Perfume


Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Perfumes can be defined as substances that emit and diffuse a pleasant and fragrant odor. They consist of artificial mixtures of aromatic chemicals and essential oils. The 1939 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Leopold Ružička stated in 1945 that "right from the earliest days of scientific chemistry up to the present time, perfumes have substantially contributed to the development of organic chemistry as regards methods, systematic classification, and theory."
Ancient texts and archaeological excavations show the use of perfumes in some of the earliest human civilizations. Modern perfumery began in the late 19th century with the commercial synthesis of aroma compounds such as vanillin and coumarin, which allowed for the composition of perfumes with smells previously unattainable solely from natural aromatics.

History

The word perfume is derived from the Latin perfumare, meaning "to smoke through". Perfumery, as the art of making perfumes, began in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization and possibly Ancient China. It was further refined by the Romans and the Muslims.
One of the world's first-recorded chemists is considered to be a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia. She distilled flowers, oil, and calamus with other aromatics, then filtered and put them back in the still several times.
On the Indian subcontinent, perfume and perfumery existed in the Indus civilization.
File:Arheologicheski-Perfume.jpg|thumb|200px|A Byzantine alembic used to distill perfumes
In 2003, archaeologists uncovered what are believed to be the world's oldest surviving perfumes in Pyrgos, Cyprus. The perfumes dated back more than 4,000 years. They were discovered in an ancient perfumery, a factory housing at least 60 stills, mixing bowls, funnels, and perfume bottles. In ancient times people used herbs and spices, such as almond, coriander, myrtle, conifer resin, and bergamot, as well as flowers. In May 2018, an ancient perfume "Rodo" was recreated for the Greek National Archaeological Museum's anniversary show "Countless Aspects of Beauty", allowing visitors to approach antiquity through their olfaction receptors. Romans and Greek extracted perfumes from diverse sources such as flowers, woods, seeds, roots, saps, gums. A temple to Athena in Elis, near Olympia, was said to have saffron blended into its wall plaster, allowing the interior to remain fragrant for 500 years.
In the 9th century, the Arab chemist Al-Kindi wrote the Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations, which contained more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves, aromatic waters, and substitutes or imitations of costly drugs. The book also described 107 methods and recipes for perfume-making and perfume-making equipment, such as the alembic.
The Persian chemist Ibn Sina introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, the procedure most commonly used today. He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes consisted of mixtures of oil and crushed herbs or petals, which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate and immediately became popular. Both the raw ingredients and the distillation technology significantly influenced Western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.
There is a controversy on whether perfumery was completely lost in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. That said, the art of perfumery in Western Europe was reinvigorated after the Islamic invasion of Spain and Southern Italy in 711 and 827. The Islamic-controlled cities of Spain became major producers of perfumes that were traded throughout the Old World. Like in the ancient world, Andalusians used fragrance in devotion to God. Perfumes added a layer of cleanliness that was needed for their devotion. Andalusian women were also offered greater freedoms than women in other Muslim controlled regions and were allowed to leave their homes and socialize outside. This freedom allowed courtship to occur outside of the home. As a result, Andalusian women used perfumes for courtship.
Recipes of perfumes from the monks of Santa Maria Delle Vigne or Santa Maria Novella of Florence, Italy, were recorded from 1221. In the east, the Hungarians produced around 1370 a perfume made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution – best known as Hungary Water – at the behest of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century the personal perfumer to Catherine de' Medici, René the Florentine, took Italian refinements to France. His laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway so that no formulae could be stolen en route. Thanks to Rene, France quickly became one of the European centers of perfume and cosmetics manufacture.
The cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France.
In 1693, Italian barber Giovanni Paolo Feminis created a perfume water called Aqua Admirabilis, today best known as eau de cologne; his nephew Johann Maria Farina took over the business in 1732.
By the 18th century, the Grasse region of France, Sicily, and Calabria were growing aromatic plants to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, Italy and France remain the center of European perfume design and trade.

