Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. It is reported to enhance self-appeal, increase attractiveness, and even reduce nausea and bloating.
In its earliest forms, perfume was a utilitarian product designed to protect against disease and infection through its pleasant fragrance. Seventeenth-century plague victims were given leather pouches of pungent spices and aromatic resins to sniff in case they were infected by the deadly black death. During the eighteenth century perfume became more fashionable than ever before, with different classes scented differently—aristocracy with rose and jasmine, bourgeois with tuberose and lily-of-the-valley, and middle class with iris and violet.
The modern perfumery industry uses many methods of extracting natural scents, from maceration (oil soaked in fat or oil that acts as a solvent to capture the heavier molecules) and enfleurage (beeswax dripped on plant material) to fractional distillation and dry-distillation, and most recently synthetics [1]. Animal-derived scents such as ambergris (lumps of oxidized fatty compounds secreted by the stomach of sperm whales) are still in use, but they have been overshadowed by newer, less animal-derived fragrance materials.
A perfume can contain many different notes and blends, ranging from fruity citrus to rich amber to musky musk. Sophisticated consumers can discern these layers of complexity. The best way to evaluate a perfume is to test it on oneself, and to read the ingredients label. Perfume is a product of the market, and its scent can be changed through reformulations that can occur months or years after its original release.