A perfume is a carefully proportioned and scientifically concocted mixture of solvents, essential oils, fixatives and compounds of aroma. Perfumery, or the precise art of making perfumes, began in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but it was the Persians and Romans who cultivated this art. The word itself is derived from “per fumum”, a Latin word that means “with smoke” and eau de parfum was first known to have been made in 2000 BC. In those days, everything except for flowers was used to make perfumes, for example almonds, myrtle, spices and herbs.
Using flowers to distil and extract oils is a relatively modern process. However, the exact process and measurement of ingredients is still a highly guarded secret. It was discovered by a Persian doctor, Avicenna, and then introduced to Europe in the 1300s. During the Renaissance, France took leadership in this field and has retained it to this day. Back then eau de parfum was used to keep body odour in check because the practice of taking regular baths was not very common. However, only the very wealthy could afford perfume.
Basically, eau de parfum is made when essential oils are diluted with ethanol and water. Sometimes, coconut oil, coconut wax or jojoba can also be used to dilute the oils. The exact proportion of the oils used differs from one perfume house to another and that also determines the difference between eau de perfum, eau de toilette and eau de cologne.
Other than this classification, eau de parfum can also be classified according to the fragrance. A perfume can have a single dominant floral scent or a floral bouquet that can be a mix of various fragrances. For instance, Ambery is a fragrance class with a mix of vanilla, flowers, woods and animal scents. Woody fragrances are dominated by woody scents like sandalwood and cedar. Modern perfumes now contain a mix of these fragrances creating hybrids that are a great commercial success. This necessitated the creation of the fragrance wheel according to how eau de parfum is classified. The five basic fragrance families are Oriental, Floral, Woody, Fresh and Fougere. Eau de parfum also has other components like the three sets of top, middle and base notes, all of which combine to make up the scent.
Buy on Dealtime:
