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Perfume — An Insight Into The Production, Trends, And Customers’ Preferences Now And In Classical Antiquity
Most perfumery textbooks define perfume as a substance that emits beautiful fragrance. It is usually composed of essential oils (volatile liquids distilled from plants), absolutes, aroma chemicals, additives (such as colourants, preservatives and stabilisers), and floral waters mixed into a solvent (usually denatured alcohol, oil, or dipropylene glycol).
Odoriferous plants have been used for personal care and to scent clothes and living spaces for millennia. The art of perfumery began in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China and later refined by the Romans. Modern perfumery emerged in the late 19th century with the chemical isolation and synthesis of components such as cinnamic aldehyde, vanillin and coumarin. From this moment onwards, perfumers have had access to a wide selection of exciting ingredients and have no longer been restricted to what could be grown, harvested and processed. Reproducing expensive and rare natural ingredients through chemical synthesis significantly reduced the cost of finished products, and perfumes became affordable commodities, no longer accessible to the privileged and wealthy only.
The chemical synthesis also introduced new and previously unattainable aromatic compounds. It led to the creation of many well known and highly esteemed perfumes, such as Fougere Royale (using coumarin), Chanel №5 (using Aldehyde C11 undecylenic), or L’Eau D’issey (using Calone).
What is it that consumers expect from perfumes? A fragrant surprise.
According to numerous surveys and fragrance forums contributions, an agreeable smell, promising longevity, and sillage are qualities most consumers expect from perfumes. Additionally, novelty materials (and how they were sourced and processed), product claims (such as natural, sustainable, eco-friendly, vegan), recyclable packaging, and ease of use are becoming more in demand.
These requirements and expectations were already desirable in classical antiquity and discussed and recorded by Pliny and Theophrastus. Even though the number of aromatic materials and perfumery ingredients they had access to was significantly smaller, it did not…
