Perfume and Style

It’s

hard to believe that the creation of aromas, can take specialists many

years. In truth, there are thousands of scents at the disposal of perfume

makers, so it’s not hard to understand why this is so. Some perfumes

contain from 75 to 200 components.

A number of essences used by perfumers are obtained by distilling the

plants’ raw materials – flowers, grasses, herbs, fragrant

spices, tree barks, wood, wood tars, mosses and even vegetables.

Other fragrances are synthetic. There are two fundamental types of synthetic

components: those which imitate natural odors and are used to lower the

cost of producing perfume and those which are absolutely unique or modern

in their nature.

But using of these concrete components is not end of the entire process.

How different essences go with each other, in what quantity the scents

are used – all of these elements are as important to the final effect

and stability of the aroma as the selection of the components themselves.

An important aspect of perfumes is that many of them change their

odor after having been applied to the skin. Different levels

of evaporation (or scent changes) are often referred to by specialists

as the upper notes, the middle notes, and the lower notes. As a matter

of fact, lighter, fresher fragrances tend to evaporate first.

Pay attention! Immediately after having applied a scent,

you’ll most likely smell the lighter and brighter essences of fruits,

fragrant plants, herbs or flowers. These upper notes help to create the

initial mood produced by the scent: strong, fruity, fresh, sweet, musky,

etc. The upper notes last less than a minute.

The middle notes then begin to appear, as the scent

reacts to the warmth of the body and to the natural fat on the skin’s

surface. When the middle notes, or the core scents, become apparent you

will detect softer odors of flowers, wood, and “the modern chords”.

The middle notes “sound” from thirty minutes to an hour.

The lower

notes, sometimes called the foundation or the solid base, is

the phase when the scent adjusts to the chemical characteristics of the

skin of your body harmoniously. Fragrant spices, tars, mosses, amber tars

and musk, are typical lower notes. The lower note is present for two to

six hours, depending on the degree of fragrance purity, and to a number

of other factors.

It’s interesting that not all scents possess the upper,

middle and lower notes. Some of them have only one stratum. Therefore,

they will change very slightly, as all, or almost all, components will

evaporate at the same time.

To really understand, what the art of using perfume, you need a

“reference point”. For this – try a small experiment!

Apply your favorite perfume on your right wrist. Wait for a few minutes,

then apply the same perfume to the left wrist – and compare the

upper note of the scent with its core. But do not forget to first smell

the “dry” right wrist, and then the “wet” left

one. Otherwise you won’t detect the very slight differences between

the two strata. Then, thirty to sixty minutes later, you can compare all

three strata of your scent. Again, apply the scent on your left wrist

and quickly compare the odor with the lower note of the scent on the right

wrist. Wait for some minutes for the middle note to appear, then see how

the scent-core differs from its other notes.

Sweet florals and heady or rich eastern aromas are ideal for

evening. The more refined you are dressed, the more elegant your

scent should be. Nothing accentuates the solemnity of an evening dress

as the perfect scent. But why do you prefer one type of scent over others?

Experts believe that association plays a great role here: the aromas that

are pleasant to us are the ones that we have smelled earlier, most likely

under favorable circumstances.

In short, a scent is not only just the aroma, it is a combination

of image, style and spirit. The selection of your own aroma is

so intuitive that very often it reflects one’s character and mood.

It somehow becomes a part of you. The more you use the scent, the more

clearly you understand how much it influences your life. This is known

as the art of perfumery.