Perfume is the distilled essence of the fragrance of a flower, shrub or tree in its liquid form. A perfume contains tens to hundreds of ingredients, including: a ‘base’; natural or synthetic aromatic chemicals that are derived from or reproduced from terpenes; a ‘blending’ ingredient (used to smooth transitions between different ‘layers’ or ‘accords’ of the fragrance); and a fixative, a natural substance that slows the evaporation rate of the perfume, increases perceived odor strength, and improves stability.
Fragrance is a powerful emotional trigger that can instantly evoke happy or sad memories of people, places or events in our lives. For this reason, writing about perfume requires a deep appreciation of how it works and the ability to describe it on a deeply personal level. Perfume is an art, and it’s important to treat it as such.
From the Renaissance through to the nineteenth century, perfume wearing was ungendered and both men and women wore perfume. But the rise of germ theory and the development of deodorant in the mid-nineteenth century brought about a change in attitudes towards smells, with perfume taking on a more sombre public image. In addition, certain types of perfume became gender-stereotyped; sweet floral blends were regarded as exclusively feminine, while woody scents like pine and cedar were deemed masculine.
Today, most perfumes contain a mix of both natural and synthetic aromachemicals. Unlike essential oils, which are extracted directly from plants, synthetics have the advantage of being produced cheaply and rapidly. In addition, they can provide smells that are not available from natural sources. For example, calone, a synthetic, imparts a fresh ozonous metallic marine scent often used in modern oceanic perfumes such as Christian Dior Dune and Davidoff Cool Water.