CosBeauty Magazine #76

Feature
triggering an innate animal
attraction between certain people.
You’re probably repulsed by the
idea of smelling someone else’s
BO but science says that both
men and women fall powerless
against the scent of our
counterpart’s sweat when sexualattractant
pheromones are at play.
Middle Eastern countries
are known for their cultural
fascination with different
fragrances, dabbing scented oils
on areas of the body that excrete
pheromones to signpost them
to their partner. Even though
our pheromones are already
individually unique, there is
defi nitely something sexy about
customising our glandular
excretions for our lovers.
But it’s not just humans
pouncing on each other at the
allure of signature scents. A
study in the Guatemalan jungle
has seen scientists successfully
use Calvin Klein’s Obsession
for Men as a lure to make the
usually elusive jaguar linger long
enough to be photographed and
observed. Whether these big cats
have a genetic inclination towards
bergamot, lavender, mandarin,
clove, nutmeg and amber is not
known (and a tad unlikely), but
the research gained from this
experiment has proved invaluable
for perfume houses. CBM
Fl
F
Fresh
Fre
Fr
es
ra
or
lo
Floral
The art of
The basic combination in any
perfume is called an accord, where
two or more fragrances or notes
are combined to make a seamless
third composition in which the
originals are undetectable. This
provides the skeleton of the perfume,
with all the other elements added
to harmoniously flesh out this
fragrance framework.
The process uses ‘bridges’ that
connect the different notes and
harmoniously add to the perfume’s
character (floral, oriental, citrus,
gourmand and so on) to create a
balanced result.
Accords are often created to
evoke a scent that doesn’t produce
one single odour, such as the
warm, fleshly amber or heady mellis
accords. Every perfumier has their
own combination of ingredients
for creating an accord, although
some, such as oak moss in a chypre
accord, are regarded as elemental.
A soliflore is a composition built
around one note.
Oriental
Or
O
ri
ie
en
nt
ta
od
oo
o
W
PERFUMERY
Wo
Woody
All the elements combine to
create three periods of evaporation
during which we can discern the
different layers of the perfume.
First are the top notes, usually
bright and penetrating but light
in character and often composed
of citrus or aldehydes, then the
body, heart or middle notes which
classifies the ‘type’ of perfume
and can be smelled as soon as
the perfume settles. Finally, there
are the bottom or base notes that
provide depth and solidarity as well
as lasting power, or diffusion.
What a perfume smells like
after a couple of hours is called
the dry down.
Modern chemical processes
have enabled the separation of the
fragrant essences into components
such as esters, aldehydes ketones
and indoles, which can be further
broken down into subtle scent
molecules and reassembled in
combinations – to make each final
product utterly unique.
112 www.cosbeauty.com.au