Smell is a word, perfume is literature

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Introduction 

Hi there, perfume noob! I realize that you are totally dwarfed by the amount of perfume jargon out there, right? In the world of perfume, most things get complicated fairly quickly. Information is everywhere but it's not always easy to find what will be useful to you. In this post, I tried to sort out the most important terms and concepts from the vast sea of knowledge about fragrance and perfume in a user-friendly way.

I am not an expert in perfumery or chemistry. However, I have been interested in scents since I was little and worked for a perfume brand for a few years — long enough so that I decided to write this guide because I realized there wasn't much information out there for people who aren't experts but still have questions about perfume.

This post is meant as a starting point for your journey into the world of fragrance. It won't answer all your questions but it should help you find some valuable answers or at least point you in the right direction.

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History 

So let's start with the history of perfume. Fragrances are one of the oldest forms of cosmetics, and they've been used throughout history by some of the world's most famous cultures.  Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization, and possibly Ancient China. It was refined further by the Romans and Muslims.

The word perfume comes from per fume which means through smoke from the Latin word "per", which means through, and the Latin word “fumare” or smoke. The reason for this is that early on, perfumes were created through the process of fire evaporation; that is, when a substance was heated on top of hot coals or held above a fire it gave off a vapor or “smoke” that carried its smell.

Fun fact - It is believed that the first chemist in history was a woman named Tapputi. Her method involved distilling flowers, oils, and calamus with other aromatics, filtering and reusing them several times in the still.

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Fragrance Families

The fragrance world is a vast and sometimes confusing place.

There are hundreds of different categories, and even within those categories, there are subcategories. It can be difficult to know where to start when you're looking for the right perfume.

Fragrance families are a classification system used by fragrance experts and retailers. The system was created in 1983 by perfume consultant Michael Edwards, who wanted to simplify the classification of fragrances and their names.

Floral, Oriental, Woody, Aromatic Fougère, and Fresh are the five major families. Each of these is subdivided and organized around a wheel.

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For example, Chanel No.5 is traditionally placed under Aromatic Floral because of its strong floral top notes and sweet powdery base notes, but in this new scheme, you'd find it under Soft Florals instead because they both share some similarities with other scents like Chloé Eau de Parfum (Soft Floral) or Armani Prive (Aldehydic Floral).

Chypre perfumes are even more ambiguous—they have affinities with both the Oriental and Woody families. Guerlain Mitsouko is technically a Mossy Woods scent according to this classification system, but Hermès Rouge is considered a more floral chypre (Floral Orient).

In fact, it is rare to find unitary-scent perfumes based on a single aromatic component.

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Traditional categories

Single Floral: Fragrances that are dominated by a single flower; also known as a soliflore in French. Some example: Serge Lutens Sa Majeste La Rose

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Floral Bouquet: A bouquet made up of various flower scents. Houbigant Quelques Fleurs, Jean Patou Joy are some examples.

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Ambergris, tonka bean, vanilla, and woods combine to create a sweet, slightly animalic scent called "Oriental". This fragrance can be enhanced by camphorous oils and incense resins, evoking "Oriental" imagery from the Victorian era. Some examples Guerlain Shalimar, Yves Saint Laurent Opium, and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle.

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Woody scents include agarwood, sandalwood, cedarwood, and vetiver. Patchouli, with its camphoraceous aroma, is a common ingredient in these perfumes. There are many examples of traditional perfumes: Myrurgia Maderas De Oriente, Chanel Bois des Îles. Rumba by Balenciaga.

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Leather - A fragrance family with honey, tobacco, wood, and wood tars in the middle or base notes, as well as a leather-like scent. Traditional examples include the Robert Piguet Bandit and the Balmain Jolie Madame.

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Chypre - Meaning "Cyprus" in French, this fragrance category includes fragrances based on bergamot, oakmoss, and labdanum. Named after the oakmoss scent (chypre powder), popularized with the success of François Coty's Chypre (1917). Modern example: Guerlain Mitsouko.

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Fougère ([fu.ʒɛʁ]): Meaning fern in French, built on a base of lavender, coumarin, and oakmoss, with a sharp herbaceous and woody scent. It's not just for men; modern examples include Fabergé Brut, Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir, and Penhaligon's Douro.

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Modern Fragrance Families

Modern perfumes are a lot like the modern world: they're exciting and fast-paced, and they're constantly evolving.

Since 1945, modern categories have developed to portray present-day fragrances, due to incredible progress within the innovation of compound plan and blend, as well as the common improvement of styles and tastes.

