You can design almost anything using a computer these days and one of the more unusual things that computer can do is to design perfumes and fragrances. Such a service has been available for some years on the Internet offered by companies in the US and UK. Although the US Company, Reflect.com no longer trades, the UK company fragrance for you ltd. is still very much in the fragrance business.
fragrance for you claim that designing your own fragrance is easy and fun to do. Visitors to the company website are invited to prove the point by entering their personality and life style details into a form and the answers entered are used as the data to drive the computer program and so derive a fragrance. When the questionnaire form is complete, it takes only two or three minutes, a description of the fragrance that has just been designed is displayed on the screen. The process is seen by the visitor as simple and as the company claims, fun to do. Answers to the questions on the website form are translated into odour compounds there are 103 odour codes or compounds in total and the computer blends those compounds in such a way as to avoid clashes of scents which do not provide a pleasing combination. The fragrance when finished comprises the usual three notes comprising the "fragrance Pyramid" the top note or head, the middle or heart and the lower note or base. This basic form invented in 1889 has changed not at all over the years and continues to be the basis of perfume architecture today. The top note contains the most volatile of the perfumes ingredients and this lasts no more than a few minutes before evaporating. The heart or middle note rapidly overcomes the quickly evaporating top note and comes to the forefront revealing the principle fragrance, the heart, which is supported by the base notes and which contains the longest lasting, that is the slowest evaporating oils and binds all the fragrances in combination together. The base notes may well last a day or even more while the heart note lasts perhaps three or four hours. The task then is to find a suitable description to convey in words the nature of the fragrance created. Typically this might be "ffy reference number 40597. A light fresh modern fragrance with a bergamot, cardamom, fresh pineapple and papaya top note and a white jasmin heart backed up by a musky amber accord"
Finally computer allocates the questionnaire answers into the traditional families or fragrance groups of citrus, floral, fougére, chypre, woody, amber and leather and these group words are found in the fragrance descriptions that are presented to the customer. Product quality is ensured by purchasing the fragrance oils and compounds supplied by one of the world's leading perfume houses CPL Aromas plc based in the UK who supply many of the fine fragrances found in department stores and perfume halls across the world.
The fragrance computer program is a complex piece of software capable of defining many millions of combinations of compounds. The program is now highly developed and is copyrighted to fragrance for you. The advantage of using the computer program is that it has brought the possibility of having your own fragrance design delivered in a classic style bottle named with the wearer's name and even a photograph to everyone. No longer the province of the rich and famous the computer designs are there for everyone to use and enjoy.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
How to Buy Perfume
Shopping for perfumes or personal fragrances can be a daunting task, particularly if it's for a friend or lover. Obviously online at Myshopping.com.au you cannot compare the actual scent of different fragrances. But, once you have a fairly good idea of what you are looking for, you can compare the different offerings from different brands and vendors very easily. So, how do you know what you are looking for? The following simple steps will narrow the search down somewhat.
Fragrance & PerfumeThe fragrance must suit the personality
The essential oils of a perfume react differently with each different person. Some perfumes are more suited to some personalities than others, and some perfumes are gregarious, others are more reserved. Your choice needs to suit the wearer's attitude as well as demeanour, as well as reflect the status of your relationship with the wearer. For example, you wouldn't buy the same fragrance for your mother as you would for a recently acquired girlfriend.
There are six different categories of scent that express different moods. If you know the favourite brand of the person you are buying for, a scent in the same family, or one in a complimentary family will be a reasonably safe purchase.
Floral
This is the largest and most popular category and is created mainly from flowers, including rose, carnation, orange blossom, gardenia and jasmine. These are often blended together to produce a distinctive floral bouquet. Some popular examples in this category include Clinique Aromatics Elixir, Ralph Lauren Romance and Yves St. Laurent Paris.
Citrus
Fragrances in this group come from citrus fruits such as lime, lemon, tangerine and mandarin. These fragrances project a sharp, tangy aura, which are naturally refreshing and uplifting. Citrus blends are among the oldest known scents. They were first worn by men and are now popular with women as well. Some popular examples include Calvin Klein CK One, Gucci Gucci and Jessica McClintock Jess.
Chypre (Cyprus)
This is a woody fragrance created by French perfumer Francois Coty, based on his impression of the island of Cyprus. The fragrance is dominated by pine aromas with hints of bergamot, oak moss, citrus and patchouli providing an earthy suite of aromas. Some popular examples include Dior Miss Dior, Hermes Caleche, and Cindy Adams Gossip.
