum is 10 to 15 percent perfume compound (perfume is 20 to 50 percent perfume compound) and contains alcohol. Eau de toilette or cologne has a 3 to 8 percent concentration of perfume compound in an alcohol and water base. Cologne is a much lighter fragrance and lends itself to subtle hints of scent.

Features

Scientists use different methods to extract scents from nature in order to produce myriad fragrances. Some of these natural essential oils include sandalwood from India or the ylang-ylang flower from Madagascar. Other essences are more recognizable, as well as necessary, like roses, jasmine and the orange flower. Every superior perfume will contain one or more of these three oil essences, even if the essence is synthetically produced. For this reason, these floral oils are called absolutes. Resins from roots, barks, and leaves produce oils, too, like oakmoss and frankincense. To make perfume, many scents, called notes, are combined together. Top notes are light, and last only a few moments. Middle notes become apparent after 15 minutes or so and will last up to an hour or more. Bottom notes are the heaviest ingredients and will last the longest, perhaps as long as three to four hours.

Warning

Fragrances will last longer and keep their scent better if kept in a cool, dry area and away from windows. Exposure to sunlight can affect the balance of the ingredients and ruin the scent.

References

Perfume – Wikipedia, Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume , Retrieved on 29march2010.

No1- in – beauty ingredients, Adapted from: http://www.no1-in-beauty.com/Articles/perfume_ingredients.htm , Retrieved on 29march2010.

Perfume originals, Adapted from: http://www.eimi.com/perfumeoriginals/perfumefaq.htm , Retrieved on 29march2010.