Deep Fragrances

Mankind has been using perfume for quite a long time. Some people say it was first discovered in ancient Egypt and used by different civilizations such as ancient Chinese, Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and finally reintroduced hundreds of years later in France. Ever since, French perfume has become famous worldwide and today sets the standard for excellence.

The word perfume comes from Latin, meaning ‘through smoke’. Perfume came into being in the early days, through the burning of incense and aromatic herbs. Ever since, it has influenced mankind up to a point to become a product of desire.

For those purchasing perfumes, it is wise to become familiarized with basic fragrance groups which will help to find the perfect perfume one might be looking for.

The citrus fragrance category derives from different fruits such as lime, lemon, tangerine, mandarin and others, creating a sort of refreshing aroma. Mostly used during the summer. Appropriate for office wear, day or evening wear.

The floral fragrance category derives from large varieties of flowers such as vanilla, jasmine, roses and others. It is the most popular and used fragrance group. The scent of romance and starry nights.

The oriental fragrance category derives from mixtures of spices, resins, amber, balsams and other exotic essences, creating a warm and exotic feeling. Widely used during the winter season in the evening.

The chypre fragrance category derives from different wood-moss mixes, providing earthly aromas such as oak moss and other types of wood. Chypre fragrances smell slightly dry, not very sweet. Chypre perfumes are rich and tenacious, usually for those who tend to prefer slightly out of the norm fragrances.

The green fragrance category derives from scents of pine, leaves, herbs, juniper and others, providing a sharp outdoor scent. Good day wear and occasional evening wear in warmer weather.

The Fougere category of perfume scents derives from bergamot, oakmoss and geranium, and is mostly used my men. It has a classy style. Great fragrance choice for distinguished gentlemen.

These diversified fragrances will evoke different feelings and people just seem to enjoy that very much. Now that the basic fragrance groups have been explained, it’s up to one to make the best of his next perfume purchase and make use of the perfume fragrance that best suits his lifestyle.

However, while purchasing perfumes one should bewared that famous brand name perfumes are fairly expensive. If one is looking for genuine perfumes, he must be willing to spend fairly amount of money. However evoking memories of romantic moments thru fragrances may just be priceless and the expensive perfume price may just become fair.

Roberto Sedycias
IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

Fragrances can often reflect our mood and personality. A certain scent on a good friend may smell quite differently on you as each fragrance reacts differently according to our own chemical makeup.

When testing a perfume in a store, be sure to wait about 10 minutes to allow the fragrance to react to your body chemistry before buying it. Smell it after the first application and then smell it again after waiting. This allow you to sample both the top and middle notes of the scent and give you a good sense of how the fragrance will linger throughout the day.

Be sure to limit how many fragrances you try at one time at the store - stick to just 3 or 4 at a time. Otherwise your olfactory senses may become overwhelmed and you may not be able to tell one perfume from the other!

If you are concerned about an allergic reaction, wait about an hour or so after sampling the perfume. If no reaction occurs by that time, it is probably safe to go ahead and splurge on that new perfume!

Always apply fragrances directly to your skin or hair, as some fragrances (especially parfums and eau de parfums which have a higher concentration of oils) may cause discoloration on certain fabrics. Never spray fragrances directly on silk - it will damage it!

If you like to spritz a bit on your clothing, be sure to test it first on hidden area such as an inner lining before spraying it all over yourself! This is especially true for delicate fabrics and “dry clean only” clothing.

I suggest changing your fragrance depending upon the season. In other words, go for lighter scents during the hotter weather and keep the stronger scents for the drier, cool weather. Heat intensifies the scent, so there is no need to douse yourself in a heavy scent during the summer. And if you are outdoors, be aware that bees, wasps, hornets, and other flying bugs are attracted to flowery fragrances (which is another good reason to stick to light, clean scents!)

Speaking of heat, if you want to keep that favorite perfume as fresh as the day you bought it, keep the bottle in a cool, dark place. Keep the bottle in it’s original box, if possible. You may even want to keep it in the fridge, so you can have a refreshingly cool spritz of your perfume before heading out for the day!

What everyone is astonished at a flower, is its fragrance. There are different flower fragrances as there are different flowers. But some of them are less popular than others. That comes from the fact that people prefer specific flower fragrances and are indifferent to others. The most admired flower fragrances are the following ones:

Roses. Roses are regarded as the finest of flowers, as the “queen of the flowers”. That is because of their incredible flower fragrance. Rose fragrance is used for making of many perfumes. There are two main species of roses: the Rosa centifolia (found in the south of France) and the Rosa damascena, known as Damask Rose, which can be seen mainly in the Arab countries. Roses were greatly used by the Greeks and Romans. The gathering of roses should be at night, because the rose fragrance is stronger before sunrise.