Oriental
Oriental fragrances are a heady mix of spices, amber, balsams and resins suggesting warmth and exotic sensuality, and are popular for evening wear. Some examples include Calvin Klein Obsession, Yves St. Laurent Opium and Five Star Royal Secret.
Green
Green fragrances are fresh and alive aromas, with a hint of sharpness from young grassy scents blended with pine, juniper, leaves and herbs to create memorable perfumes. They reflect sporty personalities and most suited to daytime wear. Popular examples include Cartier So Pretty, Ralph Lauren Safari and Hanae Mori Haute Couture.
Fougere
This sixth category is a combination of fresh herbs and mossy ferns blended in to produce a sophisticated urban style, with earthy overtures. Some popular examples include Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass, Perry Ellis Reserve, and Davidoff Cool Water.
Seasons and Strengths
The choice of fragrance that one wears is often affected by season and event. Summer calls for cooler lighter fragrances, whereas winter might suggest more intimate and warmer aromas. Spring is the return of freshness, and autumn is a period of subtlety.
Daywear and a choice for everyday work calls for a different perfume to an evening out. An intimate dinner might suggest a different aroma to a family get-together. When you are buying perfume for someone, consider when he or she might wear your choice.
The other consideration is the relative strengths of the essential oils, and the amount they are diluted. There are four different categories according to the strength of the oils.
Eau de toilette has a typical concentration of 8 to 15 percent essential oils.
Eau de cologne (or Cologne) has a concentration of 4 to 8 percent of essential oils.
Eau fraiche is the most diluted of scent with just 1 to 3 percent concentration of essential oils.
The degree of concentration often suggests the size of the bottle and its price point. A larger portion will cost less per millilitre, but even small quantities of popular choices can cost a lot of money. This is where making comparisons with Myshopping.com.au can really pay off. The standard fragrance size bottles are usually in the 50ml, 75ml, 100ml or 125ml range. You can buy what is commonly known as a trial size, and this is a good choice if you are experimenting with new fragrances or just want a choice for travelling. These are usually 25ml to 40ml. Finally, a collector's size that is commonly known as a miniature bottle might be 7ml or 10ml
Trials and Testing
It is common practice when buying a perfume is to visit the fragrance counter and spray different scents on different parts of your body so you can compare them. We suggest you avoid this because after two or three applications your olfactory responses (that's your smell and taste senses) can easily be confused and your brain will be remembering and blending previous sniffs rather than sampling new ones. Secondly, how are you going to remember which you sprayed where. If you are going live shopping, we suggest you do something more like this.
Use fragrance blotters to gather your samples of different scents. These are small porous cards and are usually available at the perfume counter. Once you've sprayed the card you can write the name of the fragrance on the reverse side, that way you can identify the fragrance when you need to, and you can more readily compare the different aromas.
All fragrances take a few minutes to develop once they've been exposed to the atmosphere. Allow a few little time after it's been applied before sniffing the fragrance. To overcome nose fatigue (confusion of the olfactory), leave the smelling alone for a while and take in some fresh air, or smell something that carries your own body odour (armpit of your shirt sleeve for example). Sometimes eating a mint can refresh your olfactory senses.
Try to narrow your selection to two or three fragrances and then spray some on your skin, making a point to remember what you sprayed where. Now you need to go and do something else. You need to remove yourself from the perfumery (too many other smells in the air) and take your mind off the fragrance shopping altogether.
Let ten or fifteen minutes go by and then smell those parts of your skin that you sprayed. Let your gut reaction tell you which is the most effective, relative to the reason you are buying the fragrance. Then go to Myshopping.com.au and find that fragrance and compare prices and vendors.
Fragrance & PerfumeThe fragrance must suit the personality
The essential oils of a perfume react differently with each different person. Some perfumes are more suited to some personalities than others, and some perfumes are gregarious, others are more reserved. Your choice needs to suit the wearer's attitude as well as demeanour, as well as reflect the status of your relationship with the wearer. For example, you wouldn't buy the same fragrance for your mother as you would for a recently acquired girlfriend.
There are six different categories of scent that express different moods. If you know the favourite brand of the person you are buying for, a scent in the same family, or one in a complimentary family will be a reasonably safe purchase.
Floral
This is the largest and most popular category and is created mainly from flowers, including rose, carnation, orange blossom, gardenia and jasmine. These are often blended together to produce a distinctive floral bouquet. Some popular examples in this category include Clinique Aromatics Elixir, Ralph Lauren Romance and Yves St. Laurent Paris.
