The Creation of a Perfume/Fragrance

[Arturo21]

I found this on the Dior site and found it interesting how fragrances are made and decided to post, here you go!

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THE CREATION OF A PERFUME

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A perfume is not one fragrance, but a mixture of several scents from either natural or synthetic sources, combined through the art of a creative perfumer.

TREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS, NATURAL OR SYNTHETIC

Plants produce many essences – from the flower, the fruit or the seeds. The most-used are roses, jasmine and orange flowers. Animals also provide raw materials, such as amber, civet and musk…
However, starting at the end of the nineteenth century, perfumers began to turn to chemistry. Since that time, synthetic products, which are less restricting, have been widely used to offer scents comparable to those of natural products.

Nevertheless, the extraction of natural materials remains an essential step.

1. DISTILLATION:
In this age-old process, steam is circulated through the raw material to drain it of its odors. What remains is the essence of perfume, or essential oils and aromatic waters. These are filtered and then preserved in opaque, insulated containers.

2. ENFLEURAGE:
It makes it possible to obtain “cold pomades”. Odorless fat is scented by contact with an upper layer of flowers and by diffusion in the lower layers.

3. EXTRACTION BY VOLATILE SOLVENTS:
Ether, derived from oil...It is the most current method. Flowers are dissolved in solvents. In the process of heating, these evaporate and the essence remains. It is a paste which solidifies as it cools and is known as a “concrete” or a “resinoid”, depending on whether it derives from flowers or from other raw materials.

4. ABSOLUTE ESSENCE:
Concretes, resinoids or pomades are mixed with ethol alcohol at a temperature of 95°C. After filtration, the essential essence blends with the alcohol, while the almost odorless wax remains on the filter. The alcohol is then evaporated at a low temperature. After cooling, what remains in the containers is only a highly fragranced, rather thick liquid: the absolute essence, which must then be purified.

PREPARATION OF THE PERFUME

1. MATURATION:
The concentration is composed of natural and synthetic raw materials, in a formula determined by the perfumer. In order for the materials to blend with each other, the concentrate is allowed to rest for approximately one week at a low temperature and in complete darkness.

2. MACERATION:
The concentrate is then diluted in a mixture of water and alcohol and macerated in a perfume container. All the non-soluble-in-alcohol elements of the formula settle (flower concretes, for example). The containers, made of galvanized copper – or stainless steel for the most modern ones – are stored in a perfume cellar, kept in darkness at a low temperature. Maceration time varies from a few days to several months.

3. FREEZING AND FILTRATION:
Finally, the perfume is frozen at a temperature between 0 and 5°C, then filtered. This operation ensures the perfect stability of the fragrance at any temperature.

The perfume is now ready. It is sometimes colored before being placed in bottles.
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[Becky_da_da_da]

That is interesting, I always wondering how they did it, thanks!

 

[Arturo21]

No problem...I really didn't know it took so much effort to make them.

 

[saturnine]

Thanks for posting this, Arturo; I had a vague idea about the process, but that article described it well.

 

[j´adore dior]

i loove perfumes and everything related to them, nice thread!

 

[jaffa6]

There's this show on the Style network (which unfortunately I don't get here, but I used to where I lived before in Utah) called "Stripped" and it showed all the behind the scenes about how beauty products were made, including perfumes, bath and body products, make-up etc. It was fascinating learning about what goes into all this stuff.