By Lara Okusanya
Perfumes are a part of our everyday lives, for some of us they are a daily necessity like water which we cannot do without daily. There’s a lot of interesting gist surrounding the world of perfumes, here’s a few I’m sure you never had an idea of;
Modern Day Perfumes Are Not Made With Real Flowers
In order for perfumes to be mass produced and available at such great prices, real flower essences had to be replaced with synthetic fragrances. Yup, it does sound like we’re getting a lower quality product nowadays but think about it – perfumes are not a luxury today so imagine what would happen if prices skyrocketed. Old perfumes were more natural, that’s for sure, but they also had to be kept in cool, dark places and their expiration dates were not as nearly as long as the ones we’re used to.
First modern perfume was made in 1370!
‘Hungary Water’ made in 1370 is said to be the first perfume that resembles the ones we use today. Before this date, perfumes were mostly fragrant oils and who knows… Maybe we’d still use those if Hungarian monks didn’t think of adding alcohol to the mixture. This perfume was made for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and, in order for it to have the maximum effect, it had to be drunk as well as applied to the body!
You Can Maximize The Smell Of Your Perfume Very Easily
Here’s one of those both useful and interesting fact about perfumes some of you might know – You don’t need to waste half of the bottle to ensure long lasting smell, one spritz on your chest and one in the back of your neck is all it takes for it to smell great all day long. These zones turn into ‘hotspots’ in times when we’re scared or excited (due to the increased blood flow) and the scent that was subtle just moments ago, starts releasing faster.
Classification
Modern perfumes are made with so many different ingredients so the only way to find a way through all that mess is to categorize them. That’s why we have floral scents, Woody scents, Green scents, Oceanic, Spicy, Fruit and Oriental scents. Perfumes also differ in strength so the lightest, quickest to evaporate are Colognes that, by the way, have only 5% of perfume essence and the most long lasting ones are perfume extracts that have anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of perfume.
Origin
The word ‘perfume’ actually comes from Latin, which I’m sure isn’t such a big surprise. The original phrase is ‘per fumum’ which basically means through smoke.
*Okusanya is the CEO of Perfume Colony. She can be reached via info@perfumecolony.com