Citrus
Fragrances in this group come from citrus fruits such as lime, lemon, tangerine and mandarin. These fragrances project a sharp, tangy aura, which are naturally refreshing and uplifting. Citrus blends are among the oldest known scents. They were first worn by men and are now popular with women as well. Some popular examples include Calvin Klein CK One, Gucci Gucci and Jessica McClintock Jess.
Chypre (Cyprus)
This is a woody fragrance created by French perfumer Francois Coty, based on his impression of the island of Cyprus. The fragrance is dominated by pine aromas with hints of bergamot, oak moss, citrus and patchouli providing an earthy suite of aromas. Some popular examples include Dior Miss Dior, Hermes Caleche, and Cindy Adams Gossip.
Oriental
Oriental fragrances are a heady mix of spices, amber, balsams and resins suggesting warmth and exotic sensuality, and are popular for evening wear. Some examples include Calvin Klein Obsession, Yves St. Laurent Opium and Five Star Royal Secret.
Green
Green fragrances are fresh and alive aromas, with a hint of sharpness from young grassy scents blended with pine, juniper, leaves and herbs to create memorable perfumes. They reflect sporty personalities and most suited to daytime wear. Popular examples include Cartier So Pretty, Ralph Lauren Safari and Hanae Mori Haute Couture.
Fougere
This sixth category is a combination of fresh herbs and mossy ferns blended in to produce a sophisticated urban style, with earthy overtures. Some popular examples include Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass, Perry Ellis Reserve, and Davidoff Cool Water.
Seasons and Strengths
The choice of fragrance that one wears is often affected by season and event. Summer calls for cooler lighter fragrances, whereas winter might suggest more intimate and warmer aromas. Spring is the return of freshness, and autumn is a period of subtlety.
Daywear and a choice for everyday work calls for a different perfume to an evening out. An intimate dinner might suggest a different aroma to a family get-together. When you are buying perfume for someone, consider when he or she might wear your choice.
The other consideration is the relative strengths of the essential oils, and the amount they are diluted. There are four different categories according to the strength of the oils.
Eau de toilette has a typical concentration of 8 to 15 percent essential oils.
Eau de cologne (or Cologne) has a concentration of 4 to 8 percent of essential oils.
Eau fraiche is the most diluted of scent with just 1 to 3 percent concentration of essential oils.
The degree of concentration often suggests the size of the bottle and its price point. A larger portion will cost less per millilitre, but even small quantities of popular choices can cost a lot of money. This is where making comparisons with Myshopping.com.au can really pay off. The standard fragrance size bottles are usually in the 50ml, 75ml, 100ml or 125ml range. You can buy what is commonly known as a trial size, and this is a good choice if you are experimenting with new fragrances or just want a choice for travelling. These are usually 25ml to 40ml. Finally, a collector's size that is commonly known as a miniature bottle might be 7ml or 10ml
Trials and Testing
It is common practice when buying a perfume is to visit the fragrance counter and spray different scents on different parts of your body so you can compare them. We suggest you avoid this because after two or three applications your olfactory responses (that's your smell and taste senses) can easily be confused and your brain will be remembering and blending previous sniffs rather than sampling new ones. Secondly, how are you going to remember which you sprayed where. If you are going live shopping, we suggest you do something more like this.
Use fragrance blotters to gather your samples of different scents. These are small porous cards and are usually available at the perfume counter. Once you've sprayed the card you can write the name of the fragrance on the reverse side, that way you can identify the fragrance when you need to, and you can more readily compare the different aromas.
All fragrances take a few minutes to develop once they've been exposed to the atmosphere. Allow a few little time after it's been applied before sniffing the fragrance. To overcome nose fatigue (confusion of the olfactory), leave the smelling alone for a while and take in some fresh air, or smell something that carries your own body odour (armpit of your shirt sleeve for example). Sometimes eating a mint can refresh your olfactory senses.
Try to narrow your selection to two or three fragrances and then spray some on your skin, making a point to remember what you sprayed where. Now you need to go and do something else. You need to remove yourself from the perfumery (too many other smells in the air) and take your mind off the fragrance shopping altogether.
Let ten or fifteen minutes go by and then smell those parts of your skin that you sprayed. Let your gut reaction tell you which is the most effective, relative to the reason you are buying the fragrance. Then go to Myshopping.com.au and find that fragrance and compare prices and vendors.
