Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. It is usually in liquid form and used to give a pleasant scent to a person's body. Ancient texts and archaeological excavations show the use of perfumes in some of the earliest human civilizations. Modern perfumery began in the late 19th century with the commercial synthesis of aroma compounds such as vanillin or coumarin, which allowed for the composition of perfumes with smells previously unattainable solely from natural aromatics alone.
Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a strong odor obtained from a gland of the musk deer. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name originates from the Late Greek μόσχος 'moskhos', from Persian 'mushk', similar to Sanskrit मुष्क muṣka ("testicle"), derived from Proto-Indo-European noun "mouse". The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. It is applied to various plants and animals of similar smell and has come to encompass a wide variety of aromatic substances with similar odors, despite their often differing chemical structures and molecular shapes.
Benzoin or benjamin is a balsamic resin obtained from the bark of several species of trees in the genus Styrax. It is used in perfumes, some kinds of incense, as a flavoring, and medicine. It is distinct from the chemical compound benzoin, which is ultimately derived from benzoin resin; the resin, however, does not contain this compound.
A perfumer is an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a Nose due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. The perfumer is effectively an artist who is trained in depth on the concepts of fragrance aesthetics and who is capable of conveying abstract concepts and moods with fragrance compositions. At the most rudimentary level, a perfumer must have a keen knowledge of a large variety of fragrance ingredients and their smells, and be able to distinguish each of the fragrance ingredients whether alone or in combination with other fragrances. As well, they must know how each ingredient reveals itself through time with other ingredients. The job of the perfumer is very similar to that of flavourists, who compose smells and flavourants for many commercial food products. The practice of perfume-making has recently attracted academic interest among major research funding agencies.
The word perfume is used today to describe scented mixtures and is derived from the Latin word, "per fumus," meaning through smoke. The word Perfumery refers to the art of making perfumes. Perfume was further refined by the Romans, the Persians and the Arabs. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in East Asia, much of its fragrances were incense based. The basic ingredients and methods of making perfumes are described by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia.
Cosmetics & Toiletries (C&T) is a magazine focusing on research and development in the cosmetics and personal care industry. The magazine is published by Allured Business Media. It is delivered to 97 countries on a monthly basis, and is geared toward formulators, scientists, researchers, chemists and R&D management in the industry. The magazine is available in both print and online magazine format. The headquarters is in Northbrook, Illinois.
Jean Carles (1892–1966) was a French perfumer who worked in Roure in the early 20th century. He was the founder of the Roure Perfumery School and served as its first director in 1946.
Eau de toilette literally translated as toilet water is a lightly scented cologne used as a skin freshener. It is also referred to as "aromatic waters" and has a high alcohol content. It is usually applied directly to the skin after bathing or shaving. It was originally composed of alcohol and various volatile oils. Traditionally these products were named after a principal ingredient; some being geranium water, lavender water, lilac water, violet water, spirit of myrcia and 'eau de Bretfeld'. Because of this, eau de toilette was sometimes referred to as "toilet water".
Benzyl salicylate is a salicylic acid benzyl ester, a chemical compound most frequently used in cosmetics as a fragrance additive or UV light absorber. It appears as an almost colorless liquid with a mild odor described as "very faint, sweet-floral, slightly balsamic" by those who can smell it, but many people either can't smell it at all or describe its smell as "musky". Trace impurities may have a significant influence on the odour. It occurs naturally in a variety of plants and plant extracts and is widely used in blends of fragrance materials.
Roja Dove is a Perfumer whose fragrances are sold at department stores worldwide. Born and raised in Sussex, South East England, his career in perfumery began in 1981 when he joined the French perfume house Guerlain, working there for 20 years before leaving to set up his own companies RDPR and then Roja Parfums.
Synthetic musks, known as white musks in the perfume industry, are a class of synthetic aroma compounds to emulate the scent of deer musk and other animal musks. Synthetic musks have a clean, smooth and sweet scent lacking the fecal notes of animal musks. They are used as flavorings and fixatives in cosmetics, detergents, perfumes and foods, supplying the base note of many perfume formulas. Most musk fragrance used in perfumery today is synthetic.
Christophe Laudamiel is a French perfumer. He is founder and master perfumer of DreamAir creative studios in New York City, where he currently resides. In 2019 he was named chief perfumer to BélAir Lab in Tokyo: a perfume composition and technology studio newly managed by Roto Pharmaceuticals. He is a founder and president of the non-profit Academy of Perfumery and Aromatics.
Nicolas de Barry is a French perfumer.
CPL Aromas is an international fragrance house, headquartered in the UK, with manufacturing sales and creative centres throughout the world. CPL Aromas was founded in 1971 by the Pickthall family and remains independent and family-owned.
Allured Business Media is a family owned print media company located in Carol Stream, Illinois. The company, which changed its name from Allured Publishing Corporation in 2008, publishes several magazines and websites focused on specific industries and distributes various e-newsletters to accompany these publications.
A fragrance wheel, variously called an aroma wheel, a fragrance circle, a perfume wheel or a smell wheel, is a round diagram showing the inferred relationships among olfactory groups based upon similarities and differences in their odor. The groups bordering one another are implied to share common olfactory characteristics. Fragrance wheels are frequently used as a classification tool in oenology and perfumery.
Yuri Gutsatz,, was a perfumer. He emigrated to Berlin in 1924 and then to Paris in 1933 where he worked for the Parfums de Mury. After the Second World War, he was hired by Louis Amic at Roure Bertrand Fils and Justin Dupont. As a perfumer, he created many perfumes like Carven Chasse Gardée in 1950. and PM of Mary Quant. He participated in perfume projects for Ungaro and Estee Lauder as well as for Cartier, Dior and Van Cleef & Arpels. On December 12, 1975, he registered the trademark Le Jardin Retrouve and founded the first niche perfume house, a few months before the I'Artisan Parfumeur (1976). Yuri Gutsatz was also a perfume critic and vice president of the Société Française des Parfumeurs, and one of the founders of Osmothèque- the perfume conservatory-, in 1990 with Jean Kerleo.
Sillage in perfume refers to the aura or trail created by a perfume when it is worn on the skin. It comes from the word in French for "wake" and can best be described as how a fragrance diffuses around the wearer. Sillage or diffusion in fragrances can also be called the "projection" of a fragrance.
Blocki is an American fragrance brand and one of the earliest perfume and cosmetic manufacturers in the United States. It was founded in 1865 by perfumer John Blocki, a pioneer in the American fragrance industry.
