Perfume Intelligence - The Encyclopaedia of Perfume

Fragrance

The word is derived from the Latin; used to describe an agreeable scent of a perfume.

Fragrance

Used in the text as unsure whether it is an edt, a cologne or a toilet water

Fragrance Layering

The method of applying a fragrance along with matching scented products such as a shower gel, lotion, cream, oil, etc. Layering fragrances is a way to help keep the scent long-lasting the skin. However the combination of products ultimately depends on individual preference and body chemistry

Fragrance Organ

A perfumer’s working area

Frangipani

A tropical tree plumeria alba; named after an Italian aristocrats who enjoyed great power in Rome (the Catholic Church) and northern Italy in the 11th century. One member of this family lived in Rome; created a popular perfumed powder based on orris, spices, civet and musk, which bore the family name; when early French colonists discovered a tree, which bore a snowy white flower similar in fragrance to the spicy/floral Roman perfume, they called it the ‘white frangipani’. In the 15th centuary in was developed into a liquid

Franglais

A mixture of French and English; used by perfumers to denote a certain mystique

Fragrance Scale:

As below

Fresh

The freshest, brightest fragrances in the family

Crisp - Fresh

Sparkling interpretations

Classical - Beautiful

Balanced notes typical of the family

Rich

The richer and warmer notes of the family

Fragrance Water

An extremely light composition based around a single not; hold it's aroma for about half an hour

Frankincense

The oleo gun resin is produced a small shrub; genus boswellia, that grows in rocky outcrops of Arabia and Africa.
The essential oil is formed as a physiological liquid product of the bark and is steam distilling from the resin; produces a pale yellow to greenish liquid which is extremely strong, so used very sparingly in perfumery.
The Resin is a valuable fixative, also has a distinctive aroma; the essential oil content is only about 8%.
The Resinoid has a much more versatile application in perfumery than the essential oil; has a warm, woody, sweet balsamic, spicy fragrance with a hint of lemon.
Has been used since ancient times in religious ceremonies and is highly valued by many cultures - thus one of the three gifts from the Magi to the infant Jesus.
Also refer to Olibanum

Frankincense

French = fumée de l'encens; German = Weihrauch

Freesia

A herbaceous perennial native to South Africa; there are about 20 different species, however perfume technology has been unable to capture the true essence of this sweetest and most beguiling of scents.
A synthetic fragrance based on other floral essences has gone a long way to capture its aroma and is used mainly in today’s fragrances

Freesia

German = Fresie

Fresh

Denotes a lightness of fragrance, often found in green and citrus notes and located in the top notes of the fragrance

Frosted

Glass with a matte, frost-like finish made by exposure to acid or by sand-blasting

Fruity notes

Associated with various oils produced from the prunus family of fruit trees, about 200 different trees. All prunus fruits have drupes – that is a single seed or kernel surrounded by sweet and fragrant pulp. The oils may be obtained from either depending on the type; their scent adds a tangy freshness to the fragrance, quite different from the sharper green notes

Full-Bodied

Well-rounded fragrance possessing depth and richness

Fuse

To combine or blend or stick together by the use of heating the objects

Galbanum

The resin collected from various species of fennel, in particular ferula galbaniflua, native to Afghanistan and Iran; other varieties are cultivated in the Middle East.
The oleoresin is extracted by first making an incisions at the base of the stem, the resin is then treated with solvents to obtain the resinoid, which is steam-distilled to produce the essential oils; an excellent fixative with a green, woody, leafy, spicy and balsamic fragrance

Galaxolide

First synthesized in 1965, Galaxolide ® by International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) is one of the most frequently used raw materials both in functional and fine fragrances. In 2007, IFF introduced Galaxolide Super, a powered-up version of Galaxolide with an enriched chiral carbon center. More intense and floral than the original version, Galaxolide Super has slight powdery and animalic undertones.

