Encyclopedia
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, objects, and living spaces a pleasant smell. The amount and type of solvent mix with the fragrance oil dictates whether a perfume is considered a perfume extract, Eau de parfum, Eau de toilette, or
Eau de Cologne.
Description of a perfume
It is impossible to describe a perfume according to its components because the formulas are kept secret. Even if the formulas are known, the ingredients are often too numerous to provide a useful classification. Cognoscenti can, however, generally get a handle on the principal ingredients. On the other hand, it is possible to group perfumes into olfactive families and describe them through the notes that appear as they slowly evaporate. Perfumes can also be classified according to their
concentration.
Olfactive families
Fragrances can be classified into several olfactive families, by the themes, or
accords, of these fragrances.
- Floral: Fragrances that are dominated by the scent of one or more types of flowers. When only one flower is used, it is called a soliflore .
- Chypre: Fragrances built on a similar accord consisting of bergamot, oakmoss, pachouli, and labdanum. This family of fragrances is named after a perfume by François Coty by the same name. Meaning Cyprus in French, the term alludes to the inspiration behind the original creation.
- Aldehydic: Fragrances that incorporate the family of chemicals known as aldehydes. Chanel No 5 was the first aldehydic perfume . Others include Je Reviens and Arpege. Aldehydic perfumes have the characteristic "piquant" note produced by materials like Aldehyde C12 MNA
...
.
- Fougère: Fragrances built on a base of lavender, coumarin and oakmoss. Many men's fragrances belong to this family of fragrances, which is characterized by its sharp herbaceous and woody scent.
- Leather: A family of fragrances which features the scents honey, tobacco, wood, and wood tars in its middle or base notes and a scent that alludes to leather.
- Woody: Fragrances that are dominated by the woody scents, typically of sandalwood and cedar. Patchouli, with its camphoraceous smell, is commonly found in these perfumes.
- Orientals or ambers: A large fragrance class featuring the scents of vanilla and animal scents together with flowers and woods. Can be enhanced by camphorous oils and incense resins, which bring to mind Victorian era imagery of the Middle East and Far East.
- Citrus: 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.
Fragrance Notes
A mixture of alcohol and water is used as the solvent for the aromatics. On application,
body heat causes the solvent to quickly disperse, leaving the fragrance to evaporate gradually over several hours. The rate of evaporation and the odor strength of the compound partly determine the tenacity of the compound and determine its perfume note classification.
- Top notes: Scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes create the scents that form a person's initial impression of a perfume. Because of this, they are very important in the selling of a perfume. The scents of this note class are usually described as "fresh," "assertive" or "sharp." The compounds that contribute to top notes are strong in scent, very volatile, and evaporate quickly. Citrus and ginger scents are common top notes.
- Heart notes or Middle notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges after the top notes dissipate. The heart note compounds form the "heart" or main body of a perfume and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. Not surprisingly, the scent of heart note compounds is usually more mellow and "rounded." Scents from this note class appear anywhere from 2 minutes to 1 hour after the application of a perfume. Lavender and rose scents are typical heart notes. Top notes and heart notes are sometimes described together as Head notes.
- Base notes: The scent of a perfume that appears after the departure of the top notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidness to a perfume. Compounds of this class are often the fixatives used to hold and boost the strength of the lighter top and heart notes. The compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after the application of the perfume or during the period of perfume dry-down. Musk, vetiver and scents of plant resins are commonly used as base notes.
Concentration and composition
Perfumes oils, or the "juice" of a perfume composition, are diluted with a suitable solvent to make the perfume more usable. This is done because undiluted oils contain high concentrations of volatile components that will likely result in allergic reactions and possibly injury when applied directly to skin or clothing.
