Deep Fragrances

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.

Fragrances have been used for a very long time to make someone smell good or better. It has also been used as an aromatherapy for those who may suffer from some sickness or ailment. Through the years, fragrance has developed into several types that include perfumes, eau de parfums, eau de toilette and eau de cologne. The difference among these types of fragrance is in the concentration levels of essential oils that are mixed into them.

Perfumes have the highest concentration of perfume oils (around 20 - 40 percent), followed by eau de parfum, eau de toilette and lastly eau de cologne, which have around 2 - 5 percent perfume or essential oils. Perfume oils are usually derived from plants and other organic or natural sources such as animals or lichens. Synthetic scents are also readily available. Perfumes last longer and are stronger than all the other fragrances. Eau de cologne on the other hand needs to be applied several times a day if you wish to maintain the scent because they do not last long and the fragrance can be fleeting.

The Fragrance Wheel

The fragrance wheel is a method of classifying the different scents available in the industry today. In this particular wheel there are five main or standard classifications namely, floral, oriental, fresh, woody and fougere. As their name imply, the main fragrance in a scent falls in one of the classifications. Fougere is a combination of two or more of the other standard scents in the wheel.

In the said wheel, floral, soft floral and floral oriental fall under the floral classification while soft oriental, oriental and woody oriental are under the oriental classification. Wood, mossy woods and dry woods fall under the woody classification of fragrances and citrus, green and water are under the fresh classification.

Uses of Fragrance

We use scents to basically improve the smell of an area or enhance a person. Fragrance is also used to improve a person’s well being in the form of aromatherapy. A person’s sense of smell can affect the overall attitude and personality of an individual. Aromatherapy ha long been used to promote a relaxed atmosphere or to induce energy and spirit in a person.

Fragrance has also been used to mask a particularly bad smell. In cases like these, you would need a stronger scent or perfume to be able to fully mask an odor that is undesirable. Many people have aromatherapy candles in their homes and also scented potpourri to add to the ambience of their homes.

Since earliest history, the perfume has always been a part of human culture. It is used on hair, body with oil, flower, herb extract. It attracts friends to be close to because wearing scent is pleasurable and make other people feeling wonderful.

For women type of perfume, you should learn how different type of perfume before you make a decision to buy your perfume.

The class and the price are determined by their alcohol content. Eau de toilettes and eau de colognes containing between 3% and 8% fragrance and 92 -97 % is contained with alcohol, water and color.

Eau de perfume contains actual perfume oils of 8-15%. You pay more for perfume but you get long last perfume than other scent type around six hours.

After considering the type of perfume, the tips you can know when you want to choose the perfume is in below.

How to use the perfume and fragrance

1. Choose your perfume with care depending on the occasion.

2. The best way to find your perfume is you should test the perfume on yourself not your friend because the same perfume will be different on two people. What smells good on your friend may not smell as nice on you. Then wait. This time you can go shopping or do something else. Then check the perfumes on your skin. Scents change over time relative to your body chemistry

3. A variety of different fragrance types is less fatiguing to the sense of smell. When perfumes are very different you can try five to six; when they are similar, only two to three. Heavier scents tire your nose more quickly so when sampling always begin with lighter scents.

4. Spray the perfume on the back of your wrists, knees and neck. This way makes the last perfume without fumigating everyone.

5. When spray the perfume you should not rub because rubbing crushes the molecules of fragrance and ruin the scent.

6. Recommended to spray the inner elbows and behind the knees because the fragrance works best just a little bit humid.

7. The storage condition room should be a temperature out of sunlight and away from the bright, cool and dark area. Do not place near heat or light. Extreme heat causes a fragrance to oxidize or change its odor. The ideal for the best condition for storage perfume is room temperature.

8. Spray a damp cloth with fragrance and throw it into the dryer with your clothing to scent them beautifully

9. We do not recommend spraying perfumes directly on clothes because some fabrics may stain. If stains occur, they can usually come out when washed. Always apply your fragrance items before dressing

10. If you want to choose the fragrance for someone it is good rule to buy the classic fragrance. A fragrance that has been on the market for decades is not as risky as new fragrances on the market. The age of the recipient can also influence your choice. If you are purchasing for woman who is your college age, desire, potion, eternal may be appropriate. Lighter floral fragrances are acceptable to almost everyone. Heavier perfumes with oriental notes are more risky.

11. If you notice that the perfume is thick, its color changes drastically and there is a sour smell upon opening, this means the perfume has deteriorated.

12. Increasing body temperature can make the scent and expanding of perfume stronger so it is better to use light perfume for the warm months.

Perfume oils, or the “juice” of fragrance composition, are diluted with a suitable solvent to make the perfume more usable. This is done because undiluted oils either natural or synthetic contain high concentrations of volatile components that will likely result in allergic reactions and possibly injury when applied directly to skin or clothing. Dilutions of the fragrance oil can be done using solvents such as jojoba, fractionated coconut oil, and wax. The most common solvents for fragrance 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: 20%-40% Fragrance compounds

• Eau de parfum (EDP) : 10-30% Fragrance compounds

• Eau de toilette (EDT) : 5-20% Fragrance compounds

• Eau de cologne (EDC) : 2-3% Fragrance compounds.

As the percentage of fragrance 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 fragrances. As such, although the oil concentration of a fragrance in eau de parfum (EDP) dilution will necessarily be higher than the same fragrance in eau de toilette (EDT) form, the same trends may not necessarily apply to different perfume compositions with different perfume houses. To further complicate things, some fragrances with the same product name but having a different concentration name may not only differ in their formulas, 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 modified to contain slightly more top notes or less base notes. In some cases, words such as “extreme” or “concentrate” appended to fragrance names might indicate completely different fragrances that relate only because of a similar fragrance content.

Tip 1:

Perfume never has the exactly same fragrance on different people. Don’t choose a perfume just because you like the fragrance on someone else. Perfume will interact differently with each individual’s body chemistry.

Tip 2:

Fragrance is a combination of the perfume’s scent and your body’s chemistry. Don’t try to tell what a perfume is like by sniffing the bottle. Apply the perfume to your wrist and allow the fragrance to develop, and blend with your skins unique features, before testing. Allow up to 10 minutes for fragrance development after applying the perfume sample.

Tip 3:

Limiting sampling to 3 or 4 perfumes at a time will avoid confusing and overwhelming your sense of smell. Sniffing coffee beans between samples can help clear and refresh your sense of smell.

Tip 4:

When sampling consider developing a perfume wardrobe. A perfume wardrobe is like a clothing wardrobe, with perfumes for different seasons, occasions, and moods. A perfume for each of, casual, evening and romantic wear will cover most requirements.

Tip 5:

It is perfume oils that give perfumes their fragrance. Check the category of the perfume when selecting your perfume. The higher the concentration of perfume oil the longer the perfume will last.

Perfume Category Typical Perfume Oil Content

After Shave 0.5% - 2.0%

Eau de Cologne 3.0% - 5.0%

Eau de Toilette 5.0% - 8.0%

Eau de Parfum 8.0% - 15.0%

Parfum 15.0% - 30.0%

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