Violets. The flower fragrance of violets has a wide variety. There are different kinds of violets, but the two most common are The Victoria Violet and the Parma Violet. Violets were largely used in perfumery, as well as in medicine. The essential oils that violets produced can nowadays be synthetically superseded by various chemicals.

Orange flower. They are grown in the south of France, Spain, Italy and the north of Africa. Orange flower is associated with brides, mainly because of its fragrance, and because of its beautiful flowers as well. Its flower fragrance is one of the most popular for making different scents. The oils extracted from orange flowers are called “neroli”, after the Italian Princess of Neroli. She was the first to start using orange flower fragrance on her gloves. The oil of “petit grains” is obtained by distillation of twigs and leaves.

Jasmine. This is another pure flower fragrance. Jasmine fragrance cannot be mistaken with anything else, as it is highly specific and brings intense pleasure to the senses. Jasmine is gathered before dawn, when its flower fragrance is at strongest. Taking care of the gathered jasmines is essential. Jasmines have to be processed immediately after picking, because their flower fragrance and freshness soon fades away. Another thing is that jasmines have to be put in special baskets where their natural look is preserved for a while.

Lily. Lilies are the most commonly- grown flowers in everyone’s garden. That is because they are easy to grow. Their flower fragrance is fresh and light and it brings to mind beautiful thoughts. In between June and August is the bloom of lilies in every garden. Their trumpet-like shape of the flower can be seen in various tints and nuances. Lily can be planted either in autumn, or in spring. The flower fragrance and the beautiful colours make lilies liked by everyone.

Ylang-ylang. Ylang-ylang has beautiful flower fragrance and is almost inevitably used when making all kinds of perfumery. The flower comes from southern Asia. Ylang-ylang should be gathered when its buds have been opened for several weeks. After picking, the flowers have to be quickly processed so that they retain their flower fragrance. The flower fragrance produces sensual delight in women, as well as in men. Another thing to be known about ylang-ylang is that its oil can easily be replaced by synthetic materials in cheaper perfumery.

Plumerias. Plumerias are a sort of trees. Their flower fragrance is irresistible, and their colours are various. The flowers from plumerias are used in the Hawaian leis. The Polynesian people value them very much, because they are durable and soft-scented. Their colours differ from white and yellow to red, violet, pink and other multiple pastels. Once picked, a flower retains its good look and flower fragrance for several days, if kept in water. Another specificity about plumerias is that the blooming of flowers lasts about 3 months, with new flowers being produced on the tree daily.

The Perfumer

The task of composing perfumes that will sell is to enhance an expert on perfume composition or known in the fragrance industry as the perfumer. They are also sometimes referred to 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.

A perfumer must have knowledge of a large variety of fragrance ingredients and smell. They must be able to distinguish each of the fragrance ingredients whether alone or in combination with other fragrances. As well, they must know how each ingredient reveals itself through time when mixed with other ingredients.

The composition of a perfume begins when the perfumer’s employer’s are given a brief which will contain the specifications for the desired perfume that the organisation is trying to achieve. The employees are given several tasks to complete. They are expected to describe what the perfume smells like, their feelings after smelling the perfume, when the perfume should be worn, also the price of the perfume oil concentrate. This will determine what aromatics and fragrance ingredients can/will be used in the perfume composition.

This process is an in depth and tedious task but it is essential. The perfumer will then start a process of blending various perfume mixtures and try to achieve the outcome the brief. This process can take several months or years. Once all the information is gathered the perfume composition may be used as a fragrance enhancement in shampoos, make-up, detergents, etc or it may be marketed and sold directly to the public as a fine fragrance.

Technique

Perfume oils usually contain tens to hundreds of ingredients. These ingredients can be roughly grouped into four groups: primary scents, modifiers, blenders and fixatives (refer notes below).

Instead of building a perfume from “ground up”, many modern perfumes and colognes are made using fragrance bases, which are essential oils and aromatic chemicals. The effort used in developing bases by fragrance companies or individual perfumers may equal that of a marketed perfume, since they are useful in that they are reusable.

The perfume’s fragrance oils are then blended with ethyl alcohol and water, aged in tanks for a minimum of 14 days and filtered through processing equipment to remove any sediment and particles before the solution can be filled into the perfume bottles.