What’s New In Perfume
Are you still looking for your “signature scent?” Or maybe you want to spice up your fragrance wardrobe for fall. If you’re looking for something new to dab on these days, there is no shortage of debut fragrances out there. Read on for some picks in the types of scent that you like best.
If fruity and floral fragrances are your passion, Roberto Cavalli has just released Just Cavalli Her Pink, which is highlighted by peach peel, hibiscus, and white lily. Other floral scents are intermingled as well, and there are base hints of rosewood, amber and musk to give the scent depth and sensuality.
Another floral pick comes from Burberry, of the famous plaid, which has introduced a new women’s fragrance called Burberry London (not to be confused with their old Burberry of London, now called simply Burberry), featuring rose, clementine, and honeysuckle, rounded out with peony and jasmine. Base notes are sandalwood, musk, and patchouli.
If you still want flowers, but something a little deeper and lustier, check out Britney Spears’s In Control Curious. It has loquat fruit and midnight orchid, but also adds crème brulee and vanilla to the mix, along with sandalwood and musk.
Do you like woodsy, nutty scents? For something different, try Eau de Reglisse from Caron. You’ll find anise and licorice fragrances, along with nutmeg, ginger, patchouli, vanilla, and musk. This is a limited edition fragrance.
Parfumerie Generale has also included woodsy, nutty scents in their new offerings. No. 10, inspired by southern Africa, is called Aomassai. It has scents of caramel and toasted hazelnut, along with bitter orange, licorice, incense, and balsam and wengue woods.
Want to smell like your favorite foods? Jessica Simpson’s cosmetic line, Dessert Treats, has come out with a perfume called Hula Girl, which will transport you to the islands with its scents of coconut, mango, and banana. The line also has sweet fragrances Cupcake and Candy.
For a new take on an old favorite, try Estee Lauder’s Pure White Linen. The original White Linen came out in 1978 and has been a perennial classic. Like the original White Linen, Pure White Linen is a fruity-floral. It has notes of grapefruit, pear, rose tea, and jasmine, just to name a few. It also incorporates scents of three other fruits and at least eight other flowers, as well as hints of white cedarwood and patchouli.
Perfume - The Six Common Fragrance Groups
For men, as well as some women, finding the perfect perfume can be a stressful, time-consuming experience. . If you familiarize yourself with the six basic fragrance groups, you will not only save time, but also make your shopping experience more enjoyable. The following paragraphs will discuss the six common fragrance groups when it comes to perfume in order to assist you in finding the right perfume with more ease.
The floral category is the largest and most popular scent for perfumes. These scents are made mainly from different varieties of flowers. These varieties include roses, orange blossoms, vanilla and jasmine. Other flowers are also used, including different varieties of lilies and orchids.
The oriental category of perfume scents represents a relatively large group of scents, as well. These scents include heavy mixtures of spices, balsams, resins, and amber helping to suggest a warm, exotic sensation. This category is very popular during wintertime, and colder months of the year because of its heavy, musky traits.
The citrus category of perfume scents are derived from different fruits. These fruits can include lime, lemon tangerine and mandarin
This often creates a tangy aroma women find refreshing, as well as uplifting. This category of perfume scent is most popular during warm months.
This category of perfume scents was given its name by the French. It tends to create a strong feeling and are made from many different wood-moss mixes. These are often earthly aromas, such as oak moss, bergamot and other types of wood and wood moss
Perfumes falling in the Chypre category of sent are most generally strong, earthly scents.
Although it can be hard to describe the scent of a color, this is a real category of perfume scents. Perfumes falling into this category of scents tend to be sharp, outdoor scents. This includes the scents of pine, juniper, leaves and herbs
Lavender and cocoa are also examples of green scents.
The Fougere category of perfume scents is most common among men. These aromas are usually created from herbs and mossy ferns. Perfumes that fall into this category normally come together in a very sophisticated style. While men typically where scents that fall into this category, there are popular perfumes for women that fall into this category as well.
Most every fragrance retailer will make you think their perfume is a totally new scent, all scents are likely to fall into one of these six categories.
The floral category is the largest and most popular scent for perfumes. These scents are made mainly from different varieties of flowers. These varieties include roses, orange blossoms, vanilla and jasmine. Other flowers are also used, including different varieties of lilies and orchids.