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Bright floral perfumes combine single floral and floral bouquet traditional categories. They often feature lighter flowers like gardenia or tuberose with softer florals like jasmine or magnolia, but the result is a unique scent that's both fresh and sophisticated.

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Green perfumes are more modern interpretations of the chypre type—a perfume style that was very popular in the 1920s through '50s—but with more pronounced cut grass, crushed green leaf, and cucumber-like scents. They are also lighter than chypres, making them perfect for warmer weather.

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Citrus: An old fragrance family that, due to the volatility of citrus scents, was previously dominated by "freshening" eau de colognes. Citrus fragrances with greater tenacity have been created thanks to the development of newer fragrance compounds. Penhaligon's Quercus is an example.

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Fruity: Contains fruits other than citruses, such as peach, cassis (black currant), mango, and passion fruit. Ginestet Botrytis is an example.

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Gourmand: Scents with "edible" or "dessert-like" qualities, typically containing vanilla, tonka bean, and coumarin, as well as synthetic components designed to mimic food flavors. Angel by Thierry Mugler is a lovely example (sweet).

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Perfume Materials and Ingredients 

A fragrance is a beautiful thing. It can make you feel calm and happy, or it can make you feel confident and sexy. 

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A fragrance is made up of a combination of different scents, which are all derived from natural products like flowers, leaves, and berries. These ingredients are mixed together in an exacting manner to create a unique scent that will appeal to the senses of both men and women alike.

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Fragrant extracts are used to create perfumes and other products. Though they're commonly referred to as "essential oils," the fragrance industry uses a more specific language to describe the source, purity, and technique used to obtain a particular fragrant extract.

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They're typically made up of essential oils, natural plant extracts, and other chemicals.

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Essential oils contain the actual scent of the plant material, which can be extracted through distillation or solvent extraction. On the other hand, perfume oils are made up of synthetic chemicals that imitate the scent of natural materials like flowers.

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-Aldehydes: Aldehydes are chemical compounds that have an earthy or sweet smell. They're often used as fixatives in perfumes because they help prevent other ingredients from evaporating too quickly. Examples include cinnamyl alcohol, alpha-methyl ionone, and heliotropin

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-Flavorings: Flavorings are added to create a specific scent for a product—for example, vanilla for chocolate! They're also used in foods like chewing gum so that consumers can enjoy their favorite flavors without having to eat anything! 

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Absolutes: These fragrant materials are purified from a pommade or concrete by soaking them in ethanol. Most of the fragrant compounds from the waxy source materials can be extracted without dissolving any of the fragrant less waxy molecules by using a slightly hydrophilic compound such as ethanol. Absolutes are typically found as an oily liquid.

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Concretes: These fragrant materials have been extracted from raw materials through solvent extraction using volatile hydrocarbons. Because of the ease with which various hydrophobic compounds dissolve in solvents, concretes typically contain a large amount of wax. As a result, concretes are typically purified further via distillation or ethanol-based solvent extraction. Concretes are usually waxy or resinous solids or thick oily liquids.

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Pomade: A fragrant mass of solid fat made from the enfleurage process, which involves the adsorption of odorous compounds in raw materials into animal fats. Pomades come in the form of an oily, sticky solid.

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Tincture: Fragrant materials are made by soaking and infusing raw materials directly in ethanol. Tinctures are usually clear liquids.

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Even though the starting materials are the same, products from different extraction methods are known by different names. For instance, orange blossoms from Citrus aurantium that have undergone solvent extraction produce "orange blossom absolute" but that which has been steam distilled is known as "neroli oil".

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Fragrance Notes

Perfumery is a symphony, it has a beginning, middle, and an end.

What's your favorite perfume?

I am betting it has to do with what you like to smell. You might like a mix of floral and warm, spicy and sweet, or even something more mysterious. Whatever your preference, we can all agree on one thing: perfume is a mix of different smells that are layered together to create a harmonious scent accord.

In a musical metaphor, perfume is described as having three sets of notes that combine to form a harmonious scent accord. The notes gradually reveal themselves over time, beginning with the top note and progressing to the deeper middle notes, and finally to the base notes. These notes are created carefully with knowledge of the evaporation process of each compound so that when you apply your favorite scent (and then reapply it), you'll get that same note every time.

Top notes: Also called the head notes. The scents that are immediately perceived after applying perfume. Top notes are made up of small, light molecules that quickly evaporate. They shape a person's first impression of a perfume and are thus crucial in the sale of perfume. Mint, lavender, and coriander are examples of top notes.

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Middle notes: Also referred to as heart notes. The scent of perfume that appears just before the top note fades. Middle note compounds serve as the "heart" or main body of a fragrance, masking the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. Some examples of middle notes are seawater, sandalwood, and jasmine. 

