The history of perfume is complex and varied history. Different civilizations throughout the ages used and made perfume that compliment their own cultures and religious practices.
In this article, we will explain the processes of how to make perfume in the modern world and how it compares to the ancient ways of distilling scents.
Read on to find out more.
Ancient Uses and Processes of Perfume
The first recorded perfume maker on record is an Egyptian perfumer called Tapputi. Her name was on a clay tablet from Mesopotamia in the 2nd century BC.
Fragrances in Egyptian society were incredibly important. It was used to distinguish nobility and their pharaohs. Each of them had certain scents that were reflective of their characters.
It was also used in religious ceremonies, such as incense that was heavily scented by myrrh and a product that the Egyptians relied on for exporting and income.
Pharaohs and queens were even buried with their perfumes, obviously concerned with smelling good in the afterlife as well!
The way in which Egyptians made perfume was to distill natural ingredients such as flowers, fruits, and woods with essential oils. This is similar to Persian culture however they were the inventors of water-infused perfume and lent away from including essential oils.
Persians were very creative with their scents and perfumes and would test out different additions to their perfumes in the first perfume workshops and ancient laboratories.
Modern Uses and Processes of Perfume
Modern perfume isn’t just reserved for nobility or the upper classes. It is now a bustling industry that allows fragrance to be an affordable and creative expressive of a person’s character.
Modern popular perfumes include CK one, Chanel No. 5, and Issey Miyake. If you would like to learn more about CK one 200ml, click the link.
The process of making modern perfume isn’t too dissimilar to how the Persian’s made it, however, there are more stages to it and a reliance on manufactured ingredients as well as natural ones.
In the perfume industry, there are masters of perfumes known as ‘the noses’. They are responsible for blending together hundreds of perfume oils that are used as base notes for perfume scents, often containing hundreds of ingredients.
Using plant products and animal products, they’re dissolved into alcohol and water to dilute the strength of the perfume.
Once a scent has been chosen, it’s left for a number of months or even years to ferment and ensure the scent is blended. Modern perfumes blend top notes of the initial spray, as well as base notes that provide the lasting scent on the body.
Now You Know How to Make Perfume
We hope this article on how to make perfume in ancient as well as modern times has given you a taster into the fascinating history of perfume.
Each civilization has its own method of perfume production and use, some of which we still employ today. The only difference now is that it’s a huge commercial industry that is available for everyone to choose their own signature scent.
If you enjoyed this article, check out our other blog posts!