WHAT IS PERFUME?

PERFUMES THROUGH HISTORY

 

PERFUMES THROUGH HISTORY

 

The word PERFUME comes from the Latin word per fumum, which means „through the smoke“. Perfumery, as the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia, in Egypt, and was perfected by the Romans who transferred this art to Europe.

The art of making perfumes is known in Western Europe in the period from 1221, where the monastic recipes of Santa Maria Novella from Florence, Italy are mentioned.

In the 16th century, the personal perfumer Catherine de ‘Medici, (whom she brought to the French court from her native Italy to create nostalgic perfumes for her) Renato Bianco known as Rene Florentine brought the art of perfume making to France and thanks to Rene, France became one from European centres for perfume production and flower growing for the perfume industry in the south of France.

 

CREATION OF PERFUMES

It is a creative process performed by a perfumer, who is trained and has knowledge not only of materials but most importantly techniques. This process can take a very long time and involve countless test formulas until the final perfume formula is reached. When a perfumer finalizes his formula, a perfume is made from essence, alcohol, in some perfumes both water and UV additives. It is left to age for a few months after which it is retested by the perfumer as the fragrant notes develop and it is important to create a balance between the molecules.

Technically, perfume is made from natural and synthetic raw materials. Perfume is also classified into so-called “perfume families” so that perfumes contain aspects of different perfume families. Perfumes are complex formulas and for example even though a perfume is called Jasmine it does not mean that it has only a jasmine note, on the contrary it contains various natural and synthetic components to obtain a jasmine composition that smells like a real perfume.