Basics : Perfume 101

I have never been a fan of deodorants or body sprays, It was always either body splashes or perfumes. My obsessions for perfumes is kind of increasing day by day. Im slowly (Very Slowly) trying to add more perfumes to my collection. There is something about them the artistic bottles, all the different Fragrance to suit each mood. So I got down to do my research and thought it would be cool to share some of the information I was able to collect with you all.

• What is a perfume : Perfume /ˈpɜr.fjuːm/ or parfum is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living spaces “a pleasant scent.”

• Extra – The word perfume used today derives from the Latin per fumum, meaning “through smoke.” Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and was further refined by the Romans and Persians.  A professional perfume maker is called  A perfumer Or a nose. Perfume and perfumery also existed in India, much of its fragrances were incense based. The earliest distillation of Attar was mentioned in the Hindu
Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita written in 7th century A.D.

• Perfume types : Perfume extract, Esprit de Parfum, Eau de
Parfum, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Cologne, Perfume mist, Splash, aftershave, cologne. (Deodorants, Perfume oil, sticks, Roll on, Solid Perfume.)

• Notes of perfume : Perfume has three sets of notes which unfold over time.

– Top
notes: The scents you smell immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes consist of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. They form a person’s initial impression of a perfume and thus are very important in the selling of a
perfume. Also called the head notes.

– Middle
notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges just prior to the top note. The middle 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. They are also called the heart notes.

– Base
notes: The scent of a perfume that appears close to the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and “deep” and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after application.

• Fragrances
type :

Traditional – Single Floral, Floral Bouquet, Amber or “Oriental”, Woody, Leather, Chypre (Cyprus) , Fougère (Fern ).

Modern – Bright Floral, Green, Aquatic, Oceanic, or Ozonic, Citrus, Fruity, Gourmand (Sweet, dessert like) • 5 Perfumes I’m lusting after :

 

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Do let me know if I missed anything? Do you have any perfume suggestions?*This January, One of my resolutions is to post every alternate days on my blog; Do drop by often and I shall greet you with a new post.

*The above info was taken from Wikipedia, I do not own the top Image its from here.