Perfume

See also: the Perfume (homonymy)

The word perfume appeared tardily in the French language (no mention before 1528). Derived from the verb to smoke , it initially evoked odoriferous substances which were burned, for example the Encens, then took its current direction at the 17th century. But if the word is recent, the use of the perfume is very old, going back to highest the Antiquité.

History of the perfume

Many wedge-shaped shelves show us that the use and the trade of the perfume were known as of the Sumériens. All the ancient people made a large consumption of it, in particular the Égyptiens (Alexandria had important factories). Even if it had also a profane use, it were especially used at the time of religious practices (offerings to the gods, embalming of the bodies). The techniques of production were rudimentary, and will remain it until the end of the Moyen-âge: the products were crushed, crushed, boiled, impregnated fat contents, and one used especially animal barks, resins, roots or matters being used as fixers. The high-speed motorboat was then the incense, produces initially with Oman, and which largely contributed to the creation of the kingdoms of Arabia. As example, the incense is quoted 118 times in the Bible, including 113 in the Old Testament. Are also quoted with various recoveries the cinnamome, the Acanthe, the Myrrhe, the Nard, the Aloès, the saffron or the odorous Roseau.

The trade of the perfume also made the prosperity of the cities phenicians and Greek. It is the case in particular of Cyprus, where new perfumes were put at the mode, using the flowers (pink, iris, Lys, Jasmin), or of Corinthe, which passes for the city having marketed the bottles of perfume (aryballes and alabastres).

The Romans continued to use the perfumes, but one hardly owes them of innovations, if not the replacement of the terra cotta by glass for the clothes industry of the bottles. The Christian Middle Ages hardly seem to have made use of the perfumes, if not at the time of religious ceremonies. However, after the Crusades, consumption seems to increase, in particular in the form of balls of soap and water of pink.

The great upheaval occurs at the end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with two innovations: on the one hand improvement of the Still, with a cooling system facilitating the Distillation; other the discovery of the ethanol, allowing to give to the perfume a support other than oils or greases. The first famous spirit is the Water of the Queen of Hungary (XIVe century), preparation containing Romarin and of gasoline of Térébenthine.

The perfume acquires its noble letters in Occident then. Is used it in particular to scent the Vêtement S, in particular the Gant S, the trade of perfumer being then associated with that of gantier. The town of Grasse becomes the capital of the perfume, one develops novel methods at it making it possible to better collect the gasoline of the fragile flowers. At the 18th century, one scents all, since the body to clothing and with the various accessories, in particular leathers. But it will be necessary to still wait a century to see appearing the spray.

The last revolution takes place at the end of the 19th century, with the industrial rise whose consequences are considerable: conditioning manufactured in series, appearance of the department stores and especially arrived of the first products of synthesis, dependant on the development of the Organic chemistry.

It is Aimé Guerlain, wire of the perfumer who had opened a store with Paris in 1828, which creates the first perfume with elements of synthesis in 1889. It then contains Vanilline and Coumarine. Modern perfumery was born.

Principal matters used

See also the List of the plants with cosmetic and perfume

Plants

  • Fleur S : noblest are undoubtedly the pink and the Jasmin, to which one will add the Tubéreuse and the iris, while knowing that the perfume of this last is not provided by the flower, but by the Rhizome. The other most used flowers are the Violette (which one takes especially the sheets), the Fleur of orange tree (or néroli), the mimosa, the narcisses and of course the Lavande, without forgetting the Ylang-ylang (or ylang-ylang), flower originating in the islands of the Indian Ocean. The fashion of these flowers varies according to the times. Their gasolines today are generally reconstituted more or less well, by synthetic mixtures of molecules aromatic, which largely decreases the price by them.

  • Fruit S : essentially, the fruits used in perfumery are Agrume S. They constitute an olfactive family called hespéridés , very present in eau de Cologne. One finds there the various varieties of Citron S and oranges, in particular the Lime tte and the Bergamote. The other fruits are generally products of synthesis, most frequently used being the Vanille.

