There are at a basic level, 3 main parts to making a perfume or scent.
- Creation of the actual “scent”. The first part can be ester, aldehyde or other aromatic organic components that are sourced from flowers, fruits or whatever scent helps towards the final fragrance.
- The solvent (e.g. Acetone or Ethanol). This is used to dissolve all the fragrance and helps to make it evaporate over a period of time - lingering- rather than dispersing all at once.
- After this, the preservatives are used, as well as stabilizers and fillers to prevent the degradation of the perfume over time, and to bulk it up.
Now this, very brief and somewhat patchy introduction is just for information only, and should not be used as a “recipe” or formula of any sort. Organic chemistry is dangerous and should only be attempted by those who know exactly what they are doing.
However, that is not to say that you should be put off after reading this, in venturing into the making of your own perfume – I urge you to bear with me as I will go on to show you that you do not need a lab to make many recipes . Many perfumes are very easy to make, and after a few practices, you never know, you may see your own brand of floral-based scents before too long!
Keep watching – there is more great stuff coming up...