Notes:

• Primary scents: Can consist of one or a few main ingredients for a certain concept, such a “rose”. Alternatively, multiple ingredients can be used together to create an “abstract” primary scent that does not bear a resemblance to a natural ingredient. For instance, jasmine and rose scents are commonly blends for abstract floral fragrances. Cola flavourant is a good example of an abstract primary scent.
• Modifiers: These ingredients alter the primary scent to give the perfume a certain desired character: for instance, fruit esters may be included in a floral primary to create a fruity floral; calone and citrus scents can be added to create a “fresher” floral. The cherry scent in cherry cola can be considered a modifier.
• Blenders: A large group of ingredients that smooth out the transitions of a perfume between different “layers” or bases. Common blending ingredients include linalool and hydroxycitronellol.
• Fixatives: Used to support the primary scent by bolstering it. Many resins and wood scents, and amber bases are used for fixative purposes.

Perfume can be a wonderful accessory to any outfit – formal, business, or casual. Using a fragrance that works well with your body chemistry and is applied it conservatively will go a long way to taking your personal style up a notch. Women everywhere understand the power of perfume – how a well-selected perfume can become associated with you so easily, creating a “signature scent” to which people respond.

There are many varieties of perfume on the market today – manufactured and distributed by a growing number of companies that understand the marketability of a great fragrance. And while there are certainly a growing line of designer fragrance that command an equally impressive price, there are also avenues in which savvy consumers can find a number of discount perfumes – that offer affordable prices without sacrificing quality.

When referring to discount perfumes you can actually be speaking about a number of different products. First and foremost, this term can reference those designer and brand name fragrances that are offered in a non-traditional setting and lower than retail prices. While a designer perfume may cost top retail dollar at the high-end department stores where it is normally sold, it may be offered at a much less expensive price in discount locations.

Discount prices are given to designer and brand perfumes in both traditional brick and mortar stores as well through online resources. You may be surprised by the level of discount that you receive by just doing some preliminary shopping around.

Discount perfumes may also refer to those fragrances that have been modeled after designer scents. When a fragrance is particularly popular, manufacturers will often create a scent that mirrors some of the “notes” of that fragrance and sell it at a much lower price. These perfumes can also be found in discount shops as well as through online shopping venues.

If you are attracted to a particular designer perfume, chances are that a discount version exists in the marketplace. Do some testing, trying out different scents until you find one that you both like and can afford.

In other cases, discount perfumes refer to those fragrances that are not designer replications. Rather, they are perfumes that are made as stand-alone fragrances but done so at a much cheaper price. These are generally considered to be lower-end scents and can be purchased at very low prices in drugstores in nearly every town. Keep in mind, however, that these scents, while inexpensive, are lower quality.

This may mean that the fragrance wears off much quicker than its high-end counterparts and reapplication throughout the day may be necessary. It may also be necessary to apply more of the fragrance than you ordinarily would. However, at the prices at which these perfumes are offered they are relatively easy and cheap to replace so running out of product quickly may not be an issue.

Ultimately, a fragrance should complement your personal style in all ways. It should work well with your body chemistry (perfumes do not necessarily smell the same on you as they do in the bottle – so be sure to test it out on your wrist before purchasing); reflect your personality (if you prefer simple elegance than choose accordingly; if you are someone who is creative and high energy than choose a scent that reflects that); and should be in a comfortable price range for you.

Whether you choose designer fragrances or discount perfumes, the result should be the same – a scent that entices and complements you.

Every woman needs her personal fragrance wardrobe.. To fit her mood. To blend in with the nuances in her personality.

Getting ready for some romance?

You could go for a heady fragrance or one that is feminine, rose based.
Incidentally, rose and
jasmine are the classic floral scents for romance.

In a carefree mood?

Go for something fresh. Citrusy.
A fragrance that is fruity, especially one with notes of grapefruit or orange or
neroli would be wonderful for that optimistic outlook.

Perfume is all about your individual taste. My cousin loves patchouli but
that smell makes me want to throw up.

The trick is to get something you simply adore which smells great to other
people too. The easiest way out is to buy a brand
name perfume off the shelves. But would that mean someone else would
probably be wearing the same scent as you?

If that is your concern, you need not worry too much. That same fragrance
smells different on different people as the day progresses. The fragrance mixes
with the oils your skin produce and the end result is something that is subtly,
uniquely yours.

