Introduction to Fragrances: Naturals and Synthetics

Fragrances were born as soon as man began walking upright and discovered fire. Logs of cedarwood and oak were thrown into the fire and fragrant smoke drifted upwards. Prehistoric man had released the beautiful scents of trees and plants. He would burn these materials and create scents that would honor his gods and protect him from evil spirits and illness.
Each geographic area has its own flora and fauna, and they produce different scents. Even in today’s world, different cultures and localities prefer different scents. And we are always challenged to produce globally-pleasing fragrances.
Fragrances are still used for spiritual and medicinal purposes, but in the beauty industry, we want to make things smell good. Fragrances mask the maladies of our world and please our sense of smell. We use fragrance to adorn our bodies and improve our surroundings. For most, their fragrance is their final accessory used to complete the way they look and feel.
The natural materials used for the creation of fragrances have remained the same for centuries. We still use all types of plants and all different parts of the plant, including flowers, roots, leaves, stems, grass, bark, wood, and seeds. We obtain their oils through a variety of methods.
Distillation: We distill the plant materials using steam and water to obtain the oils.
Extraction: We extract their precious essences using carbon dioxide or other volatile solvents.
Expression: We express the oils using abrasion and pressure. This method is especially used for citrus oils so that no heating is involved.
At one time, we used by-products from animals, such as ambergris from whales, but we no longer do that. Animal cruelty regulations and the continued decrease in animal populations stopped these practices. We have created animal-type odors using aromatic chemicals.
Organic chemistry has allowed us to create aromatic chemicals which smell similar to natural ingredients and which can be mixed and matched to take the place of natural ingredients. These chemicals are created from petroleum and turpentine. They allow us to produce much larger quantities and provide less expensive materials to work with. Perfumer has a much larger palette of individual odors to turn into beautiful fragrances.
For the perfumers, raw materials are their notes, their inspiration, their language, and the components of their olfactive memories. One thing remains the same. We identify the materials we work with to create fragrances by the way they smell. We classify them in the same way that visual artists classify colors and musicians classify sounds.