Women (and men) have worn perfume for all of recorded history, and
probably even longer. In Egypt, men and women went heavily perfumed, and even
wore a waxy cone of perfume on their heads that melted in the heat to release
its scent. Frankincense and myrrh are both known as perfume additives. In the
Middle Ages, men and women carried around perfumed pomanders (often made of
oranges pierced with cloves) to ward off evil spirits and bad smells.
Perfume has come a long way. Today we have perfume for every taste, for every
mood and situation. Perfumes are a mixture of essential oils derived from flowers
and other plants, and certain aromatic chemicals. These oils are mixed in different
concentrations with a fixative (such as ambergris or musk) and alcohol, and
then aged for about a year. This creates a perfume oil.
We use the generic term “perfume” to describe anything in a perfume
bottle, but there are actually important differences between an eau de toilette
and a perfume. A perfume extract is the most concentrated form of perfume, with
between 20 and 40 percent perfume oil and the rest fixatives, alcohol, and water.
Eau de parfum is 10-20% perfume oil, eau de toilette is 5-10%, and eau de cologne
is the least concentrated with only 2-3% perfume oil.
When applied, your body heat evaporates the water and alcohol, leaving a layer
of perfume oil to be absorbed into your skin. This oil will evaporate gradually
over several hours. If you have dry skin, you may have noticed that scents applied
to your skin disappear quickly; you can lengthen the time your perfume stays
on by applying a thin layer of unscented baby oil to your skin where you are
going to apply perfume. Or you can apply it only to parts of your body that
are naturally oily; this, plus body heat, is why people dab perfume behind the
ears.
Perfumes also interact differently with different body chemistry; just as everyone
has a slightly different body scent, perfumes will smell a little different
on each person. That’s why the perfume that smells so good on your co-worker
is absolutely rancid when you wear it. And perfumes are very much a part of
your own self-image, so even though you like the lavender and rose scents your
mother or conservative co-worker wears, you would hate them on yourself.
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