Dilution classes and terminologies

Perfume types reflect the concentration of aromatic compounds in a solvent, which in fine fragrance is typically ethanol or a mix of water and ethanol. Various sources differ considerably in their definitions of perfume types. The intensity and longevity of a fragrance are based on the concentration, intensity, and longevity of the aromatic compounds, or perfume oils, used. As the percentage of aromatic compounds increases, so does the intensity and longevity of the scent. Specific terms are used to describe a fragrance's approximate concentration by the percent of perfume oil in the volume of the final product. The most widespread terms are:
  • Parfum or Extrait : 15–30% aromatic compounds. In English, parfum is also known as perfume extract, pure perfume, or simply perfume.
  • Esprit de parfum : 15–30% aromatic compounds, a seldom-used strength concentration between EdP and parfum.
  • Eau de parfum or Parfum de toilette : 15–20% aromatic compounds. It is sometimes called "eau de perfume" or "millésime." Parfum de toilette is a less common term, most popular in the 1980s, that is generally analogous to eau de parfum.
  • Eau de toilette : 5–15% aromatic compounds. This is the staple for most masculine perfumes.
  • Eau de cologne : 2–3% aromatic compounds. This concentration is often simply called cologne.
  • Eau fraîche: 3% or less aromatic compounds. This general term encompasses products sold as "splashes," "mists," "veils" and other imprecise terms. Such products may be diluted with water rather than oil or alcohol.

    Imprecise terminology

The wide range in the percentages of aromatic compounds that may be present in each concentration means that the terminology of extrait, EdP, EdT, and EdC is quite imprecise about oil concentration. Although an EdP will often be more concentrated than an EdT and, in turn, an EdC, this is not always the case. Different perfumeries or perfume houses assign different amounts of oils to each of their perfumes. Therefore, although the oil concentration of a perfume in EdP dilution will necessarily be higher than the same perfume in EdT from within a company's same range, the actual amount will vary among companies. An EdT from one house may have a higher concentration of aromatic compounds than an EdP from another.
Furthermore, some fragrances with the same product name but having a different concentration may not only differ in their dilutions 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 "tweaked" to contain slightly more top notes or fewer base notes. Chanel No. 5 is a good example: its parfum, EdP, EdT, and now-discontinued EdC concentrations are different compositions. In some cases, words such as extrême, intense, or concentrée that might indicate a higher aromatic concentration are actually completely different fragrances, related only because of a similar perfume accord. An example of this is Chanel's Pour Monsieur and Pour Monsieur concentrée. This complexity adds a layer of nuance to the understanding and appreciation of perfumery, where variations in concentration and formulation can significantly alter the olfactory experience.

History of the terms and concentrations

The terms "perfume" and "cologne" lead to much confusion in English. "Perfume" is often used as a generic, overarching term referring to fragrances marketed to women, regardless of their exact concentration. The term "cologne" is applied to those sold to men. The actual product worn by a woman may be an eau de parfum rather than an extrait, or by a man, an eau de toilette rather than an eau de cologne. The reasons why the terms "perfume" and "cologne" are often used in a generic sense is related to the modern development of perfumery in Europe since the 18th century.
The term "cologne" was first used in Europe in the 18th century to refer to a family of fresh, citrus-based fragrances distilled using extracts from citrus, floral, and woody ingredients. These "classical colognes" were supposedly first developed in Cologne, Germany, hence the name. This type of cologne, which is still in production, describes unisex compositions "which are basically citrus blends and do not have a perfume parent." Examples include Mäurer & Wirtz's 4711, and Guerlain's Eau de Cologne Impériale. "Toilet water," or eau de toilette, referred to a wide range of scented waters not otherwise known as colognes and were popular throughout the 19th century.
The term "perfume" first became known in the late 19th century. The first fragrance labeled a "parfum" extract with a high concentration of aromatic compounds was Guerlain's Jicky in 1889. In the first half of the 20th century, fragrance companies began offering their products in more than one concentration, often pairing an extrait with a lighter eau de toilette suitable for day wear, which made their products available to a wider range of customers. As this process accelerated, perfume houses borrowed the term "cologne" to refer to an even more diluted interpretation of their fragrances than eau de toilette. Guerlain, for example, offered an eau de cologne version of its flagship perfume Shalimar and many of its other fragrances. In contrast to a classical eau de cologne, this type of modern cologne is a lighter, less concentrated interpretation of a more concentrated product, typically a pure parfum, and is usually the lightest concentration from a line of fragrance products.
The eau de parfum concentration and terminology is the most recent, being originally developed to offer the radiance of an EdT with the longevity of an extrait. Parfum de toilette and EdP began to appear in the 1970s and gained popularity in the 1980s. In the 21st century, EdP is probably the most widespread strength concentration. It is often the first concentration offered when a new fragrance is launched and usually referred to generically as "perfume."
Historically, women's fragrances tended to have higher levels of aromatic compounds than men's fragrances. Fragrances marketed to men were typically sold as EdT or EdC, rarely as EdP or perfume extracts. This is changing in the modern fragrance world, especially as fragrances are becoming more unisex. Women's fragrances used to be common in all levels of concentration, but in the 21st century are mainly seen in EdP and EdT concentrations. Many modern perfumes are never offered in extrait or eau de cologne formulations, and EdP and EdT account for the vast majority of new launches.