In the previous Fragrance 101 post, the different ingredients used in fragrance design and creation were discussed.  These ingredients will have different evaporation rates that are crucial in creating a perfectly performing fragrance.

The evaporation rate is also key in creating the olfactive pyramid or a fragrance triangle. The fragrance pyramid is the structure of the fragrance very much similar to a house’s structure – walls, roof, foundation and pillars. Fragrance structure progresses into three parts – the top, the middle or heart and the base or bottom notes.  Fragrance ingredients are placed from the top to bottom in descending order of evaporation rates.

The TOP NOTE gives the initial impression of the fragrance. Top note ingredients are volatile and diffuse quickly. This part of a fragrance provides the impact and appeal. The hedonics hook is very important at this stage as it promotes product trial.

However, you have to sample the fragrance first before making any final decision. There are instances that the fragrance changes in direction as the less volatile compounds become more pronounced. This brings us to the next part.

The BODY or MIDDLE of a fragrance is a complex blend of less volatile ingredients. This is normally when you and the people around you enjoy the fragrance the most. It establishes what the fragrance really smells like. It more or less represents the entire fragrance and helps consumer loyalty to the product.

However, we want our fragrances to last long. And this is when the next part of the pyramid is important. The DRY DOWN or BASE notes of a fragrance include fixatives and other notes that diffuse very slowly. These notes support the more volatile notes of the body and top, and balance the fragrance.

You can rebalance the fragrance to contain more of the top and less of the base in order to create more impact and freshness. But it will not last long. This type of fragrance is perfect for tropical countries, like the Philippines, where we want our fragrance to be strong in terms of appeal and impact.

On the other hand, you can also create a heavier base and make it last very long, but it will not be as fresh and strong. This type of fragrance perfectly addresses the preferences of the Middle Eastern market.

What's Next in Fragrance 101...
In the next Fragrance 101 post, we will be tackling fragrance description and families.


Previous Post

Fragrance 101: What Is A Fragrance (Part 1)

Fragrance 101: Ingredients Used In Making Fragrances (Part 2)

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Fragrance 101 is a series of posts that will introduce the readers and fragrance fans into the magical world of fragrances. The author will impart his knowledge on what a fragrance is, how to understand fragrance descriptions and the different fragrance families used in describing the fragrances in this blog.

Continuing with our Fragrance 101 series, fragrance is made up of different ingredients much like a lotion or a shampoo.  These ingredients are categorized according to sources and these are naturals – from plants and animals, and aroma chemicals.

Animal sourced ingredients are ingredients that come from specialized glands of animals. You had to kill animals just to get those ingredients and make into perfume. Samples of ingredients sourced from animals are musks (from an abdominal gland of a male deer), civet (from civet cats), castoreum (from beavers) and amber gris (from whales).

Today, due to ethical and pricing reasons, animal products are a rarity in modern perfumery as they have been replaced by synthetic versions. But their history, usage and contribution to the industry have been very valuable. Originally they were used as fixatives in fragrances, bringing warmth, depth and complexity to a fragrance.

Plants, the most common source of fragrance ingredients, are extracted for their natural aroma oils. Flowers, fruits and even barks and roots are just some of the plants that we use to get our aroma oils from. So, imagine the palette of ingredients we can already use for fragrance designs.  Not to mention, that for any alteration in the extraction process – temperature, solvent, time to name a few – you get different essential oils. 

For example, 4 different extraction of bitter orange blossom yields 4 different types of essential oils – orange flower concrete, orange flower water, neroli oils and orange blossom absolute.

The aroma chemicals or synthetic chemicals are molecules that were created in the laboratory for fragrance purposes. This is the most commonly used ingredient as they are relatively more economical, sustainable, and quality assured as compared to plant extraction. Due to advances in technologies, aroma chemicals not only represent the synthetic counterpart of natural-sourced fragrances but also advances in molecules allowing more complex and consumer-preferred fragrances.

Benzaldehyde was the first aroma molecule created in the mid 19^th century. This was naturally present in bitter almond oils. Then coumarin (tonka bean) came in 1868 and vanillin appeared in 1874 among others.

As highlighted in the previous post, fragrance ingredients MUST evaporate in order for you to smell it. Without the molecules converted into gas, then the olfactive bulb (epithelium) in your nose will not be able to smell anything, as highlighted in this post. Different ingredients have different evaporation rates. Perfumers know all these in order to create a perfectly performing fragrance.

What's Next in Fragrance 101...
In the next Fragrance 101 post, the fragrance pyramid will be introduced.


Previous Post

Fragrance 101: What Is A Fragrance (Part 1)

_________________________________________________________________________________
Fragrance 101 is a series of posts that will introduce the readers and fragrance fans into the magical world of fragrances. The author will impart his knowledge on what a fragrance is, how to understand fragrance descriptions and the different fragrance families used in describing the fragrances in this blog.