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Base notes The perfume scent that appears near the end of the middle notes. The base and middle notes are the main themes of perfume. Base notes give a perfume depth and solidity. Scent compounds in this class are typically rich and "deep," and are not perceived until 30 minutes after application. Some examples of base notes are tobacco, amber, and musk. 

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Fragrance Intensity and Concentrations

We've all had the experience of walking into a department store, sniffing the air, and wondering how to tell if a fragrance is eau de cologne or eau de toilette.

In order to make sure you get the right scent for your needs, it's important to understand the different types of fragrances.

Perfume types reflect the concentration of aromatic compounds in a solvent, which is typically ethanol or a water-ethanol mixture in fine fragrance. The definitions of perfume types vary greatly between sources. The concentration, intensity, and longevity of perfume are determined by the aromatic compounds, or perfume oils, used. The intensity and longevity of the scent increase as the percentage of aromatic compounds increases. Specific terms are used to describe the approximate concentration of a fragrance by the percentage of perfume oil in the final product's volume. The most general terms  are:

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Parfum - Perfume oil concentration of 20-40%

Eau de Parfum - Perfume oil concentration - 15-20%

Eau de Toilette - Perfume oil concentration - 5-15%

Eau de Cologne - Perfume oil concentration - 2-5%

Eau Fraîche - Perfume oil concentration of 1-3%

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Applying Fragrances

There are many ways to apply your fragrance.

Some of the most popular methods include spraying it directly onto your skin or clothing, dousing yourself in body lotion or perfume oil, or adding a few drops to your bathwater.

The most common way to apply fragrance is through the use of sprays, which are available in a variety of forms and strengths. Other options include lotions, creams, body butter, and oils.

Many people choose to wear scented products on their clothes, including colognes, perfumes, and deodorants. Some people also like to wear scents around their necks or wrists by using a bracelet or necklace made from natural materials such as wood or stone with an embedded scent holder.

Fragrances can be applied directly to the skin as well as hair by using sprays or other similar methods. Hair products designed specifically for this purpose are also available at many stores. 

Some companies produce scented candles that can be lit at home for an aromatherapy effect without having to worry about harmful chemicals being released into the air from burning candles made from paraffin waxes that may contain toxic components. 

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1. Don't rub it on your skin. Rubbing your skin can break down the molecules in the perfume and make it evaporate faster than usual. Instead, spray it onto your pulse points—the areas between your wrists and elbows, and behind the knees—and then walk into your perfume to let it permeate throughout your body.

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2. Where you store your perfume matters! Most fragrances have a shelf life of five years if stored properly in a cool dark place at room temperature out of direct sunlight or heat sources like windowsills or radiators (which can degrade the molecules). If you keep your perfumes in direct sunlight or high heat for too long, their contents will break down faster than normal and start to smell off sooner than expected.

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3. Spray then walk into your perfume! This helps ensure that every part of your body is covered with enough fragrance to smell great for hours on end; otherwise, some parts might go unscented 

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4. Apply directly to the skin. You can apply perfume in a few different ways, but the most common is just dabbing it on your wrists and neck. This is because these areas are the most likely to pick up scent from the air, so you'll get the most mileage out of your perfume that way.

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5. Dab on pulse points. You can also apply perfume by dabbing it all over your body, but if you're looking for something more concentrated than just a light spray, try dabbing it onto your pulse points—the places where blood flows close to the surface of your skin: wrists, elbows, behind the knees, behind each earlobe, and at the base of your throat.

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6. Do not apply to hair. If you're going to use perfume as a hair product (which we don't recommend unless you know exactly what you're doing), make sure to skip over the scalp area and focus instead on running it through damp hair near the ends of your locks or brushing it through dry strands at their roots before styling them up with hairspray or gel.

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7. Don't Be Afraid to Layer Scents. When it comes to fragrances, less is more. But that doesn't mean you should be afraid to layer scents. The key is to apply them in a way that will enhance your natural scent, rather than overpower it.

For example, if you're going for a floral scent, try layering it on top of a citrus fragrance. Or if you have an earthy scent, try layering it with a floral perfume. The result will be a more sophisticated, layered perfume experience.

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8. Apply to Clothing. Perfume can be applied directly to clothing, but it's best to spray the perfume in the air and walk through it. This will allow the scent to permeate your clothes and stay on them longer.

Conclusion 

I hope you learned a lot from this blog, and I will be working on more articles about fragrances in the near future to keep this information as up-to-date as possible.

Feel free to contact me on social media if you have any remarks or questions about this topic.  And if there's any information that I've left out, feel free to drop me a comment below!

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