The oriental category of perfume scents represents a relatively large group of scents, as well. These scents include heavy mixtures of spices, balsams, resins, and amber helping to suggest a warm, exotic sensation. This category is very popular during wintertime, and colder months of the year because of its heavy, musky traits.
The citrus category of perfume scents are derived from different fruits. These fruits can include lime, lemon tangerine and mandarin
This often creates a tangy aroma women find refreshing, as well as uplifting. This category of perfume scent is most popular during warm months.
This category of perfume scents was given its name by the French. It tends to create a strong feeling and are made from many different wood-moss mixes. These are often earthly aromas, such as oak moss, bergamot and other types of wood and wood moss
Perfumes falling in the Chypre category of sent are most generally strong, earthly scents.
Although it can be hard to describe the scent of a color, this is a real category of perfume scents. Perfumes falling into this category of scents tend to be sharp, outdoor scents. This includes the scents of pine, juniper, leaves and herbs
Lavender and cocoa are also examples of green scents.
The Fougere category of perfume scents is most common among men. These aromas are usually created from herbs and mossy ferns. Perfumes that fall into this category normally come together in a very sophisticated style. While men typically where scents that fall into this category, there are popular perfumes for women that fall into this category as well.
Most every fragrance retailer will make you think their perfume is a totally new scent, all scents are likely to fall into one of these six categories.
Secrets of Perfume Ingredients
While today's favorite fragrances come to you from a manufacturing plant, ancient perfumers used natural ingredients and traditional methods to make fragrant products. Since many of these original ingredients were also used in ancient pharmacies, even until the 18th century, perfume was widely regarded as an antiseptic and even medicine as much as a cosmetic.
Mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts, frankincense and myrrh were substances so valuable they rivaled even gold. Frankincense is a resin from a gum tree that is produced in shapes called "tears" when the bark of the scraggly Boswallia tree is disturbed. These trees are rare and grow mainly in arid Middle Eastern lands and require hand-harvesting, contributing to their exorbitant price.
Today, a fragrant product that uses frankincense is Love Butter by Carol's Daughter.
Myrrh, called a "bitter perfume" in the Christmas Carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are," is also used today. Myrrh is a gum resin produced from a bush-like desert plant. In Arabic, the name Myrrh means "bitter" and this burnt orange looking substance does indeed have a strong, bitter aroma. Originally used as incense, today Yves St. Laurent's Opium and Rage of the Seven Sinful Scents by Gendarme list myrrh as an ingredient.
Patchouli and sandalwood are both aromatic woods that come from Asia. Patchouli is grown in the East and West Indies while sandalwood comes from Nepal (about the farthest North it grows), India, Hawaii and Australia. While synthetics are often used today for these endangered woods, they have both been around for millennia as fragrance ingredients and have been prized for their healing properties.
The best-known patchouli scent on the market right now by far is Thierry Mugler's Angel. Mugler is a French perfumist and his unique Angel perfume is one of those love-it-or-hate-it kind of scents.
Sandalwood is used in aromatherapy and also does double-duty in the perfume world since it can serve as a fixative or anchor to other scents. Sandalwood has never really gone out of style. Today it's in lots of scents, including Dior Addict by Dior, Escada Magnetism, Hanae Mori Butterly, and the Cartier scent Delices de Cartier.
Amber has got to be one of the most surprising and unusual things that is put into perfume. People who hear that a perfume contains amber typically think of the golden resin used to make jewelry. Actually, that amber is not used in perfume making.
This amber is a short (and nicer-sounding) term for ambergris. Ambergris could be picked up along the coastline and was harvested this way for hundreds of years. It was a gray substance that beachcombers could pick up and sell to factories that used it for a variety of products. Since it had a very distinctive aroma, it was used in perfumery. Ambergris did not smell wonderful by itself, but it blended well with other ingredients and became a staple in perfume-making even before people knew what it was.
Even today, we don't really know what ambergris is, and perhaps we don't want to know. Sometime in the 19th century, it was known that this mysterious gray substance, which unpredictably appeared on the beaches of North America and other places, was associated with sperm whales. Today, it is thought that ambergris is a substance that sperm whales regurgitate after dining on their favorite meal of squid.
Be that as it may, amber in perfume today is synthetic stuff, made to mimic the scent of the original ambergris. Amber is found in Dolce and Gabbana's Light Blue, Vera Wang Princess, and Stella by Stella McCartney, to name a few.
As much as perfume relies on ancient ingredients, including plants (lavender), spices (cinnamon, cloves), flowers (roses, gardenias, honeysuckle, lilies) and fruits (orange, lemon, peach), it also relies on new ingredients.
