Perfume is a personal choice for many people. Some claim they feel naked without it, while others say that a well-chosen perfume can help boost self-confidence and provide an instant pick-me-up. Whatever the reason, a good fragrance leaves an impression on those around you.
Fragrance experts spend a great deal of time experimenting with raw materials in their search for new scents. Once a perfume is created, the scent must be stabilized with fixatives (natural or synthetic chemicals) that reduce evaporation and make the perfume last longer. This process takes months or even years for some ingredients, such as the woody coumarin extracted from South American tonka bean or the powdery, mossy musk extracted from male deer glands.
The final perfume blends tens to hundreds of raw ingredients, which may be natural or synthetic. A typical perfume contains three or four key components: (1) top notes, which evaporate the fastest; (2) heart notes, which emerge as the scent warms on the skin and last a bit longer than the top notes; (3) base notes, which pull the whole smell together and linger on the skin after the other notes have faded.
The final product must then be carefully and artfully bottled. Designer perfumers often take pains to create a flacon, or bottle, that captures the spirit of the fragrance. A perfume’s packaging is also important, as it helps to communicate the brand and the message behind the perfume. For example, the sexy, sultry and slightly intoxicating Opium by Yves Saint Laurent is an example of a perfume that conveys the concept of seduction.