Galet

French for cobblestone or pebble; e.g. the flat oval Dior miniatures are referred at as 'galet'

Gallnut

Or oakapple formed by an insect on the leaves of oak trees ( quercus infectoria)

Gardenia

A native of China although now grown worldwide. Various species are used in perfumery, mainly gardenia deriniana, g. citriodora and g. jasmonoides. Only recently have chemists found a way of extracting the essential oils from the fresh flowers, a rich dark oily yellow liquid that blends very well with other floral fragrances

Gas chromatography (GC)

Laboratory technique used to separate and analyse the various elements of organic chemical mixtures; occurs according to each component chemicals affinity for a moving gas phase or for a stationary phase (e.g.. wax or silicon packing material) A very small amount of the compound (e.g. 1 micro litre 0.0001 cc) is injected into the flow of a hot gas at the beginning of long (e.g. 30 metre) very narrow (capillary) tube; and according to the affinity of each chemical ingredient it moves at a different rate along the tube; this effectively means that each chemical comes out (elutes) at a different time; as it emerges from the tube it is detected and can be very accurately identified.

Gather

The process of pushing a metal rod into molten glass; turning and lifting a quantity of glass from the furnace

Gati

An ancient perfumed oil from Takhsi; used extensively during the 'New Kingdom' era of ancient Egypt

Geber

Proper name Jabir ibn Hayyan (ca. 721-815) Persian (Islamic) scholar who left an encyclopaedia of general knowledge; a number of chapters dedicated to the art of distillations

Gemel bottle

A bottle made from a pair of glass bottles with short necks in opposite directions

Geranium

The essential oil comes from the genus pelargoniums, native to South Africa; the most popular being the rose geranium, pelargonium graveolos, the oil is steam distilled and has a sweet, rosy scent with a hint of mint

Géranium sur Rose

A high-quality fragrant oil used extensively in the fragrance industry; made in Grasse, France since 1847

German silver

Nickel and copper with less than 3% silver as an exterior wash

Ghaliya

( expensive in Arabic) The most luxurious of all standard historical compounds Arabian parfum with notes of musk, ambergris, camphor and ben-oil.

Gilded

Gold, gold leaf, gold paint or gold dust applied to the surface of the item; gilded items are also described as gilt

Ginger

A herbzingiber officinale a native of southern Asia; the roots, correctly rhizomes are known as green ginger and have a juicy, fibrous straw-coloured flesh with a hot, piquant flavour and has been used for millennia in the East for cooking and medicine. The essential oil is steam distilled from the unpeeled, dried and ground rhizome

Ginger

French = gingembre; German = Ingwer

Gith

of the genus nigella sativa, known as git or black cumin or melanthon or fennel flower or Roman coriander and nuymeg flower.

Glacé

French term for a container for a soft waxy perfume substance; also referred to as solid parfum

Glass

Alternative name for a glass perfume bottle

Glass

Discovered over 3000 years ago' the raw materials for making glass consist mainly of silica (sand), soda and lime; which are heated to approximately 3,600°F (1,982°C) before melting

Glass

French - verre; German = Glass

Glass Blowing

When an experienced a craftsman blows down a hollow rob (tube) onto which he has 'gathered' a blob of molten glass; he is able to produce intricate and symmetrical shapes; alternatively he can blow the molten glass into a mould.
Demonstrations are given by many glass-houses; the example shown is in the UK

Glass Blowing; The History of

With the expansion of the powerful Roman Empire, so glass products became more accessible to the common people and it spread to other countries. With the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4th & 5th centuries AD, so the craft of glassmaking and glassblowing waned in Europe.
The industry continued to thrive in Iran, Iraq and Egypt.
There was a limited revival of glass making in Europe in the early 12th Century, with the development of stained glass windows for cathedrals and monasteries; however the glass industry did not re-develop in Europe until the end of the 13th Century, when Venice became a major glass making centre; possibly they may have learnt the art of glass making techniques through their trading contacts with the near Eastern countries during the Crusades.
The Venetians provided the link between the ancient and modern glass making arts and was noted for its brilliance and imaginative forms.
It was not until 1676 that the art of making lead glass was discovered.

