Have you ever noticed that a fragrance can smell nothing like the individual notes listed on its label? That's the art of perfumery. Blending ingredients together can capture the essence of each one and create something entirely new.
A guide to how scents are made
1. Selecting ingredients
Every scent starts with its ingredients, and perfumers test them carefully before a fragrance is finalised. Natural materials come from flowers, fruits, leaves, woods and resins. Many aroma materials are made in a lab to recreate scents found in nature, and most fragrances today combine natural materials with lab-made aroma materials.
2. Extraction
Natural materials need to be processed to capture their scent. These are some of the most common methods.
3. Steam distillation
Steam is passed through the plant material, carrying its aromatic compounds with it. The vapour is then cooled and condensed back into a liquid, and the oil is separated out.
4. Expression
One of the oldest methods, still used today, especially for citrus. The peel is pressed or crushed to release its oils.
5. Solvent extraction
A popular method for delicate flowers. The plant material is soaked in a solvent that draws out its aromatic compounds. The solvent is then removed, and the result is treated with alcohol to give a concentrated, fragrant material.
6. Blending
This is where a fragrance comes to life. The perfumer combines dozens of materials in careful proportions, building top notes you notice first, heart notes that form the character of the scent, and base notes that linger. A blend can go through many versions before it's right.
7. Ageing
Some fragrances are left to rest for weeks or months after blending, a little like wine. This gives the materials time to settle and come together into a smoother, more rounded scent.
Conclusion
Perfume making is an ancient craft that has grown into a modern art. kirri's fragrance oils are blended from French perfumery oils and made in Australia, ready to fill your home with fragrance through a kirri diffuser, a reed diffuser or a room spray.
Explore the kirri fragrance oil range to find your scent.