  • Other vegetable matters : they are numerous, since the trees to the most modest grasses. In a tree or a shrub, one can use the bark or wood (grooves, Santal, Cèdre, Bouleau, Gaïac), or the resin (Encens, Myrrhe, benzoin, labdanum), even foams which develop on its bark (foam of the oak). For the plants, one takes them such as they are (Romarin), or one prefers their sheets (Patchouli, Verveine), their roots (Vétiver, Gingembre) or their seeds (Cardamome, Coriandre, Fève tonka).

Animal matters

Four animal gasolines are used in the clothes industry of perfumes, generally today in synthetic form bus of the lawful questions or ethics prevent or brake their employment. They play the part of fixers and meet especially in the male perfumes, at least for the three first.

  • the Musk, secretion produced by one cervidé male called chevrotin musk deer. The musk is produced by the chevrotin of Tibet to attract the female (it is a substance which can be felt with more than 1 km in the neighborhoods). To protect the species, hunting was prohibited and the musk export is severely regulated: formerly it was necessary to kill the chevrotin to recover its glands and from now on the muscs of synthesis are much less expensive.

  • the Castoreum, sébacée excretion of the beaver. Castoreum is resulting from glands located between the anus and the genitals of the beaver of Canada. This substance is an oily product which is used to waterproof the fur of the beaver.

  • the Chive, secretion of the animal of the same name. The required product is located between the anus and the genitals.

  • the Ambergris, kind of dejection resulting from the Cachalot, which wanders on the floods during long month before being collected on the beaches of the Indian Oceans or peaceful, generally.

Synthetic perfumes

One will have already included/understood it by reading the lines above, perfumery is since the end of the 19th century an art where the Chimie plays an increasingly important part. Very expensive and very difficult to get (it is the case for example animal gasolines), requiring long handling, the natural perfumes are replaced by synthetic products. This evolution is not very poetic, but it makes it possible to make that the perfume is not an inaccessible product, and in many cases it preserves the flora and fauna.

About 1830, in France, chemists (and not of the perfumers) developed for the first time of the techniques allowing the synthesis of odorous molecules. Nowadays, these synthetic molecules account for 98% of the totality of the substances used in perfumery. This percentage is explained owing to the fact that the synthesis represents many advantages. First of all, certain odors as they of the lily of the valley or the lilac could never have been extracted although the perfume which they released was more than promising. From now on, thanks to progress in the field of the organic chemistry their synthesis is possible. In addition, the manufacturing costs of the vegetable gasolines, the quantities of flowers and the difficulties of provisioning related to the climatic conditions or economic made compulsory the recourse to the molecules of synthesis. In the same way for the fragrances resulting from the secretions produced by the animals: since the appearance of their synthetic equivalents, the animal raw materials are not used almost any more for obvious reasons of protection of the animals (it should be noted that they are however not prohibited). The synthetic perfumes thus have economic advantages (since before the years the 1900 perfumes were accessible only to the easy classes), but also ecological. But in addition to copying the chemical structure of the existing molecules in nature, it makes it possible to enrich the pallet by the perfumers with completely new odors and often at the origin of business successes. Indeed, formerly, the creators in perfumery had at their disposal only 300 different odors whereas today, they have some more than 4.000 to compose their fragrances and this figure does not cease increasing!

To carry out the synthesis of a substance, it is first of all necessary to seek the components (molecules) of the odor to reproduce by employing sophisticated techniques of analysis such as the Head space Once the molecules were identified and insulated, one can reproduce them in laboratory. Two possibilities are offered to the chemists: the Hemisynthesis or the synthesis. The Hémisynthèse is a technique which makes it possible to carry out a synthesis starting from a natural molecule, drawn from a vegetable gasoline, already very near to that which one seeks and who will undergo only some transformations: it will become thus completely identical to that desired. For example for the Vanilla, the called majority odorous species active ingredient, is the Vanilline. It is present only at 2% in the pods: its extraction would thus not be enough to meet the world needs. This is why one decided to carry out the synthesis of vanillin starting from the Lignine, under product of the manufacture of paper, one thus obtains an identical molecule but 300 times less expensive. The total Synthesis, it, recreates the bodies starting from a fossil matter resulting from petrochemistry (alcohol, benzene, acids, etc) as for example the reactions of Estérification) which correspond to the action of an acid on an alcohol. A synthesis requires sometimes a whole series of chemical reactions (Estérification, Cyclization: to make a molecule linear cyclic, Hydrogenation, etc) Plus there are stages plus the finished product will be expensive.