Glass Enamelling

Where a vitreous substance, e.g powdered glass, mixed with another medium and then applied to a glass surface before being fired

Glass Making; The History of

The art of making glass is unknown; it appears to have been produced as far back as the second millennium BC by the Egyptians and possibly by the Phoenicians; it originated in Mesopotamia, where pieces of well made glass have been found, believed to date from the third millennium BC; it as very precious commodity; in the Bible glass has been compared to gold. (Job 28:17)
The art of glass making eventually reached Egypt; they used a method called core-forming. A shaped core was made of clay and dung, then molten glass was wrapped around it and shaped by rolling it on a smooth surface. It was only around the end of the 1st century BC, that the art of glass blowing was discovered, probably developed along the Eastern Mediterranean coast, most likey in Syria.

Glass; Lead crystal

In 1676, an Englishman named George Ravenscroft discovered that by adding lead oxide to the glass composition, a far more brilliant, sparkling glass could be produced than had ever been made before. Lead crystal has now been born.Besides the highly refractive appearance of lead crystal, this newly discovered glass was also much softer than regular glass, due to the properties of lead. This new softness made it easier to cut.
The maximum lead content is 33%. However, 33% lead crystal requires a lot of skill in forming a shape at the blowing stage. So, lesser percentage lead content is often used, although the same sparkle is not achieved. Ireland though, has maintained a reputation world-wide for its skilled blowing of 33% lead crystal.

Gloves

Perfumed gloves become fashionable amongst wealthy 16th century Spanish and Portuguese women, spread throughout the European nobility. Until the mid-19th century the professions of the glover and perfumer were closely linked

Golden Stone

A natural animal note. Collected in Yemen from the excrements and urine of the hyrax ( looks like a rabbit) that are deposed on rocks, fossilized over time. Now (2009) produced by Charabot and offers a special combination of animal-vegetal-mineral note.

Gold Ruby

Glass coloured by a precipitate of colloidal gold added to the batch of motel glass

Golliwog

An American rag doll character from children’s book by Florence and Bertha Upton; became very popular in France in the ‘jazz age’ started in 1917 when Gaby Deslys returned from America with the first black jazz band

Gourmand note

A fragrance note evocative of food such as vanilla, ripe fruit, caramel, honey and chocolate

Grapefruit

Of the genus citrus paradisi is one of the largest citrus fruits that grows on a tree, not found in the wild; originated from Jamaica, a mutation of the pomelo, the essential oil is obtained from the peel of the fruit

Grasse

A small town in the Alpes Maritine province of southern France; Grasse's perfume industry can trace its origins to the 16th century, when local tanners needed powerful scents to overcome the natural smell of their leather gloves; the region's sun-soaked soil provided the raw materials: jasmine and lavender. Since then, the scent business has reached far into the city's everyday life.
Among the best-known delicacies: fougassette, brioche flavored with orange blossom

Greek perfumes

Perfumes played an essential role in the Ancient Greek society; considered a gift from the gods and used widely by ordinary men and women, also during ritual hot baths

Green notes

Allude to the sharp fresh fragrance of green leaves or fresh crushed grass. A hint of green will make the fragrance crisp, while a touch more will make it fresh

Green tea

From the bushy shrub camellia sinensis, grown worldwide today. The absolute comes from the fresh green leaves obtained by first steeping the leaves in solvents the steam distilling the resulting liquid

Guaîac wood

Also refered to as Gaiac wood. Guaîacum Champaca is native to Argentina and Paraguay; the essential oil is steam distilled from the sawdust and wood shavings; the oil is viscous or semi-solid and is basically yellow in colour

Ver 20018

Top

Page