Although dilutions of the perfume oil can be done using solvents such as
jojoba, fractionated coconut oil, and wax, the most common solvents for perfume oil dilution is
ethanol or a mixture of ethanol and water. The percent of perfume oil by volume in a perfume is listed as follows:
- Perfume extract: 20%-40% aromatic compounds
- Eau de parfum: 10-30% aromatic compounds
- Eau de toilette: 5-20% aromatic compounds
- Eau de cologne: 2-3% aromatic compounds
As the percentage of aromatic compounds decreases, the intensity and longevity of the scent decrease. It should be noted that different perfumeries or perfume houses assign different amounts of oils to each of their perfumes. As such, although the oil concentration of a perfume in
eau de parfum dilution will necessarily be higher than the same perfume in
eau de toilette form, the same trends may not necessarily apply to different perfume compositions much less across different perfume houses.
To complicate matters more, some fragrances with the same
product name but having a different
concentration name may not only different in their dillutions, but actually use different perfume oil mixtures altogether. For instance, in order to make the EDT version of a fragrance brighter and fresher than its EDP, the EDT oil may be "tweaked" to contain slightly more top notes or less base notes. In some cases, words such as "
extrême" or "
concentrée" appended to frangrance names might indicate completely different frangrances that relates only because of a similar perfume
accord. An instance of this would be Chanel‘s
Pour Monsieur and
Pour Monsieur Concentrée.
Natural and synthetic aromatics
Plant sources
Plants have long been used in perfumery as a source of essential oils and aroma compounds. These aromatics are usually secondary metabolites produced by plants as protection against
herbivores, infections, as well as to attract
pollinators. Plants are by far the largest source of fragrant compounds used in perfumery. The sources of these compounds may be derived from various parts of a plant. A plant can offer more than one source of aromatics, for instance the aerial portions and seeds of
coriander have remarkably different odors from each other. Orange leaves, blossoms, and fruit zest are the respective sources of petit grain, neroli, and orange oils.
- Flowers and Blossoms: Undoubtedly the largest source of aromatics. Includes the flowers of several species of rose and jasmine, as well as osmanthus, mimosa, tuberose, as well as the blossoms of citrus and ylang-ylang trees. Although not traditionally thought of as a flower, the unopened flower buds of the clove are also commonly used. Orchid flowers are not commercially used to produce essential oils or absolutes, except in the case of vanilla, an orchid, which must be pollinated first and made into seed pods before use in perfumery.
- Leaves and Twigs: Commonly used for perfumery are lavender leaf, patchouli, sage, violets, rosemary, and citrus leaves. Sometimes leaves are valued for the "green" smell they bring to perfumes, examples of this include hay and tomato leaf.
- Roots, rhizomes and bulbs: Commonly used terrestrial portions in perfumery include iris rhizomes, vetiver roots, various rhizomes of the ginger family.
- Seeds: Commonly used seeds include tonka bean, coriander, caraway, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, and anise.
- Fruits: Fresh fruits such as apples, strawberries, cherries unfortunately do not yield the expected odors when extracted; if such fragrance notes are found in a perfume, they are synthetic. Notable exceptions include litsea cubeba, vanilla, and juniper berry. The most commonly used fruits yield their aromatics from the rind; they include citrus such as oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit.
- Woods: Highly important in providing the base notes to a perfume, wood oils and distillates are indispensable in perfumery. Commonly used woods include sandalwood, rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper, and pine.
- Bark: Commonly used barks includes cinnamon and cascarilla. The fragrant oil in sassafras root bark is also used either directly or purified for its main constituent, safrole, which is used in the synthesis of other fragrant compounds such as helional.
- Resins: Valued since antiquity, resins have been widely used in incense and perfumery. Highly fragrant and antiseptic resins and resin-containing perfumes have been used by many cultures as medicines for a large variety of ailments. Commonly used resins in perfumery include labdanum, frankincense/olibanum, myrrh, Peru balsam, gum benzoin. Pine and fir resins are a particularly valued source of terpenes used in the organic synthesis of many other synthetic or naturally occurring aromatic compounds. Some of what is called amber and copal in perfumery today is the resinous secretion of fossil conifers.
- Lichens: Commonly used lichen includes oakmoss and treemoss thalli.
Animal sources
- Musk: Originally derived from the musk sacs from the Asian musk deer, it has now been replaced by the use of synthetic musks due to its price and ethical issues.
- Civet: Also called Civet Musk, this is obtained from the odorous sacs of the civets, animals in the family Viverridae, related to the Mongoose.
