How are the perfume made?

Perfumes fill our world with fragrance, lift our mood and relax the mind. Today's world is full of fumes and perfumes. Fumes are associated with bad smell and perfumes, with pleasant smell. Our day begins with toothpastes, soaps, shaving creams, cosmetics, detergents etc which are perfumed. Industries perfume consumer products to attract consumers. Now-a-days every product right from plastics to paints, is perfumed. In ancient times, perfumes were a luxury of Royalty but now it has become an essential companion of common man.

A perfume is an alcoholic solution of aromatic compounds. It is a blend of fragrant materials. The material may be of plant, animal or synthetic origin. The materials extracted from plants are called essential oils. They generally have pleasant smell. Essential. oils are extracted from different parts of plants such as flowers (Rose, Jasmine etc.); seeds (Cardamom) wood (Sandal wood), bark (Cinnamon) and peels (Orange). Most high quality perfumes owe their distinct fragrance to these essential oils. Essential oils are extracted from plants by steam distillation, solvent extraction, compression of raw material and absorption of aromatic material to wax. The method of compression is used to extract oil from fruit peels of citrus family.

Synthesized fragrant materials are extensively used today. This is done for two reasons: to produce fragrant compounds which are not found in nature and the high cost of essential oils. The synthetic compounds are obtained from petroleum distillates, pine resins or cheap organic feed stock. To bind the fragrance, fixatives are used so that they could prevent quick evaporation of odorous substances. Later, a solvent like ethanol is used to dissolve various essential oils that go in the making of a perfume. Thus perfumes are blends of several components. The quality of perfumes is judged by the lasting power of the smell.