What Is Perfume Made Of?

Perfume is a chemical compound of fragrant oils, aroma blends, fixatives, and solvents that provides a pleasant or attractive smell to anyone, anything, or any space to which it is applied, either directly or through spray. This is used primarily for women who want to attract a mate or wish to smell nice for a social event.

Concentration and Composition

The concentration or composition of perfume starts with a base of perfume oils, which are natural, animal, or synthetic. These oils are watered down with a solvent that makes perfume light and applicable. Why? Pure, or undiluted, perfume oils are composed of eruptive elements that can damage the skin or cause allergic reactions, so adding solvent thins the oils and makes them less potent. The most prevalently used solvent is Ethanol.

Natural and Synthetic Aromatics:

Plant Sources: Plants are the oldest source for fragrant oils compounds in perfume, flowers and blossoms the most prevalent parts used in perfume. Other plant parts include leaves and twigs; roots, rhizomes, and bulbs; seeds; fruits; wood; barks; and lichens.

Animal Sources: Musk, from the musk sacs from the Asian musk deer; Civets, also referred Civet Musk; and fatty compounds known as Ambergris are among the most prevalent used in perfume. Others include Castoreum and Honeycomb.

Synthetic Sources: Produced through the organic synthesis of multiple chemical compounds. Calone, Linalool, Coumarin, and Terpenes are among synthetic sources used to make fragrant oils. These can create unnatural smells (or those not existent in nature) and are very valuable elements used to make perfume.

Purpose: Composing Perfumes

The reason multiple industries use perfume or fragrant compounds is to attract the customer via the olfactory system, or sense of smell, and persuade them to buy perfumes or perfume-laced products.

Brief: fragrant samples created for smell-testing by select would-be buyers. This process of smell-testing various perfume combinations—which usually extends over a long period of time--is an attempt to isolate the feeling incited by the brief. When this is achieved, the fragrance is typically modified and formulated accordingly. The perfume composition is either destined to augment other products (as a functional fragrance) or is patented and sold as a perfume (as a fine fragrance) after aging one year.

Implications: Preserving Perfumes

Fragrance compounds usually deteriorate and lose strength and cohesion if stored inappropriately for long periods of time. It is therefore wise to tightly seal such compounds in aluminum containers, and keep them away from light, heat, Oxygen, and other organic substances. For best results, these containers should be stored in a refrigerator at a temperature of around 3 to 7 degrees Celsius.

Perfume is very popular in world culture, so much so that its uses and applications continue to expand. The sense of smell is one of the most powerful and persuasive of the human senses, so it’s natural that perfume would entice us in many areas of daily living.