- Castoreum: Obtained from the odorous sacs of the North American beaver.
- Ambergris: Lumps of oxidized fatty compounds, whose precursors were secreted and expelled by the Sperm Whale. Ambergris is commonly referred as "amber" in perfumery and should not be confused with yellow amber, which is used in jewelry.
- Honeycomb: Distilled from the honeycomb of the Honeybee.
Synthetic sources
Synthetic aromatics are created through organic synthesis from various chemical compounds that are obtained from
petroleum distillates,
pine resins, or other relatively cheap organic feedstock. Synthetics can provide fragrances which are not found in nature. For instance, Calone, a compound of synthetic origin, imparts a fresh ozonous metallic marine scent that is widely used in contemporary perfumes. Synthetic aromatics are often used as an alternate source of compounds that are not easily obtained from natural sources. For example,
linalool and
coumarin are both naturally occurring compounds that can be cheaply synthesized from
terpenes. Orchid scents are usually not obtained directly from the plant itself but are instead synthetically created to match the fragrant compounds found in various orchids.
The majority of the world's synthetic aromatics are created by relatively few companies. They include:
Each of these companies patent several processes for the production of aromatic synthetics annually.
See Aroma compoundObtaining natural odorants
Before perfumes can be composed, the odorants used in various perfume compositions must first be obtained. Synthetic odorants are produced through organic synthesis and purified. Odorants from natural sources require the use of various methods to extract the aromatics from the raw materials. The results of the extraction are either essential oils, absolutes, concretes, or butters, depending on the amount of waxes in the extracted product.
All these techniques will to a certain extent, distort the odour of the aromatic compounds obtained from the raw materials. This is due to the use of heat, harsh solvents, or through exposure to oxygen in the extraction process which will denature the aromatic compounds, which either change their odour character or renders them odourless.
- Maceration/Solvent extraction: The most used and economically important technique for extracting aromatics in the modern perfume industry. Raw materials are submerged in a solvent that can dissolve the desired aromatic compounds. Maceration lasts anywhere from hours to months. Fragrant compounds for woody and fibrous plant materials are often obtained in this manner as are all aromatics from animal sources. The technique can also be used to extract odorants that are too volatile for distillation or easily denatured by heat. Commonly used solvents for maceration/solvent extraction include hexane, and dimethyl ether. The product of this process is called a "concrete".
- Supercritical fluid extraction: A relatively new technique for extracting fragrant compounds from a raw material, which often employ Supercritical CO2. Due to the low heat of process and the relatively unreactive solvent used in the extraction, the fragrant compounds derived often closely resemble the original odour of the raw material.
- Ethanol extraction: A type of solvent extraction used to extract fragrant compounds directly from dry raw materials, as well as the impure oily compounds materials resulting from solvent extraction or enfluerage. Ethanol extraction is not used to extract fragrace from fresh plant materials since these contain large quantities of water, which will also be extracted into the ethanol.
- Distillation: A common technique for obtaining aromatic compounds from plants, such as orange blossoms and roses. The raw material is heated and the fragrant compounds are re-collected through condensation of the distilled vapour.
- Steam distillation: Steam from boiling water is passed through the raw material, which drives out their volatile fragrant compounds. The condensate from distillation are settled in a Florentine flask. This allows for the easy separation of the fragrant oils from the water. The water collected from the condensate, which retains some of the fragrant compounds and oils from the raw material is called hydrosol and sometimes sold. This is most commonly used for fresh plant materials such as flowers, leaves, and stems.
- Dry/destructive distillation: The raw materials are directly heated in a still without a carrier solvent such as water. Fragrant compounds that are released from the raw material by the high heat often undergo anhydrous pyrolysis
- Woodgas [i] ...
, which results in the formation of different fragrant compounds, and thus different fragrant notes. This method is used to obtain fragrant compounds from fossil amber and fragrant woods where an intentional "burned" or "toasted" odour is desired. - Expression: Raw material is squeezed or compressed and the oils are collected. Of all raw materials, only the fragrant oils from the peels of fruits in the citrus family are extracted in this manner since the oil is present in large enough quantities as to make this extraction method economically feasible.