Techniques of manufacture

One calls extraction the process which makes it possible to transform into gasoline a raw material. The examples below relate to the traditional forms of extraction, and do not take account of the chemical methods used currently.

  • the expression : practiced only with citrus fruits, it makes it possible by simple pressure to extract the gasoline contained in the bark from the fruits. The operation is accomplished today thanks to centrifugal machines.
  • distillation with the steam : the collected raw material is laid out in a still, with water which one carries to boiling. The steam transports the gasoline in a condenser, then in a separator.
  • correction : the gasolines obtained by distillation are sometimes purified by vacuum correction, proceeded at low more respectful temperature of the fragile matters.
  • the enfleurage hot : used with petals of flowers not too fragile (pink, Narcisse), it consists in plunging them in a bath of animal grease which one makes heat on several occasions. When the flowers gave all their gasoline, they are thrown and replaced by others, until obtaining a sufficiently saturated grease. Grease is then washed with alcohol, until obtaining the gasoline known as absolute .
  • the enfleurage cold : used when the flowers are too fragile (jasmine, tuberose). The principle is the same one as for the enfleurage hot, but the petals are laid out on drawers filled with cold grease. The enfleurage is not practiced any more today this way.
  • the solvent extraction : is done using volatile solvents (ether of oil, hexane, Benzène, this last being used more today) followed in general by an extraction to the ethanol.
  • the maceration : practiced to obtain the animal gasolines, it consists in letting macerate the raw material in alcohol.

Once the various gasolines obtained, it is with the Parfumeur that it will be advisable to mix them, by scientists proportionings whose only the secrecy has to him. Then the perfume obtained will be mingled with an excipient, in theory of alcohol, with a more or less strong concentration according to the product which one wants to obtain.

Olfactive families

The perfumes are traditionally classified in seven olfactive big families, whose names can vary according to the modes:

  • the floral are elaborate around one or several floral scents. When olfactive impression is founded on only one flower, one speaks about soliflores (it is the case of Diorissimo with the lily of the valley).
  • the chyprés train a family born after the creation of the perfume Cyprus into 1917 of François Coty. They are built on a bergamot-pink-jasmine-foam agreement of oak-patchouli-labdanum.
  • the ferns are built on an alliance of lavender, géranium, vetiver, coumarin, foam of oak, at the base of many male toilet waters. Jicky in 1889 created by Guerlain was one of the founding fathers of the agreement, but it is For a Man of Charon which meets a popular success since 1934.
  • the leathers , also very male, feel honey, the tobacco and the birch.
  • the wooded are dominated by the Santal, the Patchouli and the Cèdre.
  • the Eastern are dominated by a mixture of Vanille, and resins such as the opopanax, the 1st “Eastern” perfume was Shalimar in 1925.
  • the hespéridés is built containing citrus fruits peels, and constitutes in theory dominant eau de Cologne.

Description of a perfume

It is impossible to describe a perfume by making the list of its components, on the one hand because those are often very numerous, other because the perfumer (in spite of certain pressures of the European Union) is not held to communicate this list with the public. On the other hand, it is possible to classify a perfume according to its olfactive family, and to describe it according to the notes which appear during its use. These notes olfactive differentiate in notes from head (those which is related to the first olfactive impression and is most volatile), notes of heart (those which constitute the heart of the perfume and remain during several hours), and finally basic notes (those which persist a long time after the perfume was vaporized and who can remain months on a clothing).