The biggest "new thing" in perfume is the fact that today we live in a global village. Flowers indigenous to exotic lands can be easily obtained and put into perfume. We can now take advantage of Eastern spices, South Pacific flowers, North American musk, and Indian woods. Of course, much of this happens at the lab level, meaning in the form of synthetics. This helps preserve natural resources and makes perfume quality more uniform.
Another interesting new wrinkle in the perfume world occurred in the 1920s with the advent of a chemical substance called aldehyde. Aldehyde is a synthetic odor molecule but unlike other synthetics, this wasn't a fake anything. Aldehyde was artificial and not meant to mimic anything natural. It has a distinctive "sparkly" quality to it and is often mixed with florals. Probably the best known aldehyde scent in the world is the perennial favorite, Chanel No. 5. The creator of Chanel No. 5, Ernst Breaux, also created Evening in Paris, a much more difficult scent to find, but another one that uses sparkling aldehyde notes.
Today, we've added to our roster of synthetics plus we've blended more and more exotic ingredients together. Technology has also allowed us to capture unusual scents in perfume-you can find perfumes today listing "ozone" as an element or "chocolate."
Mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts, frankincense and myrrh were substances so valuable they rivaled even gold. Frankincense is a resin from a gum tree that is produced in shapes called "tears" when the bark of the scraggly Boswallia tree is disturbed. These trees are rare and grow mainly in arid Middle Eastern lands and require hand-harvesting, contributing to their exorbitant price.
Today, a fragrant product that uses frankincense is Love Butter by Carol's Daughter.
Myrrh, called a "bitter perfume" in the Christmas Carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are," is also used today. Myrrh is a gum resin produced from a bush-like desert plant. In Arabic, the name Myrrh means "bitter" and this burnt orange looking substance does indeed have a strong, bitter aroma. Originally used as incense, today Yves St. Laurent's Opium and Rage of the Seven Sinful Scents by Gendarme list myrrh as an ingredient.
Patchouli and sandalwood are both aromatic woods that come from Asia. Patchouli is grown in the East and West Indies while sandalwood comes from Nepal (about the farthest North it grows), India, Hawaii and Australia. While synthetics are often used today for these endangered woods, they have both been around for millennia as fragrance ingredients and have been prized for their healing properties.
The best-known patchouli scent on the market right now by far is Thierry Mugler's Angel. Mugler is a French perfumist and his unique Angel perfume is one of those love-it-or-hate-it kind of scents.
Sandalwood is used in aromatherapy and also does double-duty in the perfume world since it can serve as a fixative or anchor to other scents. Sandalwood has never really gone out of style. Today it's in lots of scents, including Dior Addict by Dior, Escada Magnetism, Hanae Mori Butterly, and the Cartier scent Delices de Cartier.
Amber has got to be one of the most surprising and unusual things that is put into perfume. People who hear that a perfume contains amber typically think of the golden resin used to make jewelry. Actually, that amber is not used in perfume making.
This amber is a short (and nicer-sounding) term for ambergris. Ambergris could be picked up along the coastline and was harvested this way for hundreds of years. It was a gray substance that beachcombers could pick up and sell to factories that used it for a variety of products. Since it had a very distinctive aroma, it was used in perfumery. Ambergris did not smell wonderful by itself, but it blended well with other ingredients and became a staple in perfume-making even before people knew what it was.
Even today, we don't really know what ambergris is, and perhaps we don't want to know. Sometime in the 19th century, it was known that this mysterious gray substance, which unpredictably appeared on the beaches of North America and other places, was associated with sperm whales. Today, it is thought that ambergris is a substance that sperm whales regurgitate after dining on their favorite meal of squid.
Be that as it may, amber in perfume today is synthetic stuff, made to mimic the scent of the original ambergris. Amber is found in Dolce and Gabbana's Light Blue, Vera Wang Princess, and Stella by Stella McCartney, to name a few.
As much as perfume relies on ancient ingredients, including plants (lavender), spices (cinnamon, cloves), flowers (roses, gardenias, honeysuckle, lilies) and fruits (orange, lemon, peach), it also relies on new ingredients.
The biggest "new thing" in perfume is the fact that today we live in a global village. Flowers indigenous to exotic lands can be easily obtained and put into perfume. We can now take advantage of Eastern spices, South Pacific flowers, North American musk, and Indian woods. Of course, much of this happens at the lab level, meaning in the form of synthetics. This helps preserve natural resources and makes perfume quality more uniform.