- Enfleurage: Absorption of aroma materials into wax and then extracting the odorous oil with alcohol. Extraction by enfleurage was commonly used when distillation was not possible due to the fact that some fragrant compounds denature through high heat. This technique is not commonly used in the present day industry due to its prohibitive cost and the existence of more efficient and effective extraction methods.
Fragrant extracts
Although fragrant extracts are known to the general public as the generic term "essential oils", a more specific language is used in the fragrance industry to describe the source, purity, and technique used to obtain a particular fragrant extract.
Of these extracts, only
absolutes,
essential oils, and
tinctures are directly used to formulate perfumes.
- Absolute: Fragrant materials that are purified from a pommade or concrete by soaking them in ethanol. By using a slightly hydrophilic compound such as ethanol, most of the fragrant compounds from the waxy source materials can be extracted without dissolving any of the fragrantless waxy molecules. Absolutes are usually found in the form of an oily liquid.
- Concrete: Fragrant materials that have been extracted from raw materials through solvent extraction using volatile hydrocarbons. Concretes usually contain a large amount of wax due to the ease in which the solvents dissolve various hydrophobic compounds. As such concretes are usually further purified through distillation or ethanol based solvent extraction. Concretes are typically either waxy or resinous solids or thick oily liquids.
- Essential oil: Fragrant materials that have been extracted from a source material directly through distillation or expression and obtained in the form of an oily liquid. Oils extracted through expression are sometimes called expression oils.
- Pommade: A fragrant mass of solid fat created from the enfleurage process, in which odorous compounds in raw materials are adsorbed into animal fats. Pommades are found in the form of an oily and sticky solid.
- Tincture: Fragrant materials produced by directly soaking and infusing raw materials in ethanol. Tinctures are typically thin liquids.
Composing perfumes
Perfume compositions are an important part of many industries ranging from the luxury goods sectors, food services industries, to manufacturers of various household chemicals. The purpose of using perfume or fragrance compositions in these industries is to affect customers through their sense of smell and entice them into purchasing the perfume or perfumed product. As such there is significant interest in producing a perfume formulation that people will find aesthetically pleasing.
The Perfumer
The job of composing perfumes that will sell is left up to an expert on perfume composition or known in the fragrance industry as the
perfumer. They are also sometimes referred to affectionately as " the
Nose" due to their fine sense of smell and skill in smell composition. The perfumer is effectively an artist who is trained in depth on the concepts of fragrance aesthetics and who is capable of conveying abstract concepts and moods with their fragrance compositions. At the most rudimentary level, a perfumer must not only have a keen knowledge of a large variety of fragrance ingredients and their smells, and be able to distinguish each of the fragrance ingredients whether alone or in combination with other frangrances. As well, they must know how each ingredient reveals itself through time with other ingredients. The job of the perfumer is very similar to that of flavourists, who compose smells and flavourants for many commercial food products.
The composition of a perfume typically begins with a
brief by the perfumer's employer or an outside customer. The customers to the perfumer or their employers, are typically fashion houses or large
corporations of various industries. Each brief will contain the specifications for the desired perfume, and will describe in often poetic or abstract terms what the perfume should smell like or what feelings it should evoke in those who smell it, along with a maximum per litre price of the perfume oil concentrate. This allowance, along with the intended application of the perfume will determine what aromatics and fragrance ingrediants can/will be used in the perfume composition.
The perfumer will then go through the process of blending multiple perfume mixtures and will attempt to capture the desired feelings specified in the brief. After presenting the perfume mixtures to the customers, the perfumer may "win" the brief with their approval, and proceed to sell the formulation to the customer, often with modifications of the composition of the perfume. This process typically spans over several months to several years. The perfume composition will then be either used to enhance another product as a
functional fragrance , or marketed and sold directly to the public as a
fine fragrance.
Alternatively, the perfumer may simply be inspired to create a perfume and produce something that later becomes marketable or successfully wins a brief. This usually happens in smaller or independent perfume houses.
