Perfumes

Natural essences are the atoms of perfumery, the building blocks with which complex and evocative scents are created. They are, in a sense, substances in their most concentrated but least material form, containing the whole nature and perfection of the substances themselves. They possess a compressed vitality, a bioactive power that cannot be measured by chemical analysis but which manifests itself in their potent effect on our emotions and states of consciousness. --Essence and Alchemy A Book of Perfume by Mandy Aftel

Coordinate with Fragrance Types:
Top, Middle, and Base Notes

Most perfumers classify fragrances according to their relative volatility or the time they take to diffuse from your skin into the air. They refer to these as the:

• Base notes
• Middle or heart notes
• Top Notes.

As you read this section notice what notes represent the oils that form the basis of your constitutional blend(s).

Top notes

Top notes are the lightest and most fleeting part of a perfume, providing the initial fragrance impression. Their initial appearance lasts but a few minutes but then they blend with the middle notes as that phase of the perfume begins. This is where the term "accord" comes from. It is a harmonious blending of various notes. Just as there are more ingredients in the floral fragrance family, there are more fragrances sources in the top note classification than either the middle or base note group.

Middle notes, define the character of perfume, help classify its fragrance family, and can modify its base notes. It takes approximately ten minutes for middle notes, also called heart notes to develop on the skin and they can last for hours, harmonizing with the supporting base notes. Middle notes tend to be rich in florals.

Middle notes are the heady aromas that bridge the sensual gap between the deep heavier base notes and the light, sharp top notes, rounding off the rough edges and making the blend hold together. These heart notes give body to blends, imparting warmth and fullness.

Base Notes

Base notes carry the top and middle notes, giving a perfume its depth. Base notes are often referred to as fixatives because they prolong the evaporation rate, (also called drydown), and the life of a fragrance on the skin.

Base notes last longer on the skin and also assist the top and middle notes by slowing their evaporative rates so they release more gradually.

Base notes are the deepest, most primal, and most mysterious essences. In ancient and current religious ceremonies they are used to create a contemplative state. When working with these base essences sometimes you will feel yourself deeply relax and leave your everyday world behind and be transported back into your personal and perhaps even collective history. In ancient times these same rare spices were transported by slaves, oxen, camel, and horse across the spice routes. Pirates and thieves sought these precious and fought over at sea. Entire kingdoms went to war over these same essential oils and entire cultures lost or reformed.

These intense smells of the base essences will call up intuitive associations and work at a deep level of your consciousness.

Base notes are not for the weak at heart or the easily satisfied. They are strong, thick, and can easily become overpowering. They are what will cause someone to pause and look as you pass by and turn heads when your walking down the street. Like fine wines, or stinky french cheese, they require the cultivation of your palette.

As time passes, they smell will evolve becoming softer and more pleasant, and will work into the other oils in your blend.

The base notes not only lasts the longest on the skin, and mixes most profoundly with the wearers ever changing unique scent chemistry. Some bring out the floral, heighten the spices, draw upon the more earthy scents. They also mix with the top and middle notes slowing their evaporation and extending their influence.

The ability of prolonging the life is known as a fixative. They provide life to the scent, giving what is known as "lift" to the heavier aspects of the fragrance and helping it to remain more diffusive. This is the real challenge to natural perfumery because with synthetics there are many chemical synthetics that do that job and traditional natural perfumers used animal essences like musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum.

We feel the ideal fixative is contained in our own animal smell - our own skin. Our own smell is effected hour by hour by what you eat and drink, the close you wear, the amount of exercise, the climate (sun up to ), how much you sweat, body and ambient environmental temperature, and our own biological and hormonal processes, and probably the phases of the moon*..?

This is why not just one scent is right for every person or even the same scent for the same person every single day or hour.

Both from the point of view of expense and mingling of too many complex...? Some fragrances, like musical notes, harmonize when blended, producing a synergy, of a fuller richer, more delicate, than any of them separately.

The base notes include some of the most expensive essences. Of the 15 or more base notes used in upscale natural perfumery because of price, availability, and decision to avoid animal derived oils we limit ourselves to these eight essential oils.

For the last four thousand years entire Kingdoms went to war over these same essential oils and entire cultures lost or reformed. These intense smells of the base essences will call up intuitive associations and work at a deep level of your consciousness.

As time passes, they smell will evolve becoming softer and more pleasant, and will work into the other oils in your blend.

The base notes not only lasts the longest on the skin, and mixes most profoundy with the wearer's ever changing unique scent chemistry. Some bring out the florals, heighten the spices, draw upon the more earthy scents. They also mix with the top and middle notes slowing their evaporation and extending their influence.

The ability of prolonging the life is known as a fixative. They provide life to the scent, giving what is known as "lift" to the heavier aspects of the fragrance and helping it to remain more diffusive. This is the real challenge to natural perfumery because with synthetics there are many chemical synthetics that do that job and traditional natural perfumers used animal essences like musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum.

This is why not just one scent is right for every person or even the same scent for the same person every single day or hour.

Both from the point of view of expense and mingling of too many complex...? Some fragrances, like musical notes, harmonize when blended, producing a synergy, of a fuller richer, more delicate, than any of them seperately.

The base notes include some of the most expensive essences. Of the 15 or more base notes used in upscale natural perfumery because of price, availablitity, and decision to avoid animal derived oils we limit ourselves to these eight essential oils.