Making Scents Of Perfume Choices
By Bill Duff, Mon Dec 26th
In the cut-throat world of design and manufacturing,perfume is a complex chemical mixture of essential oils, aromacompounds, fixatives, solvents, beautiful bottles andcelebrity-endorsed marketing. For those who wear perfumehowever, the final product is much more than the sum of itsparts: for many, is a much-loved element of personalpreparation, as essential as dressing or brushing one's teeth. A quick tour of the cosmetics and personal care section of anydepartment store reveals the wide array of available onthe market, with many more available exclusively throughhigh-end boutiques or import shops. There are so manychoices, in fact, that knowing what to buy can be confusing. Depending on their chemical composition and ratio of fragranceoil to solvent, scents generally fall into one of the followingcategories:
Perfume extracts (20%-40% aromatic compounds), eau de perfume(10%-30% aromatic compounds), eau de toilette (5%-20 % aromaticcompounds) or eau de cologne (2%-3% aromatic compounds). Themore aromatic compound that is used the longer the scent willlast. is made up of dozens of ingredients, so it can bedifficult to describe the overall effect as just one scent.However, it is possible to identify different contributingscents, similar to how one who knows wine can taste the varyingflavors of its composition. Perfume
fragrances are generally categorized by olfactivefamilies such as floral (self explanatory), Chypre (used todescribe scents such as apricot), Fougère (woody or herbaceousscents), leather (honey, tobacco, or wood tar scents so namedbecause they are reminiscent of leather), woody (such assandalwood-, cedar- or patchouli-dominated scents), ambers(vanilla or animal scents), and citrus (refreshing scents). 'Notes' are another way to describe or categorize andhow it smells as it evaporates off the skin over a period ofhours. * Top notes: this is what one first notices after applyingperfume. Top notes are generally pleasing and strong, butevaporate quickly. * Middle notes: also called the 'heart notes' a perfume's middlenotes are considered the main body of a perfume, and tend to beless strong than top notes. Middle notes are noticeable anywherefrom a few minutes up to more than an hour after perfumeapplication. * Base notes: the lasting impressions from a perfumeapplication, base notes give a fragrance its depth thanks to theholding power of the fixatives used in the formulation. The creation of the art of making is attributed to theEgyptians, but has been embraced by the rest of theworld with uses as wide ranging as religious duty in someIslamic culture, camouflage for poor hygiene in early Europe,and even as a slow-absorbing poison! Today, however, isused by both men and women for personal enjoyment and appeal.Many consider a particular scent as part of their identity, andthanks to this loyalty, many popular fragrances, such asNo 5 by Chanel, have been around for nearly a century. As lovely as can be, many people are allergic to it, soalways be sure your scent of choice is not offensive to anyonebefore you wear it in a crowded area. About the author:2Shop offers 100% genuine brands at heavily reduced prices.Check out our huge range of discount perfume and wholesale perfume resources. |