Technique
Perfume oils usually contain tens to hundreds of ingredients. Included in the perfume are fixatives, which bind the various fragrances together, such as balsams,
ambergris, and secretions from the scent glands of the
civet cat and musk deer . The mixture is normally aged for one year.
History of perfume and perfumery
Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient
Egypt but was developed and further refined by the
Romans and the Arabs. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in East Asia, much of its fragrances are
Incense based.
Islamic
Islamic cultures contributed significantly in the development of western perfumery in both perfecting the extraction of fragrances through steam distillation and introducing new, raw ingredients. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and
scientific developments, specifically
Chemistry.
As traders, Islamic cultures such as the Arabs and Persians had wider access to different spices, herbals, and other frangrance material. In addition to trading them, many of these exotic materials were cultivated by the muslims such that they can be successfully grown outside of their native climates. Two examples of this include jasmine, which is native to South and Southeast Asia, and various citrus, which are native to East Asia. Both of these ingrediants are still highly important in modern perfumery.
In
Islamic culture, perfume usage has been documented as far back as the 6th century and its usage is considered a religious duty. The
Prophet Muhammad said:
"The taking of a bath on Friday is compulsory for every male Muslim who has attained the age of puberty and the cleaning of his teeth with Miswaak , and the using of perfume if it is available." .
Such rituals gave incentives to scholars to search and develop a cheaper way to produce incenses and in mass production. Thanks to the hard work of two talented chemists:
Jabir ibn Hayyan , and
al-Kindi who established the perfume industry. Jabir developed many techniques, including distillation, evaporation and filtration, which enabled the collection of the odour of plants into a vapour that could be collected in the form of water or oil.
Al-Kindi, however, was the real founder of perfume industry as he carried out extensive research and experiments in combining various plants and other sources to produce a variety of scent products. He elaborated a vast number of ‘recipes’ for a wide range of perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. His work in the laboratory is reported by a witness who said:
"I received the following description, or recipe, from Abu Yusuf Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, and I saw him making it and giving it an addition in my presence."
The writer goes on in the same section to speak of the preparation of a perfume called
ghaliya, which contained musk, amber and other ingredients; too long to quote here, but which reveals a long list of technical names of drugs and apparatus.
Musk and floral perfumes were brought to Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries from Arabia, through trade with the Islamic world and with the returning Crusaders. Those who traded for these were most often also involved in trade for spices and dyestuffs. There are records of the Pepperers Guild of London, going back to 1179 CE; which show them trading with Muslims in spices, perfume ingredients and dyes.
Sources:
Martin Levey , ‘Early Arabic Pharmacology’, EJ Brill, Leiden.
Dunlop, D.M. , ‘Arab Civilization’, Librairie du Liban.
Western
Knowledge of perfumery came to
Europe as early as the
14th century due partially to muslim influences and knowledge. During the
Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily by royalty and the wealthy to mask bodily odors resulting from the sanitary practices of the day. Partly due to this patronage, the western perfumery industry was created. By the
18th century, aromatic plants were being grown in the
Grasse region of
France to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, France remains the centre of the European perfume design and
trade.
Perfumers were also known to create poisons; for instance, a French duchess was murdered when a perfume/poison was rubbed into her gloves and was slowly absorbed into her skin.
Health and ethical issues
In some cases, an excessive use of perfumes may cause
allergic reactions of the skin. For instance,
acetophenone,
ethyl acetate and
acetone while present in many perfumes, are also known or potential respiratory
allergens.
Natural vs Synthetic aromatics
- Many natural aroma materials are in fact inherently toxic and are either banned or restricted by IFRA. These naturals have been replaced by safer artificial or synthetic materials.
- Many natural materials and essential oil contain the same chemicals used in perfumes that are classified as allergens, many of them at higher concentrations.
- Perfume composed only of expensive natural materials can be very expensive. Synthetic aromatics make perfumes available at widely-affordable prices.
- The use of some natural materials, like sandalwood, can lead to species endangerment and illegal trafficking.