Another interesting new wrinkle in the perfume world occurred in the 1920s with the advent of a chemical substance called aldehyde. Aldehyde is a synthetic odor molecule but unlike other synthetics, this wasn't a fake anything. Aldehyde was artificial and not meant to mimic anything natural. It has a distinctive "sparkly" quality to it and is often mixed with florals. Probably the best known aldehyde scent in the world is the perennial favorite, Chanel No. 5. The creator of Chanel No. 5, Ernst Breaux, also created Evening in Paris, a much more difficult scent to find, but another one that uses sparkling aldehyde notes.
Today, we've added to our roster of synthetics plus we've blended more and more exotic ingredients together. Technology has also allowed us to capture unusual scents in perfume-you can find perfumes today listing "ozone" as an element or "chocolate."
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Perfumes - The Best X’mas Gift
Perfumes are the intangible, luxurious and sensuous body fragrance products that create wonderful touch. As per the well known quote, perfumes and fragrances are elaborated as: - "If we breathe the scent of goodly grass, the fragrance of spices, the aroma of good fruits, we pronounce a blessing over the pleasure."
The quote is self-descriptive to highlight the importance of perfumes and fragrance. They not only create an enchanting aura, immense pleasure but also bestow blessings with significant incense. They have become an essential part of everybody’s life and make an ideal gift.
Perfume, available as women perfume and men cologne, is a commixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents. They create remarkable effect from giving mild mood swings to taking us to the dizzying heights of ecstasy. They are full with rich sensual fragrance that enhances your own natural powers of attraction, and creates a special chemistry between you and others.
There are various brands available like Boss Hugo perfume, Dolce gabbana perfume, Hilton Paris Perfume, Versace perfume, Armani perfume, Ralph perfume, Kenneth Cole perfume and much more, whose name just makes a difference when proffered as gift.
There are various perfume store that offers these perfumes with other celebrity endorsed and celebrity launched perfumes like Britney spear perfume, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Arden, Celine Dion perfume, Jennifer Lopez perfume that make you feel fresh and like them. These men and women fragrances are nowadays available as discounted, high quality scents, precisely named as discount perfume to glorify your charm and beauty at less cost which boosts your confidence and blow the minds of people around you by ravishing fragrances.
Even the online perfume stores maintain these rare perfume collections. One just needs to choose the right scent according to body odor, climate, occasion and preferences from their vast collection. Completely devoted to selling perfumes, the sites of these stores maintain all mandatory information that helps to choose a perfect blend. It even facilitates comparison of prices between perfumes. They also offer large savings on few fragrances, by providing testers. Easy trawling through the site, searching for the perfect scent, offered through customized service, online perfume stores caters to everybody’s fragrance need.
So if you want people to think that you are beautiful, attractive and good, then the easiest way to do it is to select the right perfume. Celebrate this Christmas with these aromas and buy these exotic gifts to present them to your loved ones and strengthen the bonds with their deep sensational fragrance.
The quote is self-descriptive to highlight the importance of perfumes and fragrance. They not only create an enchanting aura, immense pleasure but also bestow blessings with significant incense. They have become an essential part of everybody’s life and make an ideal gift.
Perfume, available as women perfume and men cologne, is a commixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents. They create remarkable effect from giving mild mood swings to taking us to the dizzying heights of ecstasy. They are full with rich sensual fragrance that enhances your own natural powers of attraction, and creates a special chemistry between you and others.
There are various brands available like Boss Hugo perfume, Dolce gabbana perfume, Hilton Paris Perfume, Versace perfume, Armani perfume, Ralph perfume, Kenneth Cole perfume and much more, whose name just makes a difference when proffered as gift.
There are various perfume store that offers these perfumes with other celebrity endorsed and celebrity launched perfumes like Britney spear perfume, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Arden, Celine Dion perfume, Jennifer Lopez perfume that make you feel fresh and like them. These men and women fragrances are nowadays available as discounted, high quality scents, precisely named as discount perfume to glorify your charm and beauty at less cost which boosts your confidence and blow the minds of people around you by ravishing fragrances.
Even the online perfume stores maintain these rare perfume collections. One just needs to choose the right scent according to body odor, climate, occasion and preferences from their vast collection. Completely devoted to selling perfumes, the sites of these stores maintain all mandatory information that helps to choose a perfect blend. It even facilitates comparison of prices between perfumes. They also offer large savings on few fragrances, by providing testers. Easy trawling through the site, searching for the perfect scent, offered through customized service, online perfume stores caters to everybody’s fragrance need.
