PERFUME: LIQUID LUXURY
A SYMPHONY OF ENCAPSULATED FRAGRANCES
CONTEXT
I shall refer to all types of skin fragrances as “perfume”, though they fall under the following categories in proportion to the concentration of their content, and the duration of their fragrance.
Concentration Duration
Parfum 15–20% Up to 8 hours
Eau de Parfum 10–15% 6–8 hours
Eau de Toilette 5–10% 4–6 hours
Eau de Cologne 2–4% 2–3 hours
Eau Fraiche 1–3% Less than 2 hours
The impact and duration of a fragrance depend on the individual skin’s reaction to its content. A perfume desired on someone else may react differently on our particular skin and may not emanate the same impact, differentiated by perspiration. It is therefore important to test a desired perfume for a day and observe its progressive change on the skin when it dries. The season also matters. In a cold climate, perfume tends to last longer and smell better.
Perfume is compared to a woman, both are sensitive and volatile. During the day its scent changes, just as it changes during different seasons and according to skin types. The secret is to select one that suits your particular skin thereby identifying with it.
I have been using Jacques Fath’s Green Water during the day, for 40 years! I am 69. Since 1984 when I could afford perfumes, I tried a whole gamut in an effort to determine my choice. Depending on the evening occasions I swing between J.P. Gaultier or Chanel’s-Allure and my authentic and №1 choice, Cerrutti-1881.
MEMORIES
Fragrances evoke lifelong memories. Don’t you have scents from childhood that remind you of particular settings or persons? I do. The leather upholstery in the Jaguars and Benz’s of the 1950s. The smell of cocoa beans on the back of a truck. My father’s after-shave lotion. My grandmother’s Eau de Parfum.
At 5, in 1960, I insisted on having my fragrance. It was “Florida Water”. I made it conditional that whenever they wanted to put me to bed early, they had to rub my back with it to sleep. In those days, curfew was 6 p.m., and bedtime was 7 p.m. Unbeknown to me, it had a richer recipe in those days, and that citrus ingredient influenced my choice of perfumes through my teenage years and anchored my choice to this day. Nevertheless, it was my original choice, my signature.
The flip side is that scents may also evoke unpleasant emotions reminding us of undesirable circumstances.
CREATIVITY
Imagine encapsulating a rich symphony of fragrances in a bottle and experiencing the poetry of its diverse and exotic ingredients from spicy, to floral, woody, fruity, etc. It is in itself a trip around the world. It is the interaction of the fauna and flora, farmers, traders, and technicians, from the forest floors to the crystal glass blowers, through the laboratories into its container. Before picking it off a shelf, the course from conceptualization to creation may have taken a few years. The Chef Parfumeur is the artist, the poet, the conductor, and the ultimate creator.
In the process, there are many meetings, endless communication, continuous trials, and sample bottles that may never see the light of day. The creator who kills all his ‘babies’ is in pursuit of ultimate perfection within the limited resources and ingredients available. He seeks to impact the user who enthusiastically breaks the seal of his perfume, to be impacted by its fragrance, fusing his senses with his emotions, and running his imagination away into an instant world of romantic fantasy.
Considering there are over 500 primary raw materials at his disposition, his countless trials require patience and persistence to observe their interaction over the course of time. Failure is not an option, and technical expertise is not the only key. To obtain specific scents, one has to resort to synthetic fragrances or a blend of animal and plant extracts. Such an example is Civet, previously extracted from the anal glands of the wild civet cats of Ethiopian origin. It is now replaced by the synthetic product Civettone, composed of a mixture of plant-based natural materials that gives off an animal-like scent.
Luxurious Maisons de Parfums like Guerlain, for example, have a generational history of tradition and reputation, and consequently establish a historical relationship with their clientele. Consistency in quality and conformity to the finest ingredients are immutable rules of the establishment. Neither the content, packaging nor the color changes over time. These traditional perfumes maintain a high profile and are only sold through exclusive outlets, in conformity with their image.
French families of repute have a tradition that whenever their daughters attain puberty, she is traditionally taken to Guerlain to formulate a bespoke perfume that is unique to her personality and lifestyle. This preserved heritage ensures that these young ladies become lifelong clients however little the formula is modified over time, it is archived.
Contemporary perfumes are more accessible in price and appeal to a larger market, usually, they are accessories of clothing brands to build loyalty. With every younger generation, a trendier theme is conceived that appeals to their taste, around which the painstaking process of conception, trials, feedback, and massive marketing is launched. They have a wider sales outlet that goes as far as supermarket chains. Like all brands, there is no room for error which may result in landing them in supermarket baskets on promotion at discounted prices and that will be very difficult to recover from. These perfumes are more “diluted” to be more accessible in price to larger audiences. The likes of CK (Calvin Klein). But who would wear supermarket perfume with an expensive outfit like an Armani, for an important occasion? They clash and it is not class.
Body perfumes-come-deodorants have become very trendy and suitable for our fast-paced daily lives. They are usually fresh and ideally applied during the day. The likes of Axe/Linux.
HISTORY
For centuries, perfumes existed in the ancient civilizations of Asia. They only became known in the West through the Greek and Roman conquests of the East. They gained prominence in the West through awareness of their lack of hygiene during the Middle Ages as a result of the Great (Bubonic) Plague.
A cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia dating over 3,000 years BC, identifies a woman named Tapputi-Belatekallim as the first recorded perfume maker. Simultaneously in India, the floral tradition gave rise to fragrances. Today, the city of Kanauji, in the northern part of Uttar Pradesh, has a long-standing tradition of perfume manufacturing, and it is often referred to as the “Grasse of the East.” (The original Grasse is in southern France, the global center of the perfume industry.)
