How is perfume created

The Persians dominated the perfume trade for centuries, most likely due to their new methodology at the time. Making a perfume involves collecting ingredients, extracting oils, blending, aging and quality control.

Almost like a fine wine, a lot of work and time go into producing a perfume. Of course, the techniques and mixtures have been finetuned and perfected by scientists and other professionals, but some procedures are very similar to their early counterparts. Many perfumes are made by extracting scented oil from natural ingredients. These ingredients can include various plants, fruits, woods and even animal secretions. Other resources like alcohol, coal, tars and petrochemicals can be used during the manufacturing process.

Natural ingredients must have their oils extracted in order to create a perfume or cologne. Essential oil extraction can be done several ways: Oils can be obtained through solvent extraction, steam distillation, expression, enfleurage a process that squeezes out the oils or maceration.

This method is performed by putting plants into big, rotating drums. The plants are then covered with petroleum ether or benzene. The plant parts eventually dissolve in whatever solvent is used, leaving a waxy substance that contains the oils.

This substance is then placed in ethyl alcohol. The oil dissolves in the alcohol, which is then burned off, leaving a highly concentrated perfume oil. With steam distillation , the natural materials are placed in a still. The materials sit in the still until they are extracted. The resulting substance is then passed through tubes, where it is cooled and then liquefied.

In addition to steaming, oils can also be extracted from plant materials by boiling in water. As one of the oldest forms of extraction, the expression method is quite simple. This process, often used for extracting citrus oils, involves pressing the plant, either mechanically or manually, until all of the oils are extracted.

In the process of enfleurage , large glass sheets are coated with grease and the flowers or other plant material are spread across them. The glass sheets are then placed in tiers between wooden frames. The flowers are then moved by hand and replaced until the grease is able to absorb the fragrance.

The process of maceration is similar to enfleurage however warmed up fats are used to soak up the fragrance as opposed to grease. The fats then have to be dissolved in alcohol so that the essential oils can be obtained.

The process of creating a scent begins after the essential oils are extracted and collected. Once all the ingredients have been chosen, they need to be blended together.

Many of these formulas were carefully created over several years and often include hundreds of different ingredients. As we mentioned before, some perfume ingredients come from plants and some are animal products. For example, castor comes from beavers, musk from male deer and ambergris from the sperm whale.

Animal substances are often used as fixatives that enable perfume to evaporate slowly and emit odors longer. Other fixatives include coal tar, mosses, resins or synthetic chemicals. Alcohol and sometimes water are used to dilute ingredients in perfumes. The more essential oil, the stronger and more expensive the perfume is. Eau de parfum will have a lower concentration of alcohol while body mists will have a much higher concentration of alcohol. High quality and pure perfumes are often aged for months or potentially even years after the scent has been blended.

In the first method, steam passing through the plant material turns the essential oil into gas, which is then passed through tubes, cooled and liquefied.

In the boiling process, oils can be extracted by boiling flower petals in water. In the case of solvent extraction, flowers are placed in large rotating tanks and benzene or petroleum ether is poured over them, which extracts the essential oils. This causes the parts of the flower to dissolve and leave in their wake a waxy material, which contains the oil, which is then placed in ethyl alcohol. The oil rises after it dissolves in alcohol, and heat is then applied to evaporate the alcohol.

This leaves a high concentration of perfume oil on the bottom of the tanks. The enfleurage method of extracting essential oils is both costly and labor-intensive.

It entails spreading flowers out on grease-coated glass sheets and then carefully placing them in tiers between wooden frames. The glass sheets are covered with highly purified and odorless vegetable or animal fat. The petals of the flowers that are being extracted are spread all across the plates of glass and pressed in. The petals can remain within the greasy mixture for as long as a few weeks, at which point they are then removed by hand and replaced with fresh petals.

This process is usually repeated several times before complete saturation of the essence can occur. Maceration extracts essential oils in a process that is very similar to enfleurage except that warmed fats are used to soak up the flower fragrance.

The essential oils are derived from the grease and fats that are dissolved in alcohol. The easiest and oldest method of oil extraction is expression. This process for collecting essential oils is the most economically feasible and it is achieved by pressing, squeezing or compressing peels of citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges. Due to the large amount of oil contained within citrus peels and the fact that they can be grown and harvested rather cheaply, fruit oils cost less than other essential oils.

The laborious process of perfume creation has barely begun after the essential oils are extracted and collected. They are then masterfully blended according to a specific formula. It can take years to develop a unique recipe and as many as diverse ingredients.

After the scent is finally created, it is then mixed with varying amounts of alcohol. The amount of alcohol is the determining factor as to whether the blended liquid will be a cologne, perfume, or eau de toilette. Maturing a fragrance occurs immediately after the perfume concentrate has completely diluted in alcohol, a process that may take up to a month.

Aging occurs afterwards for a period of several months to one year. It is a time in which the perfume is kept undisturbed in a cool, dark area. This allows for the permanent bonding of the alcohol and the essential oils. At the end of the allotted time, an expert is called in to test the scent, which will pass if it is now stronger than it was before the aging process began.

It is at this point that adjustments, such as additional blending, can be made. The end result for a fine perfume must be a scent that contains three distinct notes; a top note; central or heart note and a base note. An aged perfume mixture is usually cooled and filtered before it is filled into flacons. By not exposing the perfume to oxygen and keeping it in the dark at low temperatures, the damaging effects of time are greatly reduced.

Deer musk must come from deer found in Tibet and China; civet cats, bred in Ethiopia, are kept for their fatty gland secretions; beavers from Canada and the former Soviet Union are harvested for their castor. Synthetic perfumes have allowed perfumers more freedom and stability in their craft, even though natural ingredients are considered more desirable in the very finest perfumes. The use of synthetic perfumes and oils eliminates the need to extract oils from animals and removes the risk of a bad plant harvest, saving much expense and the lives of many animals.

Perfumes today are being made and used in different ways than in previous centuries. Perfumes are being manufactured more and more frequently with synthetic chemicals rather than natural oils. Less concentrated forms of perfume are also becoming increasingly popular. Combined, these factors decrease the cost of the scents, encouraging more widespread and frequent, often daily, use. Using perfume to heal, make people feel good, and improve relationships between the sexes are the new frontiers being explored by the industry.

The sense of smell is considered a right brain activity, which rules emotions, memory, and creativity. Aromatherapy—smelling oils and fragrances to cure physical and emotional problems—is being revived to help balance hormonal and body energy.

The theory behind aromatherapy states that using essential oils helps bolster the immune system when inhaled or applied topically. Smelling sweet smells also affects one's mood and can be used as a form of psychotherapy. Like aromatherapy, more research is being conducted to synthesize human perfume—that is, the body scents we produce to attract or repel other humans.

Humans, like other mammals, release pheromones to attract the opposite sex. New perfumes are being created to duplicate the effect of pheromones and stimulate sexual arousal receptors in the brain. Not only may the perfumes of the future help people cover up "bad" smells, they could improve their physical and emotional well-being as well as their sex lives. Bylinsky, Gene. Green, Timothy. Iverson, Annemarie. Lord, Shirley. Raphael, Anna. Toggle navigation.

Made How Volume 2 Perfume Perfume. Other articles you might like:. Also read article about Perfume from Wikipedia. User Contributions: 1. I am going to be making a perfume box for a GCSE project. I need to know how perfume boxes are made,,. Hi iam chemical engineer in iran. Leonard Bryan. I would like to have perfume oils made. I have two samples of Plumeria and Gardenia oils. Let me know what I should do. Thank You, Robert Crighton. Please, i want to go into perfume manufacture and i don't know how to extract oil from insects please help me