- In the distillation of natural essential oils any biocides that have been applied while the plant is growing may be concentrated into the essential oil making the oil toxic. Unless the essential oil is distilled from a certified "organic" origin, it may be dangerous.
- There are many new synthetic aromas that bear no olfactory relationship to any natural material and yet modern perfumery depends on these new odours for the infinite variety of perfumes available today. Many synthetics have very beautiful aromas not available in nature.
Natural Musk
Musk was traditionally taken from the male musk deer
Moschus moschiferus. This requires the killing of the animal in the process. Although the musk pod is produced only by a young male deer musk hunters usually did not discriminate between the age and sex of the deers. Due to the high demand of musk and indiscriminate hunting, populations were severely depleted. As a result, the deer is now protected by law and international trade of musk from
Moschus moschiferus is prohibited:
"Musk deer are protected under national legislation in many countries where they are found. The musk deer populations of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan are included in Appendix I of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This means that these musk deer and their derivatives are banned from international commercial trade."
Due to the rarity and high price of natural musk, as well as for legal and ethical reasons, it is the policy of many perfume companies to use synthetic musk instead. Numerous synthetic musks of high quality are readily available. .
Preserving perfume
Fragrance compounds in perfumes will denature and break down if improperly stored in the presence of:
Proper preservation of perfumes involve keeping them away from sources of heat and store them where they will not be exposed to light. An open bottle will keep its aroma intact for up to a year, as long as it is full or nearly so, but as the level goes down, the presence oxygen in the air that is contained in the bottle will alter the perfume's smell character, eventually distorting them.
As such perfumes are best preserved when kept in light-tight
aluminium bottles or in their original packaging when not in use, and refrigerated at a relatively low temperatures between 3-7 degrees celsius. Although it is difficult to completely remove oxygen from the headspace of a stored flask of fragrance, opting for spray despensers instead of rollers and "open" bottles will minimize oxygen exposure. Sprays also have the advantage of isolating fragrance inside a bottle and preventing it from mixing with dust, skin, and detritus, which will degrade and alter the quality of a perfume.
Lists of perfumes
Famous perfumes classified by year of creation
- 1714 : Eau de Cologne by Farina
- 1889 : Jicky by Guerlain
- 1912 : L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain
- 1917 : Chypre by François Coty
- 1919 : Mitsouko by Guerlain
- 1919 : Tabac Blond by Caron
- 1921 : N°5 by Chanel
- 1925 : Shalimar by Guerlain
- 1927 : Arpège by Lanvin
- 1929 : Soir de Paris by Bourjois
- 1930 : Joy by Jean Patou
- 1934 : Pour Un Homme by Caron
- 1944 : Bandit by Robert Piguet
- 1945 : Femme by Rochas
- 1947 : Vent Vert by Balmain
- 1948 : L'Air du temps by Nina Ricci
- 1956 : Diorissimo by Christian Dior
...
...
...
- 1986 : Prescriptives Calyx by Prescriptives
- 1987 : Loulou by Cacharel
- 1988 : Eternity by Calvin Klein
- 1990 : Trésor by Lancôme
- 1992 : Angel by Thierry Mugler
- 1993 : Jean-Paul Gaultier by Jean-Paul Gaultier
...
...
...
Celebrity endorsed perfumes
In recent years, celebrities have signed contracts with perfume houses to associate their name with a signature scent, as a self-promotion campaign. The scents are then marketed; the association with the celebrity's name usually being the selling point of the campaign. Such products generally do not have the longevity of classic fragrances.
Celebrity Scents
- David Beckham: Instinct, Intimately for him
- Victoria Beckham: Intimately for her
- Cher: Uninhibited
- Alan Cumming: Cumming, Cumming Wild Thyme
- Paris Hilton: Paris Hilton, Paris Hilton for Men, Just Me, Just Me for Men
- KISS: KISS Her, KISS Him
- Beyoncé Knowles: True Star, True Star Gold
- Jennifer Lopez: JLo Glow, Still, Miami Glow, Love at First Glow, Live, Live Luxe
- Sarah Jessica Parker: Lovely
- George Kurdahi: Lebanon's George Kurdahi, GK
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