Today is National Fragrance Day. Which perfume is your favorite at the moment? My all time favorite is Amarige by Givenchy (I seem to love all Givenchy perfumes) but my current favorite is Sensuous Nude by Estee Lauder. In honor of this glamorous Fragrance Day, here are 10 facts you may not have known about perfume:
1. The name Perfume comes from the Latin word “per fume” which means “through smoke”. Initially perfumes were incense based, so that’s what you literally had…smoke!
2. Today the most common flower essences used are rose and jasmine.
3. Having said that, modern perfume production uses artificial synthetic fragrances and nor real flower essences. Even though it is not as organic, the upside is much longer expiration dates!
4. If you want your perfume to last longer, apply to your chest and the back of your neck. These areas are very sensitive and if you get flushed (ie your skin gets hot) the perfume smell releases faster!
5. How quickly perfume evaporates depends on its strength. Colognes are lightest with only approximately 5% perfume essence, so they evaporate the quickest.
6. The first ever fashion designer to release a signature scent was French Paul Poiret (1879 – 1944) who launched “Les Parfums de Rosine” in 1911.
7. There is an actual perfume library in Versailles, France called Osmothèque. It holds approximately 3000 scents in their original formula.
8. It was once fashionable to smell like cigarrettes! Also, ladies did not smoke, so, in 1925 Molinard released a scent called “Habanita” and it made you smell like, well… an ashtray.
9. On average women have 5 fragrances they use at any given time. Not all at the same time of course, but according to the occiasion and mood.
10. Most fragrances also use animal fragrances (today also synthetically produced) and one of them is ambergis and you’ll never guess what it is. It is whale vomit!!
An excellent novel I just read about perfumes is “The Perfume Collector” by Kathleen Tessaro. It is a romantic novel set in 1950s London and Paris, but also tells you a lot about the production of perfume!
All images: Pinterest, Bvulagari, Burberry, Christian Dior, Chanel.
Sources: All Women Stalk, Design Your Own Perfume, Buzzfeed
