New Style Perfume ?

Now I know perfume is a daily thing for people, but these perfumes are made in factories, and they contain flowers and synthetic fragrances. However the recent reality TV stars of Geordie Shore have decided to produce their own fragrance. L'eau de Geordie is their own twist on modern day perfume. One thing that doesn't exactly come to mind when you think of perfume is kebabs. But being the mad people they are portrayed to be on TV their perfume was inspired buy the one and only kebab.

They went around the streets of London to try out their new perfume with the locals. It seemed to be a hit, but I guess we'll just have to find out, and see if it takes Britain, and maybe Ireland by storm.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/232394/Geordie-Shore-s-kebab-scented-perfume-is-not-to-be-sniffed-at/ (link for picture)

Fragrance Wheel

When people think of perfume they just think of the smelly stuff that some women and men wear in order to make them smell nice. I suppose that is what it is but there is a lot more to it. Not only was it first used hundreds of years ago in Egypt, the different fragrances of perfumes are divided into different groups, then sub-divided and put on a 'fragrance wheel.'

The Fragrance wheel is a new method of classifying a perfume. It is widely used in the retail and the fragrance industry. This method of classification was invented by Michael Edwards in 1983, and he designed it in order to make it easier to determine the fragrance and the naming scheme of perfumes. It also showed the relationships between all the different classes of perfumes.

There are five classes/families of perfumes in the fragrance wheel, they are Floral, Oriental, Woody,  and Fresh. The first three classes of perfumes are the original classes and the 'Fresh' class is a newer class, consisting of clean oceanic and citrus fragrances. This new class of fragrance was added to the fragrance wheel because of the new improvements in fragrance technology. Each of the classes is divided up into different groups again which are then placed of the wheel according to their similarities to the five main groups.
The fragrance wheel has changed over time in order to encompass and include new fragrances coming onto the market over time. 
The fragrance wheel was established to incorporate all the unique and common smells that are produced in perfume. Each smell comes from the oils from different flowers sourced from around the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrance_wheel (link for picture)

How is it made ?

I found from researching the methods of how to make perfume, that there is more than one method of making perfume. They all sound really complicated and confusing, as they are long words that I have never heard of before. However when I read the method they actually seemed really simple, something that is actually simple enough to do at home.

The oils used from the plants to create smells, are extracted using many methods, including steam distillation and solvent extraction.

During the method of steam distillation the plant is held in a still and steam is passed through, this turns the essential oils in the plant to turn to gas. The gas is passed through tubes. In the tubes the gas is cooled down and eventually liquefies. Another simpler way of using this method is boiling parts of plants, like the petals, in water. This also extracts the oils from the plants. The picture above shows how the method of steam distillation works, using scientific equipment.

When the method of solvent extraction is used, the flowers are put in big tanks where a liquid substance, for example petroleum ether, is poured over the oil. This extracts the essential oils from the flowers. The flower dissolves in the liquid substance, and forms a waxy material which contains the oils. This waxy substance is then put in alcohol. The oil dissolves in the alcohol. The oil and the alcohol burn at different temperatures so the alcohol is evaporated off, and a concentrated perfume is left.

There are four main flowers that were used in the production of perfume:

1. Roses: Perfumes that contained the rose flowers were widely used in the making of perfume in both Greece and Rome. There are two roses that are the most commonly used in the perfume industry. They are the Arabian amask rose and the French rosa centifolia.
2. Violets: Violets used to be a common flower used in the production of Perfume. The Victoria and Parma varieties were the most commonly used.
3. Jasmine: The jasmine flower is widely used, but it is hard to come across. Jasmine flowers that have been harvested are kept in baskets designed to stop the bud of the flower from bruising.
4. Plumeria: These are widely used in the production of perfume, and when harvested they can stay fresh for several days. The plumeria flowers are native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. However they have been spread throughout the tropics of the world.

All the flowers used to make perfumes are found throughout the world. In the Mediterranean, fields of flowers and aromatic plants are found. Sandalwood and vetivert are found in India. The ylang-ylang flower is found in Madagascar. Oakmoss is found in Yugoslavia and rare roses are found in Bulgaria. All these flowers from around the world contribute to the raw materials used in the production of perfume.http://www.ccnphawaii.com/distillation.htm ( link for the picture.)

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This video shows you how you can make your own perfume at home. Using materials taken from your own garden or from a shop.

Raw Materials

Raw materials used in the production of perfume are sourced from all around the world. Many of these materials are flora e.g. flowers, grasses, fruit, spices, roots, resins, wood, balsams, leaves, gums and animal remains. Other materials used are sourced from oil, such as coal, coal tars and petrochemicals. These are used in the manufacturing of perfumes. Some plants do not produce scented oils and therefore can't be used in the production of perfume. Synthetics are used in this case, they are used to re-create the smells of these non-oily plants. Synthetics are also used to produce unique smells not found in the natural world.  Other perfume scents come from animals. For example musk comes from male deer.

Both alcohol and water are used to dilute the scents in order to make perfume. This process of dilution determines whether the perfume is "eau de toilette" (when the scents are diluted in alcohol) or cologne (when the scents are diluted in water.)All these raw materials are sourced from different parts of the world. The picture above shows where some of the materials, used in the production of perfume, are sourced.
http://bit.ly/x1lBJG (link for picture)

History of perfume

Today perfume is a scented spray, the word perfume comes from the Latin word,' per fumus.' Perfume originated in Egypt. However over the years it was developed and improved by both the Arabs and the Romans. There have been Ancient Egyptian stone pictures found, showing the preparation of lily perfume taking place.
The oldest perfumery known is in Cyprus. The perfumery was discovered in 2004, during an excavation. The large factory was found, the size of the factory suggested that the perfume was being produced on a large scale. The Islamics also contributed to the development of perfume as we know it today. Perfume spread throughout the world over time, and it first landed in the Western world as early as the 14th century. The first modern perfume ( a scented oil in alcohol) was made in Hungary around 1370. In Renaissance Italy the idea of perfumed flourished and in the 16th century people began creating scents of their own in secret, in order to have their own unique scent that no one else would know how to make. Soon after France became the European centre for the production of perfume.
http://bit.ly/wkR4yl (link for picture)

Introduction

For my geography class this year we are starting a blog. We are doing it on the geography of a subject that we enjoy or are interested in. I like perfumes, but I don't really know much about the roots of perfume and where it first originated. Nowadays many celebrities have their own perfumes (fragrances.) I am doing my blog on perfume as I want to find out about where in the world perfume originated and also what materials go into making perfume.