I wonder what the perfume is made of?! And what is its chemical engineering!! Is it the olfactory pyramid or the materials that it consists of? In this blog, we discuss everything related to this field
In all its aspects, let's set out to understand this world.
Raw materials
The perfume consists of natural and industrial raw materials, and there are about more than 1,200 natural raw materials, and every year new raw materials are discovered and sometimes removed as well, for example (the note of oak moss or birch tree has been removed recently), This is to organize them further to preserve human health and ensure plant sustainability.
There are approximately 3000-4500 industrial raw materials that are used in aromatic ingredients, and every year some of them disappear and some appear as well.
Among them, the perfume maker will choose according to his taste or capabilities, among these more than 5,000 raw materials between natural and synthetic materials in order to make his perfume. In general, natural raw materials come from flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, fruits, trees or bark.
Fragrance engineering
It is important to understand the coordination of perfume or its engineering in order to have a general perception of perfumes. All perfumes are usually based on some chords, which sometimes form the shape of the perfume or give the perfume its own character and how technically it is called (perfume spirit). On the basis of which the fragrance is classified in the olfactory family. A perfume can have several different features (woody, floral, chypre,....) and this depends on the perfumer's construction and making the perfume's architecture more complex.
flowers
A very rich record is divided into categories of flowers:
- Powder flowers: mimosa, violet, iris root, heliotrope.
- White flowers: jasmine, magnolia, gardenia, tuberose.
- Spring flowers such as lily of the valley, lilacs, honeysuckle.
- Solar flowers: ylang-ylang, frangipani (Indian musk), tiare flower.
- Spicy flowers: carnation flower, immortelle flower
Some of these flowers carry their own scent, while others do not, such as (violet roses) that do not carry a scent. The perfumer will reproduce the scent and compose it using natural and synthetic raw materials in order to reproduce the scent of this flower as closely as possible.
Aromatic herbs
Some plants are often used in cooking, as they add flavor and aroma.
There are 3 subsections
1. Ingredients of lavender:
- lavender.
- lavandin.
- Hyssop (David's teeth).
- bay leaf;
- zaatar.
- Rosemary.
2. Ingredients of anise:
- anise.
- tarragon.
- basil.
3. Mint Ingredients:
- catnip;
- Curly mint.
wooden components
There are natural woody notes, such as:
- Sandalwood.
- pine.
- patchouli.
- Oud wood
- Vetiver.
- Cypress.
- Kayak wood.
- Pine.
There are also many industrial molecules that bear the woody smell, including (Javanol, Clearwood, ..).
fruity notes
Some of them are natural, others do not exist, and they exist in reproduction or synthesis.
There are different categories of fruit:
- Citrus fruits (orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, ..).
- Red fruits: raspberries, strawberries, black currants, blackberries, blueberries.
- Yellow fruits: peach, apricot, plum.
- Exotic fruits: pineapple, mango, and passion fruit.
- Juicy fruits: pears, apples.
Notes Some flowers like osmanthus, for example, or wormwood (Davana) can bring a fruity note.
spice ingredients
There are many natural spicy notes, which can be divided into two categories:
1. Fresh spices
- Cardamom
- Pepper
- ginger
2. Hot spices
- cinnamon
- saffron
- Nutmeg
- cloves
Some floral components, such as immortelle, can bring a spicy effect
Gums and resins
Also called balsamic components, they contribute to the amber or oriental scent, giving the scent a softness and a beautiful harmony as well as sometimes adding a mysterious touch to the composition of the perfume:
- incense
- bitter
- Gooseberry gum
- Frankincense
- Benzoin (Frankincense).
animal ingredients
Natural animal ingredients:
- musk
- beaver musk
- Civet musk
- beeswax
- Lint catch
- amber whale
Only amber, musk and beeswax are allowed in the perfume industry. Musk deer is internationally prohibited.
Notes of some natural raw materials such as: labdanum, costus, jasmine can bring animal hints to the aromatic composition. Some synthetic musks also have an animal hint.
Olfactive facets
The language of perfumes borrows some vocabulary from gemology, meaning that sometimes a scent has several facets but carries the same features and often related ingredients.
Example: Citrus facets, a mixture of bergamot, orange, mandarin orange, lemon, etc., all share a fruity, refreshing note.
From the top ingredients to the base ingredients, here are the different sides:
acid side
marine side
aldehyde side
Aromatic refreshing side
Aromatic and papery side
greener side
pink side
solar side
fruity side
Spicy side
wooden side
Chypre side
east side
Sweet side
musky side
powdery side
Accord
Accord is a mixture of ingredients that have nothing to do with each other, for example: Violet component + Bergamot component + Jasmine component = Tea component.
The main accords in the perfume industry: oriental accord, chypre, fern, ...etc. These accords gave birth to great perfume families that we are witnessing today, known as perfume families.
Aromatic families
Whether it's feminine or masculine, here are the different fragrance families we can identify:
- chipper
- citrus fruits
- Pink
- Oriental
- wooden
- fougere
