Perfume
Perfume is a multi-billion dollar industry and most perfume designers introduce new perfume lines every year. Some of these perfume products remain on the market for decades and are considered classics, such as Chanel No. 5, Shalimar or L'Air Du Temps.
Perfume was being designed by people at least 4,000 years ago, but the French perfected the design of perfumes starting in the 18th century. Today, there's a vast list of perfume design houses throughout the world, and most people in America have heard of Chanel, Lancome, Gucci, Christion Dior and Ralph Lauren. Across the ocean, design houses like Yves Saint Luarent, Fendi, Givenchy and Nina Ricci are just as legendary.
You might be such a fragrance lover that you know the year Wind Song was produced, but if you are reading this, you are probably still wondering why Prince Matchabelli is in that funny-looking bottle. If so, then let me present the basics of perfume for you. If you want to start learning about perfume, learn about where fragrances come from, the types of perfume you might encounter, how to describe a perfume and what a fragrance wheel does and means. With that in mind, let's get to the basics of aromas and essential oils.
Aromatic Sources for Perfumes
Perfume designers use a wide variety of sources as their essential oils. Like the perfumery that was first created 4,000 years ago, the majority of aromatic sources remain plants. For instance, large numbers of flowers and blossoms are used for perfumes, including roses, citrus blossoms and jasmine. Fruits like orange and lime are useful, while vanilla is particularly useful (while many fresh fruits are not). Cinnamon bark and other barks are also useful, while leaves, resins, roots and seeds are also prevalent. Woods are used as a base for many perfumes, including sandalwood, agarwood, birch, cedar and pine.
Besides plants, there are many other aromatic sources for perfumes, including fatty compounds from animals, odorous sacs from beavers, beehive honeycombs, and many types of musk. And along with the natural aromatic sources for perfumes, some perfume companies use synthetic compounds in their perfumes and colognes. Calone is used in many perfumes on the market today.
The ingredient that gives a perfume its distinctive aroma is called its "essential oils". These are oils distilled from plants and animals for their smell. Most perfumes will have a blend of essential oils (so-named because "essence" can mean aroma), so the perfume will have a layered fragrance. These layers (or phases) of a perfume are given musical terms: "notes".
Perfume Notes
The "top notes" or "head notes" of a perfume are the aroma you first smell when you apply the perfume. This is the initial impression of a perfume, and this fragrance disappears quickly. Next come the "middle notes" or "heart notes", which are meant to contrast with and mask the often unpleasant sensation of the perfumes' top notes. This scent is a transition fragrance from your first impression to the lasting aroma of the perfume. Finally, you sense the "base notes", though these usually do not appear for about 30 minutes after you apply the perfume. Combined with the middle notes, the base notes of a perfume give the lasting sensation of a perfume. If you notice, manufacturers of perfumes tend to publish their top, middle and base notes, so you might know what to expect.
Types of Perfume
Perfumes are described by aromatic concentration, but they are often categorized according to other methods, too. This makes the categorization of perfume complicated for novices, because a distinction might not have the same meaning from one perfume house or producer. There are seven cases where perfumes with the same product name differ not only in the concentration of the oils, but also in basic ingredients.
That being said, concentration remains the chief way that perfumes are grouped. If you see a perfume described as as "Eau de Toilette", you'll know the perfume has a concentration of somewhere between 5% and 15% aromatic oils - though most likely under 10%. This makes Eau de Toilette stronger than Eau de Cologne, which usually (but not always) has a concentration of 5% or less. Cologne is a generic name for Chypre citrus-type perfumes with 3% to 8% concentration and usually below 5%. In the United States, cologne is simply considered any perfume made for a man. But note that Eau de Cologne describes a type of perfume, regardless of the gender it is designed for.
Fragrance Wheel - 5 Types of Perfumes
In the last 20-25 years, many retail outlets have begun using what they call a "fragrance wheel" to classify perfumes. If you are shopping for perfume, you are likely to encounter this perfume wheel and need to have a basic understanding of what it means.
There are five "families of perfume" on the fragrance wheel: Floral, Woody, Oriental, Fresh and Fougere (or "fern-like"). On the fragrance wheel, you'll find sub-groups of these five families. The fragrance wheel looks something like a color wheel, where the secondary colors are shown to be a blend of two primary colors. So you might have a sub-group of perfumes called "woody oriental", which is a blend of woody and oriental aromas. Interestingly, fougere (which is a popular choice for men's colognes) sits at the center of the fragrance wheel, because it tends to be a blend of multiple perfume families (somewhat like gray or brown in a color wheel, I guess).
Understanding Perfume
Once you learn to perceive the perfume notes and gain an understanding of the various types of scents on the fragrance wheel, you'll begin to get a deeper understanding of perfume. Learning a few of these terms makes the process of selecting a perfume easier, so you'll know what the perfume counter attendant is talking about as you shop. Hopefully, the above will get you started on the subject, though this page is mainly just a perfume primer.
Oh, I just remembered that I never gave the answer about the Prince Matchabelli bottle. Prince Matchabelli was a Georgian (European Georgia) prince who fled the Soviet takeover of his country and founded a perfume company. The bottle was designed by his wife, the Princess Matchabelli, after the royal crown of George. So you learn something new every day.