History of perfume and some important facts

The perfume that we use today has its origin in the ancient world. It has derived its name from the Latin word ‘per’ meaning through and ‘fumus’ meaning smoke. It has its origin in the ancient Egypt. The Egyptians started making perfumes to honor their Gods in various ceremonies. Basically the idea behind the invention was to smell good. In the later period the French had given its name as “parfum”.

The perfume is the name given to the pleasant smell which comes due to the burning of the incense sticks. In fact the first form of perfume was incense and it was first discovered by the Mesopotamians. They use the incense at the time of various ceremonies and functions.  They burned resin woods and bumps for the fragrance to fill the air. Even the fragrant woods and resins were soaked in water or oil and later they use the water to take bath or rubbed their bodies with it.

When it was first discovered it was used only by certain persons like priests because it was believed to be use only at the time to ceremonies and prayers. Later on it became available to all Egyptians and all citizens were advised to perfume themselves at least once a week. As a result of it the Egyptians keep perfume with them from the birth until they die. It is a general belief among the citizens of Egypt that the body becomes dry after death hence to make it silk and smooth fragrance should be kept in their tombs as well.

The Romans used to splash perfumes all over their body to flatter women. They also put it in their famous baths.

Like modern days perfume bottles, ancient periods were also popular for their beautiful designer pot and bottles. Before the invention of the glass, perfumes used to come in different containers made up of gold, stone, alabaster.

During the medieval period in Europe the perfumes was only used by the high society people. Beautifully decorated bottles with gold and silver jewelries were plenty in the market by the 1700s. Buying and giving the sets of perfumes as gifts were counted as the status symbol.

Types of the perfume are well described by the amount of the solvent mix with the fragrance oil. For example, an aromatic compound found in perfume is 20-40%, Eau de Parfum has 10-30%, Eau de toilette has 5-20% and that of cologne has 2-3%.

Following are the categories of the Fragrance:

•    Floral- this category contains scents from one or more flowers.

•    Chypre- this is the combination of the fragrances from bergamot, oak moss, patchouli and labdanum.

•    Aldehydic- this type of fragrance produced by the chemicals called aldehydes.

•    Fougere- based on lavender, coumarin and oak moss.

•    Leather- this category features the scents of honey, tobacco, wood and wood tar.

•    Woody- dominated by the wood scents of sandalwood, cedar and patchouli.

•    Orientals- consisting fragrance of vanilla, animal scents, flowers, woods and often enhanced by the scents of camphorous oils and incense resins.

•    Citrus- features eau de cologne, have low tenacity.

Perfumes can be best described in a musical metaphor having three sets of ‘notes’. These notes were created on the basis of the evaporation process of the notes.

1.    Top Notes- consists of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. These scents can be perceived immediately upon use.

2.    Middle Notes- the compounds of the middle notes emerges within one hour of the application. These are also called the “heart notes”.

3.    Base Notes- this notes bring the rich depth to the fragrance after 30 minutes.

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