Perfumes And Colognes

Since recorded history –and probably before—women and men have anointed themselves with scents. It has been said that Egypt’s ruling queens Cleopatra, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut had extensive vats of exotic perfumes. History also notes that during the reign of King Charles II men often carried pomanders, or “nosegays” of scents as accessories. Perfumes through the years were not only used as alluring adornments, but also to dissipate body odor; by today’s standards, personal hygiene of the past was significantly lacking!

In our time, women’s perfumes and men’s colognes are considered to be an essential part of grooming. Heady, beckoning, and elegant ladies’ perfumes can be purchased in retail stores, specialty stores that carry only fragrances, on the Internet, through catalogues, or in duty-free international airports’ shops. Every perfume is built around “notes,” or specific scents; most fine fragrances have upper (the strongest), middle and lower notes all combined to form a single perfume. The top notes may be floral, earthy, musky, grassy, or citrus-based. The great parfumiers of France immortalized top-note fragrances like Chanel #5 by the House of Coco Chanel, Je Reviens from the House of Worth, Shalimar from the House of Guerlain, and Joy from the House of Jean Patou. In fact, Joy is the most expensive perfume in the world at $100 USD for half an ounce.

Men’s fragrances are primarily musky, earthy and citrus-based. Since most men object to the notion that they wear perfume as women do, these fragrances are usually referred to as colognes. Many fine colognes come from designers of men’s clothing such as Ralph Lauren, Versace, Chanel for men, Tommy Hilfiger, and Davidoff. In a recent US poll, Guerlain’s Vetiver, a citrus-based cologne, and Cool Water by Davidoff were top-ranked by men who use fragrances.

When you purchase fragrances, it helps to understand the difference between perfume and cologne, especially in women’s fragrances. Perfume is 100% fragrance-oil based, and very concentrated. Cologne, or eau de cologne, has been diluted with water; it’s smell doesn’t last nearly as long as women’s perfume. To locate fine perfumes, it’s necessary to shop in a specialty store or on-line. Much cheaper colognes are found in drug and discount stores. While a woman may lavishly spray herself with a less-costly cologne, only a small amount of perfume will endure for up to ten hours.

Even the bottling of fine perfume makes a difference in its enduring quality. Since the best perfumes are most often bottled in colored glass or crystal, they stay more fresh and retain their fragrance better than fragrances bottled in clear glass. Colored bottles prevent the essential oils in perfumes from becoming rancid. Many men and women store their fine fragrances in a cabinet to prevent too much exposure to light. Caring for the best fragrances is much like caring for fine jewelry; care must be taken to preserve your perfumes that can last many years!

The word perfume is from a Latin phrase meaning "through smoke" and was thought to have been invented by the ancient Egyptians who burned fragrant woods and plants for their pleasant odors. Over the years perfume has been used, refined and enhanced by every major civilization and today perfume as we know it is a very big business.

Today's modern perfume has three main components:

The scent - Virtually anything natural or synthetic that has an odor can be used in the making of perfume. Typically scents are made from flowers, citrus, spices, woods and sometimes even leather.

The fixative - These ingredients act to stabilize the aromatic compound and help to make the scent last longer.

The solvent - This is usually alcohol and keeps bacteria from forming and helps maintain an even consistency so it can be easily applied.

The category a fragrance belongs to is defined by how much of the scent (or aromatic compound) is used in the product. This also plays a factor in determining the price as the higher the concentration of scent the more expensive the fragrance will be:

Lotions and aftershaves generally have a 1 to 2% scent base

Eau de Cologne products are generally 2 to 3% pure scent

Eau de Toilettes run between 5 to 20% scent

Eau de Parfums will have from 10 to 30% aromatic compound in them

Perfume Extract or Parfum has the greatest concentration of scent, between 20 and 40%

Women's products are usually categorized as perfume, eau de parfum, toilet water, and cologne and for men's products are sold as perfume, cologne, and aftershave.

Surprisingly fragrances and music share a common term, notes. Perfumes are often described by the different "notes" that make up the scent. These notes are designed to emerge at different times during the scent span of a fragrance just as an orchestra will have different instruments playing throughout a musical composition.

Top Notes are the strongest scents but do not last very long. This is the initial burst of smell you get when you first take a sniff of your favorite perfume or cologne. The top notes are often spice or citrus based.

Middle (or heart notes) makes up the main part of the scent that emerges after the top notes start to fade away and are usually softer and mellower than the initial scent. These scents are usually floral in nature.

Bass notes form the foundation of the scent and are usually deep and musky in nature and emerge to blend with the middle notes not to replace them.

Fragrances are very complex products that go through many stages of development before reaching the consumer. There are tens of thousands of different perfumes and colognes available today, each one having its own unique scent signature and what once was reserved for the wealthy and privileged is now available to everyone.

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