Perfume has been around for centuries. Each of us wears perfume for a different reason—some do so to please others, to leave a lingering scent of a good impression, or to surround ourselves with a pleasuring scent.  Whatever the reason we wear perfume, it looks to be a scent filled adornment that doesn’t appear to be going out of style soon.  

This thought brings to mind the history of perfume and its original creation, and how long it has been around.  The word itself, perfume, comes from the term “per fumum” originating in the Latin language.  Being that perfumed was created through the course of thousands of years ago, its true inventor is anonymous.  The oldest recorded uses of perfume were in the burning of aromatic herbs and incense, in maintaining religious facilities of various faiths. 

The History Of Perfume

The first people recorded to have used perfume were the Egyptians, who were then followed by the Greeks, the Arabs, and the Romans.  In the early years of perfume, fragrances were was most commonly used to communicate with and to garner favor with and please the Gods.  Since the Egyptians were the first civilized culture to create glass, it only stood to logic that they would be the first people to store their perfumes in bottles.

Researchers have determined that the first use of perfume was most likely started during the prehistoric era of Mesopotamia and Egypt, with Egyptians using fragrances in their rituals and religion.  The smoke from the perfumes and incense would be used to make their gods happy, hence the word per fumum, which is Latin for via smoke. 

Individuals have utilized perfume throughout almost every civilization. As previously mentioned, individuals use perfume for a variety of reasons, but when it is all said and done, it all really boils down to the joy that the wearing of perfume gives us.  Although civilization has come a long way, how perfume is created hasn’t changed that much through the centuries. 

Extracting The Oils

As once was done centuries ago, the first crucial stage is extracting the essential oil from the plant.  Throughout the years, how the oil is extracted has changed here and there, but the most common means is still through distillation.  Distillation is based on the act of boiling the plants in hot water, which then forces them to release their essential oils through steam evaporation.  Once the steam and the essential oil have achieved condensation, they will begin to separate from one another and the oil collected.

It can often take several thousands of pounds of flowers to create just one pound of oil.   Once separated from the steam, the solution is then allowed to steep in unique pots constructed of either copper or stainless steel, which will permit any settling of resin or waxy particulates.  After that, the oils go through a filtering process and then packaged.

Unlike in the early centuries, perfumes of today make use of both natural and synthetic ingredients.  Natural ingredients are commonly extracted from those items such as leaves, flowers, citrus fruit, and roots.  There are also animal extracts used, including musk, whales, or beaver.  Over the years, chemists have produced various synthetic scents based on natural compounds.  In turn, this process has increased the advancement in the manufacturing of perfumes manufactured today.

Categorization Of Fragrance

Fragrances go through a categorization process that is determined by how concentrated the essential oil is that it contains.  Those perfumes that have the highest concentration, and as such are the most expensive, are referred to as parfum.  Parfum provides the strongest and the longest-lasting fragrance as they offer 20-50 percent perfume by weight in compounds.

Those perfumes categorized as Eau de parfum is a perfume with an alcohol-based solution that contains perfume compounds of 10 to 15 percent, along with 3 to 8 percent of eau de toilette—also known as cologne.

The Symphony That Is Fragrance

When thinking of fragrance, imagine a musical composition that includes a multitude of notes.  Those notes are applied to the skin, and through this application, interacts with your own scent tones and chemistry.  When first applied, the perfume opens with a forceful and robust introduction, which then mellows to the more rounded note and ending on the bass tones.

The first scent you experience is when the perfume makes contact with your skin.  This initial scent generally lasts for only 5-10 minutes.  However, this is not long enough to really get a good impression of if the perfume is actually right for you. 

To determine that, you need to allow the perfume to combine and blend with your skin’s chemistry properly.  This will usually take a minimum of twenty minutes to emerge.  Then, finally, the fragrance’s determining impression is produced when the fragrance has had a chance to dry fully.  It is important to keep in mind that we all have different skin chemistry, and as a result, a perfume can produce a completely different fragrance on multiple individuals.

More Than Smelling Good

Upon first thought, we all think of perfumes and fragrances for the use of smelling good.  However, there are those scents that have been linked to helping with the reduction of stress, lifting our mood, or giving us that little energizing lift.  This belief that perfumes and fragrances are able to have a beneficial effect on both mood and well-being is referred to as aromatherapy.

Perfumes, having been around since the beginning of recorded time, have come a long way in one manner but in another has remained the same.  With the advancement of chemistry, the ability to increase the availability of scents has allowed chemists to create new and interesting combinations.  It will be interesting to see where perfumes and their creation are in the next few decades.