In the year 2000 the perfume trade became a $10 billion industry. However perfume has been a successful market for scents for a several years previous to this. In the past it has been the case that women may only keep one fragrance, as a signature scent that was personal to them, perhaps seen as the scent that best reflected their personality. However, it seems to be the case now that women are keeping a veritable ‘closet’ of fragrances, usually ranging from three to eight different makes of scent. The one special perfume that they feel best reflects them, is then only used by the woman at special occasions or moments to remember.

For thousands of years it has been part of the female’s beauty ritual to apply perfume, oils and pungent scents to their bodies, applying more or less depending on the fashion of the day or era. If we look back as early as the Egyptians, we can see that both men and women enjoyed the use of oil based balms and pomades which were used during religious rituals. Later on the use of this kind of perfume was used before romantic clinches during the night time! Some of the more recognisable perfume types are those you have probably read about in Bible stories, which are Myrrh and Frankincense.

These were extracted carefully from gums that came from trees and then were used in homes or other buildings to be able to scent the atmosphere especially in religious ceremonies such as rituals. Plants were also used in order to get the perfume scents that were desired for the users and these were roses and peppermint. These were soaked in scented oils until there was the creation of an ungent that could be used and applied to arms and skin in general. It is interesting that also today in the modern world that people are looking for highly scented perfume and high quality oils for use on the body – such as high quality aromatherapy.

So what is the attraction of using products like perfume? These kinds of products can be used for the enhancement of the skin as well as giving a desirable scent to the body. It is well know if you really think about it, that the smell of the skin and the body is well valued in most cultures across the world. The history of the trade routes in the world reveals that spices that were used for making perfume were introduced to different countries across the globe. This enabled people to mix these substances to make a desirable range of fragrances to use or sell. People would use their own ingredients to create scented potions and essentially making a series of what we would recognise today as aromatherapy products with therapeutic properties. It was the case that a lot of homes had a still room that was used for perfume essences to be made by gathering flowers and herbs which would be steeped to extract their scent and make the fragrances they desired.

You will find that the perfume you may use is made up of from over 70% and up to over 90% of ethyl alcohol, which in essence will form the basis of the fragrance you will be wearing. On top of this there should be an amount of scented essential oils which are then added to give the required fragrance that should be long lasting if it is good quality perfume. If you are looking to differentiate between a good and lesser quality scent then it is important to note the percentage of essential oil that is in the fragrance. The best quality and subsequently the most expensive types of fragrance are those which have 22% of essential oils, as it is this that provides the strong scent that lasts for a long time. The next level down with perfume is then the eau de toilette products known as EDT, which has an essential oil percentage of approximately 8% to up to 15%. The weaker fragrance still is in Eau de Cologne which has a maximum of 4% essential oils and is not likely to stay on your skin for a great length of time.

If you only need a very subtle fragrance to go out with, then there is also a product in existence, similar to perfume but called Eau Fraiche. This is a light formula and only has between 1 and 3% essential oils and has a much lighter fragrance than all of the others. Here are some of the categories that the range of perfume you can get fall under: Floral, Oriental, floriental, chypre, green marine and fruit. There are typical plants which are used and can include anise, bay leaf, bergamot, cardamom, cedar wood, eucalyptus, frankincense, gardenia, geranium, iris, jasmine and lavender.