Did you know that the word perfume comes from the Latin ‘per fumun’, meaning by smoke. We may see perfume as a modern creation – but it’s surprisingly ancient.
In this article, we will delve into the vibrant and fascinating history of perfume creation and explore the art of perfume manufacturing in the modern age.
The Beautiful, Ancient Past of Perfume
Records, dating back thousands of years, describe perfumers creating scents with distilled flowers, oils and other aromatics. These mixtures would be filtered and distilled several times to create the perfect fragrance.
For much of human history, we have been taking scents found in nature and using them to create our own fragrances – from fruit, to flowers, to spices. The original intention of perfume was to emulate the pleasant aromas found in nature. As the years have passed, this process has been modernised and adapted to much larger scales – but the basic principles of creating a perfume still remain. The desire for fragranced products has only increased.
From candles to cleaning products, soaps to lotions – fragrance finds its way into all walks of life. Perfume manufacturing is a huge industry, and the scientific process behind it has been refined, curated and improved upon at the same rate as other major industries.
The 19th Century Perfumery Boom: Mass Marketing
In the mid-1800’s, perfume began to be marketed on a mass scale. This surge in marketing coincided with the implementation of synthetic chemicals in perfume. The first synthetic perfume was made with nitric acid and benzene. It had top notes of almond and was a popular choice for scented soaps.
Following this creation, a man named William Perkin concocted a fragrance that smelled reminiscent of freshly mown hay. He did this by synthesising coumarin – a compound derived from the South American tonka bean.
How Is Perfume Manufactured?
Many popular perfumes are manufactured through extracting scented oil from natural ingredients, such as:
- Plants
- Fruits
- Wood
- Animal secretions
To create scents that don’t occur in nature, or simply don’t produce essential oils, synthetic chemicals are employed to create that scent. Most well-known perfumes use some synthetic chemicals to achieve their signature scent.
Common Extraction Methods
When using natural ingredients, their oils must be extracted to create the scent. Extracting essential oils can be done in a number of ways:
· Solvent Extraction
This method involves placing the natural materials into large, rotating drums. As they rotate, they are covered with benzene or petroleum ether. As the plant itself dissolves in the solvent, a waxy substance remains – and this substance contains the natural oils from the plant.
From here, the substance is placed in ethyl alcohol. The oil dissolves into the alcohol and is then burned off, leaving behind a concentrated perfume oil.
· Steam Distillation
For this method, the natural materials are placed into a still, and they remain there until they are extracted. The remaining substance is passed through a series of tubes, cooled and then liquified. Boiling water is sometimes used as part of the extraction process.
· Expression
An ancient form of extraction, this process is simple and often used for extracting citrus oils. With this method, the natural materials are pressed (manually or mechanically) until the oils are completely extracted.
· Maceration
With this method, large glass sheets, coated with warm fats, are used to soak up the fragrance. These glass sheets are placed between wooden frames, in tiers. The natural materials are removed by hand and repeatedly replaced, allowing the fats to absorb as much fragrance as possible. The fats are then dissolved in alcohol to release the essential oils.
How to Blend Ingredients
Once the essential oils are gathered, the next step is to blend. The formula for blending is predetermined by the master in the perfumery, who is often referred to as a ‘nose.’ For many long-standing brands, their fragrances are curated and refined for a number of years, often containing hundreds of ingredients.
A lot of perfumes combine plants and animal products. Animal products include castor (derived from beavers) musk (derived from male deer) and ambergris (derived from the sperm whale.) Animal substances are used as fixatives – that essentially help the perfume to evaporate at a slower pace and emit an odour for longer. Other fixatives are used, too. These include things like coal, tar, resins, mosses and synthetic chemicals.
To dilute the perfume, alcohol is commonly used. The ratio of alcohol to oil is used to determine the perfume’s worth – as the more oil the fragrance contains, the stronger and more expensive it becomes. Take, for instance, an eau de parfum versus a body mist. The body mist will undoubtedly cost less but also contain a much higher concentration of alcohol than the eau de parfum.
Ageing the Scent
For perfumes of a higher, or purer quality, they are often aged after the scent has been blended. The ageing is done for months, sometimes years. This process is to ensure the proper scent has been created. It’s because when a scent is given time to age, the notes blend in a more homogeneous manner, creating a higher quality fragrance.
The Risks of Perfumery
The creation of perfume is a delicate process. For a single pound of essential oils, thousands of flowers are used. If, for whatever reason, these flowers are destroyed or damaged, it can hinder the product of perfume.
There are concerns in collecting natural animal oils, too. Many animals that were once favoured for their oils are now endangered. On top of this, animal oils are difficult and costly to extract.
Despite natural ingredients being the desired choice in the finest perfumes, it’s been noted that most modern perfume-wearers prefer less concentrated perfumes and more synthetic fragrances. As a result of changing tastes, we’ve seen more frequent use of scents in daily life, in a wider range of people.
One Final Thought
To conclude, here is a quote from Sonia Rykiel.
“Perfume is like a parenthesis, a moment of freedom, peace, love, and sensuality in between the disturbances of modern living.”
