We all love to learn new things about what we find interest in.
You’re here because you love fragrance, and have an interest in learning more.
In this blog, we will be sharing some fun and historical facts about perfume. Maybe you already know these, and maybe you don’t.
The art of perfume making began in the ancient world of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization, and China. This art was further refined by the Romans and the Muslims.
The first recorded perfumer/chemist was a woman named Tapputi, who lived in 1200 BCE in ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia.
The first perfume manufacturing ‘factory’ was found on the Island of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean Sea, in 2004. It dates back 4000 years, being active in the Bronze Age.
The word Perfume comes from the Latin phrase ‘per fumus’, which means “through smoke’. This comes from a time when perfumes were incense based, and people scented themselves with the smoke from burning herbs and spices.
One of the oldest perfumes still in production today is 4711 from Maurer & Wirtz (and can be found at Parfumerie Nasreen!)
It takes 1.6 billion Roses to make 1kg of Rose OIl.
Your brain and nose get used to familiar scents. Your brain will categorize scents and ‘file them away’, in essence to make room to recognize smells that are unfamiliar and might mean danger. The result is that you cannot smell your favorite perfume that you wear every day, which is why some people spray on more than they need to.
The same perfume will smell different on different people. Each person has their own unique, natural smell, similar to the way each person’s fingerprint differs from the next person. This, along with your environment, diet, and sometimes medications, can change the way a scent smells from person to person.
It is said that the sense of smell affects the sense of taste. This does not mean if you cannot smell anything, aka anosmia, that you won’t be able to taste everything. It just means that things are perceived differently.
The Osmotheque is the world’s largest scent archive, storing over 3000 perfumes from the past and future, both discontinued fragrances and those still available to buy today. This fragrance archive is located in Versaille, France, and all perfumes created are sent there to be preserved.
A perfumer’s organ is a tiered shelf where a perfumer will keep their oils. It is given its name from the similarity to the musical instrument.
Chanel N.5 is the most famous perfume in the world. It was created in 1921 by perfumer Ernest Breaux, and was named so as it was the 5th sample Coco Chanel tried after her commission to find her new scent. The number 5 is said to also have personal significance in her life.
We’d love to hear some of your favorite fragrance facts!
