Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents in liquid form that are used to give the human body, animals, food and living spaces an agreeable scent.
Perfumery: A branch of perfumery that specializes in the preparation and blending of fragrance compounds for use in cosmetic products, including fine fragrances (or “fine perfumes”) and other perfumed toilet and household products. More than 2500 fragrances are commercially available in many different types of perfumed cosmetics, ranging from soaps and shower gels to deodorants and face powders.
Chemically complex aromatic substances and extracts of plants, flowers, and animal secretions have been used in perfumery since ancient times. However, the development of chemistry in the nineteenth century laid the foundation for modern perfumery.
The five main families of perfume are Floral, Oriental, Woody, Aromatic Fougere and Fresh. Traditional examples include Myrurgia Maderas De Oriente, Chanel Bois des Iles and Guerlain Mitsouko; today’s fragrances are more varied and often fall into several of these categories.
Single Floral: A fragrance based on the scent of a single flower, such as rose or carnation, in French this type of fragrance is called a soliflore.
Floral Bouquet: A composition of several floral scents, e.g., iris, rose or carnation.
Natural scents: Plants, flowers and other natural substances that yield odors when extracted from their raw materials are typically mixed and do not produce the expected fragrance notes when combined in a perfume, especially when used alone. This is because of differences in the source, harvesting method and extraction process.