In China, as early as 2,000 BC, it was habitual to burn incense for purification and honor. It was common for the noble and wealthy to carry around colorful silk pouches containing herbs, spices, incense, and petals, which were often decorated with silver or gold beads symbolic of their social status.
Between the 11th and 16th centuries BC, Egypt was at its most prosperous period. King Tutankhamun built the Temple of Luxor at Thebes and perfumed headwear was introduced for the noble and wealthy, each with his recipe and buried with them at death, as a signature of their identity. Fragrances were considered the divine perspiration of Ra, the Sun God, and the most supreme of all their deities. But Nefertem was the god of perfume, representing the lotus blossom (an expensive source of perfume). The lotus and frankincense were used as base notes for perfume recipes, as well as for medicinal purposes. They were soaked in olive oil with other ingredients including henna, roses, cinnamon, and the water lily, amongst others.
The oldest Mediterranean factory for perfumes was in Cyprus. They manufactured scents for the Roman temples at the height of the empire and exported over 3,000mt per year. With olive oil and Frankincense as base ingredients, cypress, almond, sweet marjoram, spices, woods, plants, flowers, and pomegranate rinds were added to the array of scented ingredients used. The Romans more than the Greeks, were particularly fond of scents for all purposes in their temples and homes, for rituals and festivities, from baths and beauty rituals to applying them on the soles of their feet.
Darius the Great of the Persian Empire, contributed to the development of perfumes by embarking on the plantation of floral, herbal, and spicy ingredients. Iben Sina, commonly known in the West as Avicenna, was a preeminent philosopher and scientist. He is best known for his Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia, and pioneered the science of distillation, forming the foundation for perfume oils and fragrances. This association of their fragrant and medicinal properties supplied the rising demand in Europe.
Eastern Europeans were the first to adopt the traditions of Western Asia, which were later developed and promoted by the Venetians (attributed to Phoenicians) who were the biggest traders in Europe at the time. Perfumes were initially used for medicinal purposes and as disinfectants. They gained prominence during the most fatal pandemic in human history, the Bubonic Plague/Black Death (1346–1353) which ravaged 50% of the European population. The Yersinia Pestis Bacterium was spread by fleas on people coming into contact with each other.
During this period, people wore all sorts of scented accessories around their necks and in their pockets in an attempt to ward off the bacteria. One such popular accessory was a small round container of porcelain, wood, or metal that contained a concoction of spices, incense, and herbs.
In the 16th century AD, Catherine Sforza de Medici (Florentine) who became the wife of Henry II of France, was the first writer to ever document perfume waters, recipes for cosmetics, and natural remedies in her book “Experimenti”. This projected Florence to the forefront of the perfume industry. In France, Renato Bianco became her official French court perfumer and together they promoted the fashion of scented hand gloves as the French nobility’s status symbol. During this Renaissance period, the entourage of Queen Catherine de Medici ordered gloves, handbags, and belts from the manufacturers in Grasse to match the new fashion flow from Italy. In 1614, the king recognized the new corporation of “glovers-perfumers”.
By the mid-18th century AD, perfumery was experiencing an important development. The Florentine Giovanni Maria Farina, an Italian perfumier living in Cologne, Germany launched the first European perfume known as Eau de Cologne. This French name was coined and promoted within the nobility and affluent of Europe who spoke in French within their society, la langue des Salons.
In the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte (of the French Revolution) used about 3 bottles of 75ml of perfume daily. His choice was Chardin’s Eau de Cologne, “Aqua Mirabilis”. His faithful servant, Mamluk Ali, created a perfume specifically for him. The most authentic modern version of this perfume is Napoleon I-St. Helena. It is said that he even consumed it orally.
Grasse is the center of the French perfume industry, and known as the world’s perfume capital. It is located high up in the hills of Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur and benefits from an exceptional micro-climate. Its landscape is overflowing with fields of herbs and flowers. It is a storehouse of 4 centuries of knowledge in the sector, where natural and essential oils were developed, blended, and commercialized. Grasse offers the latest technologies and raw materials since it is not only a centuries-old producer, but an important trade hub as well.
In 1747, the Parfumerie Galimard was founded and became a member of the “Glovemakers and Perfumers” Guild, supplying the court of Louis XV (“the beloved”) with olive oil, pomades, and perfumes. In 1849, the Parfumerie Molinard was established. On this factory tour, one may formulate a perfume to his taste, with the help of an expert.
TRENDS
Three factors are determining the current trend in perfumes through the upcoming Gen-Z. The choice for fresher fruity and floral fragrances associated with nature. Their rising affluence stirs the demand for a fragrance-literate generation. They are active and adopt a healthy lifestyle, therefore the combination of deodorant and body perfume suits their dynamism on the go.
This trend will progressively influence the industry into the future, as it focuses on regionally-appropriate demand. In the West, Brazil is a hugely influential market, with India and China in the East. To the South, Africa will rapidly catch up.
From the sophisticated hand-made crystal bottles of the luxurious French brands in the past, the market is drifting towards the spray perfume canisters like the Axe/Lynx deodorant-come-body perfume. Therefore, from a few hundred dollars per bottle, the trend is towards a few Dollars per canister.
Undoubtedly, the traditional Maisons de Parfums have their share of the market with more millionaires and celebrities on the global scene than in the past.
CONCLUSION
You may wish to consult my following published articles on Medium:
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT PERFUMES
https://medium.com/@srn.abuj/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-perfumes-a32d39507816
Sammy RNAJ
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