If you do want to mix your own fragrance, go ahead.

When I was in my teens, my pals would mix their own fragrance by mixing 2 or
more of their favourite perfumes. That could turn out to be a hit, or a total
waste of good perfume if the result stinks.

The other way is to mix your own fragrance from essential oils. Each
essential oil provides a note in the complete fragrance.

A beautiful fragrance consists of at least 3 notes. A top note, a middle note
and a base note.

The top note evaporates the most quickly. Meaning, your first whiff of the
fragrance would be the top note. Mints and Citrus scents like grapefruit and
lemon are top notes. It is also the first note to disappear, meaning as the day
progresses, the top note would have evaporated off, which lets the fragrance
develop, showing off the other notes.

The middle note forms the body of the fragrance. That means, for most of the
day, this is the note that dominates the fragrance. Lavender, tea tree, geranium
and nutmeg are some examples of middle notes.

The base notes are the most lasting parts of the fragrance. Long after the
fragrance has faded, the base notes remain. These would be the woody and the
musky scents like musk, sandalwood and vetiver.

Some scents are complete perfumes by themselves. Rose for example is made of
hundreds of components. It can be used as the top note, body and even the base
note in a fragrance. I used to keep a tiny bottle of Rose Otto. Very expensive
stuff but a single drop goes a long way. 1 drop of that in 5 ml of jojoba oil
lasted me for a very long time as a personal perfume that was also therapeutic.
It was also a complete perfume on its own.

Experiment with different scents, diluting them in a massage oil, to create
your personal fragrance

For starters, you could put 1 teaspoon of sweet almond oil or a carrier oil
into a small bottle, add 1 drop of essential oil for the top note, 1 drop for
the middle note and 1 drop for the base note and see how it goes.

Have fun!

Perfume is one of those products that may influence our emotions. People`s sense of smell influences behavior and sets different moods. It may even bring up memories of the past. As a marketing tool, perfume is also present in our everyday lives and it can be found in lots of consumer products. Besides the fact that perfume is so popular, have you ever wandered how it came into being what it is today? What`s the history of perfume?

Some anthropologists say that perfume was used by primitive man thru the burning of gums and resins for incense. Eventually from 7000 to 4000 bc, richly scented plants, animal and fatty oils of olive and sesame are thought to have been combined with fragrant plants to create original ointments.

Three thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, historians believe that perfume was first used in rituals, as part of their religious ceremonies, creating a pleasant smell. These scents came from gums, resin trees, oil and from a variety of plants resulting in a perfume unguent that was rubbed into the skin. Hundreds of years later, women of Egypt were using perfume for their cosmetic qualities. It is believed that Egytptian queen Cleopatra had her own exclusive balms and scents used as cosmetics and aphrodisiac, which helped her to conquer Julius Caesar and later Mark Anthony. Also from this same era, it is believed that perfume was used in Mesopotamia for ritual ceremonies. And farther east, in China, aromatic herbs were used for medicine purposes.

Later on as trade routes expanded, perfume became very popular and demand for scent products increased trade among different civilizations. Africa and India started to supply Middle Eastern civilization with spikenard and ginger. Syrians sold fragrant goods to Arabia. Mediterranean civilization began buying cymbopogon and ginger from South Arabia. And so the trade of scent goods kept on, and as it continued to swell, fragrance perfume was eventually introduced thru time to several civilizations such as Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and finally reintroduced hundreds of years later in Italy and France.

By the 13th century Italy was doing major trades of spices and perfumes with Eastern civilizations. Portugal and Spain were also trying to establish important trades of spices by having exclusive routes to the East. That`s how the new world of America got to be discovered.

As Italian perfume influence swept over neighboring countries, France began expanding the use of perfume by first offering perfumed gloves, which were most often perfumed with neroli or animal scents such as ambergris and civet. From then on, French perfume has become famous worldwide and today sets the standard for excellence.

Also France played a major role in reestablishing the use of perfume for therapeutic purposes in the western world. It has been reported that during Word War II, therapeutic perfume had been used in the treatment of wounds and burns, and later in the treatment of psychiatric problems.

Perfume has brought different people together in the past thru the trade of aromatic scents. It also played a major deal, since its trade meant economical power for the nations. And so the history of modern man has been greatly influenced by this special product, enabling new worlds to be discovered. On a personal level, perfume is capable of influencing people`s behavior and that by itself sets perfume in class by itself. Perhaps that`s what makes it so desirable by all of us.

Roberto Sedycias
IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

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