So if you want people to think that you are beautiful, attractive and good, then the easiest way to do it is to select the right perfume. Celebrate this Christmas with these aromas and buy these exotic gifts to present them to your loved ones and strengthen the bonds with their deep sensational fragrance.
Designer Perfume Fragrances
How Perfume Is Made Today
Perfume is a scented liquid worn on the skin to impart a pleasant odor. Perfume is made up of animal and plant-based aromatic compounds, dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and water. Perfume is the most highly concentrated form of fragrance. The ratio of alcohol to scent determines whether the perfume is "eau de toilette" (toilet water) or cologne.
Perfume - The Sensuous, Long-Lasting Fragrance
To be termed a "true" or "real" perfume, a fragrance must contain at least 15 pure or 190 proof) through a process known as maceration. The concentration of fragrance oils and alcohol are then combined in stainless steel vats for a period of weeks, sometimes months, allowing the molecules of the plants to blend together.
Both cologne and discount perfume that have blends of floral and citrus-based fragrances are recommended for casual and daywear. Spicy, woody or warm amber-based fragrances are traditionally favorites for evening and special occasions.
Conclusion: What Perfume Should You Choose?
There are several categories of fragrances available today: perfume is most concentrated, followed by eau de parfum, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne, each containing a lesser degree of aromatic oils, respectively. Pure perfume is rarely sold, since it is prohibitively expensive and too easy to 'overdo'. With so many different fragrances to choose from, you'll find the right scent that uplifts your senses.
The healthiest perfume are therapeutic-grade essential oils - they are unadulterated, not mixed with additives, and 100% pure. Most of all, they are certain not to harm animals, because they are derived solely of plant materials without the use of stabilizing agents scraped from tormented animals!
They are followed by natural fragrance extracts in an alcohol base. The alcohol destroys the healing power of the live essence (essential oil), but the fragrance oils smell nice. Last but most common today are the synthetic fragrances. They cannot be discerned from true natural scents, are much cheaper to produce, and are added to all the common "aromatherapy" products on the market today like room fresheners, scented toilet cleaners, and of course perfume. They may cause headache to unsuspected and sensitive users.
Looking for a safe, healing, uplifting and environmental conscious perfume: They are kind and safe to wear, and clarify and magnetize the aura of the wearer.
Perfume is a scented liquid worn on the skin to impart a pleasant odor. Perfume is made up of animal and plant-based aromatic compounds, dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and water. Perfume is the most highly concentrated form of fragrance. The ratio of alcohol to scent determines whether the perfume is "eau de toilette" (toilet water) or cologne.
Perfume - The Sensuous, Long-Lasting Fragrance
To be termed a "true" or "real" perfume, a fragrance must contain at least 15 pure or 190 proof) through a process known as maceration. The concentration of fragrance oils and alcohol are then combined in stainless steel vats for a period of weeks, sometimes months, allowing the molecules of the plants to blend together.
Both cologne and discount perfume that have blends of floral and citrus-based fragrances are recommended for casual and daywear. Spicy, woody or warm amber-based fragrances are traditionally favorites for evening and special occasions.
Conclusion: What Perfume Should You Choose?
There are several categories of fragrances available today: perfume is most concentrated, followed by eau de parfum, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne, each containing a lesser degree of aromatic oils, respectively. Pure perfume is rarely sold, since it is prohibitively expensive and too easy to 'overdo'. With so many different fragrances to choose from, you'll find the right scent that uplifts your senses.
The healthiest perfume are therapeutic-grade essential oils - they are unadulterated, not mixed with additives, and 100% pure. Most of all, they are certain not to harm animals, because they are derived solely of plant materials without the use of stabilizing agents scraped from tormented animals!
They are followed by natural fragrance extracts in an alcohol base. The alcohol destroys the healing power of the live essence (essential oil), but the fragrance oils smell nice. Last but most common today are the synthetic fragrances. They cannot be discerned from true natural scents, are much cheaper to produce, and are added to all the common "aromatherapy" products on the market today like room fresheners, scented toilet cleaners, and of course perfume. They may cause headache to unsuspected and sensitive users.
Looking for a safe, healing, uplifting and environmental conscious perfume: They are kind and safe to wear, and clarify and magnetize the aura of the wearer.
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