As example, here the description of the perfume Coconut of Chanel (source: http://senteurs.free.fr):

Classification by rate of concentration

There are perfumes for all the purses, the variable prices according to the reputation of the product, but also according to the rate of concentration of the perfume itself in the excipient:

  • the water of solid (EdS) (launched in 1994) to approximately 1%.
  • the light water are proportioned , on aqueous excipient, contain only approximately 4% of concentrate.
  • the eau de Cologne (EdC) (launched in 1709) are proportioned to approximately 7%.
  • the toilet waters , (EdT) contain approximately 12% of concentrate.
  • the perfume sprays , (EdP) much more expensive, reach a rate of concentration of 18%
  • As from 20%, one enters the field of the extracted , whose prices are often inaccessible. The rate of concentration can reach 40% in the case of particularly prestigious perfumes.

Famous perfumes and perfumers

History

Some perfumers marked their time, and sometimes the history of perfumery:

In 1709, Jean Marie Farina founds the house of perfume, Farina gegenüber with Cologne which is today the oldest house of perfume of the world. It calls its new perfume Eau de Cologne in honor of its city. It makes Cologne famous in the whole world as a city of the perfume.

Another major actors in the history of the perfume: the family members Guerlain, whose dynasty starts with Pierre-François Guerlain, which opens a perfumery with Paris in 1828. In 1853, the Guerlain house creates the Water of the Empress , and becomes the first supplier of Napoleon III. But the most important date is undoubtedly 1889, year when Aimé Guerlain creates Jicky, regarded as the first large French perfume, the first combining natural gasolines and gasolines of synthesis. Will follow the creation of a perfume intended for the men, Mouchoir of Mister (1904) composed by Jacques Guerlain at one time when the man is still very restive with the perfume. Another great success of Jacques Guerlain, Shalimar creates in (1925) often copied but ever equalized.

Let us quote also another large “independent” perfumer, François Coty, especially known for Cyprus (1917), a perfume of such a fame that it will give rise to an olfactive family. One owes in François Coty a certain number of innovations in marketing: creation of a product range derived starting from a perfume (lipstick, face powder…); creation of prestigious bottles produced by the most famous houses, in particular Lalique.

Otherwise, the geniuses of perfumery, also called “nose”, remain much less known than the perfumes than they created. It is with Ernest Beaux that one owes the n°5 of Chanel. Edmond Roudnitska created for Dior Diorissimo and Wild Eau . Henri Alméras composed for Jean Patou Joy (1929), launched at the time as being the perfume expensive of the world.

It is noticed that these famous “noses” are always men. Since a few tens of years, one however sees appearing the parfumeuses ones of reputation, in particular Sophia Grosjman or, more recently, Sophie Labbé and Olivia Giacobetti.

The nose

It is the nickname by which one appoints the creators of perfumes. In the beginning, the perfumers were craftsmen who lived exclusively of their art, such Jean Marie Farina, François Coty or the family Guerlain. But the 20th century saw appearing perfumes related to the designers houses, of which the most famous remainder the N°5 from Chanel. With the wire of time, the perfumers were erased increasingly powerful marks behind and became people receiving benefits with the service of the prestigious claw for which they create, but to which they are not exclusively any more attached. Today and with rare exceptions (Chanel, Guerlain, Patou, Hermes, Cartier has all the five their clean “noses”), the perfumers are paid international chemical groups. If the companies of perfumers were historically located at Grasse like French Mane, largest of them are today Suisse S like the Genevese Firmenich and American Givaudan or like the company IF. When a mark decides to launch a new perfume, the perfumers are put in competition the ones against the others. With final and after multiple tests and tests near the consumers, only one perfume finally will be retained and launched on the market, bearing the name of the mark and either that of its creator.

Groups and their marks

Famous perfumes classified per year of creation

See also the List of the perfumes

Museums of the perfume or perfumery

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • Bibliography specialized on the perfume: more than 900 works are presented there!

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