The charm of French perfume: the components of fragrances

As the song group Great Big Sea, «with a fair wind, you can smell the fragrance of French perfumes from the ship smugglers" .  In a world where everything has its price, beer is sure to be a Czech, a computer - American, feta cheese - only Greek, and spirits - French (but do not take offense at us lovers of vodka "Absolute" because we have not mentioned) .  It was the French perfumery market dictate fashion and determine what is luxury, fine spirits, although in the world there are magnificent specimens of sophistication of, say, Australia, Greece and Germany - the countries is quite surprising in view of perfumes .  But how many people actually know that "the spirits of the French type" or "flavor in the French style" - a specific terminology associated with olfactory categories .  So could indicate the direction in the production of spirits, if you like, a whole family of fragrances .  These definitions apply to the field of professional jargon .  Perfumers say: "The nose is never deceived, but the brain is able to confuse" .  And this is indeed the case .

If you delve into magazine articles and books about spirits or technical documents related to the perfume, you can easily understand that from the 1950s until the late 1970s, aldehyde spirits were "most fashionable" and refers to the spirits of "French-style" .  Of course, to a large extent this is due to ignorance of the general public of professional terminology (I must say that in those years, this area has been very mysterious), and the need to simplify the way the product to the consumer .  Therefore, "fashionable", "modern" and "French" perfume - meant something more than the chemical formula of various spirits (aldehyde fragrance formula is particularly sequence of aliphatic aldehydes, aromatic molecules created in the laboratory) .  It was since then the best perfumes on the market are considered to Chanel No . 5: they are called "super-modern" since 1920 (partly thanks to the amazing bouquet of aldehydes), and "essentially French" .

But that's not all. In the literature, the terms "French type №1» and «French style №2». The first, of course, include the classic floral aldehydes, which are based perfume Chanel No.5 and Arpège, the most famous (in the same "genre" made Guerkain Liu and Guerlain Vega, as well as from Baghari Piguet); but the second - chypre perfume aldehyde, among which the most famous Calèche (and Mystère by Rochas and Calandre by Paco Rabanne). Is it any wonder that even brands are 'in French? "

In truth, chypre perfumes are not "absolutely" French. This ancient formula is one of the first was invented by the ancient perfumes and came to France from the eastern Mediterranean region, namely Cyprus. (Chypre - Cyprus in French, on this island grow a special type of moss, extracts of which the first and made fragrant composition). In France, they were brought to Cyprus by order of the Queen Marie de Medici (1575-1642), fascinated by the Cypriot scented ointments, chypre, brought from the East, many participants of the Crusades. Medici sent to Cyprus Florentine perfumer Tombarelli, telling him to bring in samples of Grass scented moss, labdanum. Here, in the local soil, the plant caught on, he learned to make from the extract, which began to be added to the perfume. Thus, chypre found Greco-French roots, hence the common name of the family - chypre.

So what is the "French type №2»

Chypre accord is quite malleable, despite its clear structure .  It fit perfectly into other notes, say, honey .  To this can be added musk and leather notes, thus obtaining a separate sub-category of fragrances .  Enrich its floral note and get the fresh scent of green (try and Cristalle Chanel No . 19, they are just at the intersection of the two types) .  If you saturate the chypre woody-musky chord strokes, you can get a chypre Nouveau, and finally, adding a small amount of lemon aldehyde gives aldehyde chypre, the so-called "French type №2»! This type has gained wide popularity in the middle and a cheap price segment, in particular due to the different soaps (in the 1970s produced scented soaps, perhaps this is the reason for such a rapid development of the perfume industry in the coming years .  By the way, in the last twenty to twenty-five years of this type it has been widely used in the production of just soaps and shower gels, since the consumer prefers "clean musky and fruity" notes of this type of product) .

Today, the spirits of this type are perceived as "fragrant", they "smell like perfume", because the formula of their production is quite old and very rare .  Flower aldehyde or aldehyde chypre fragrance is perceived now as "old-fashioned" (so say about it the common people), "retro flavor of the old school" (information given by experts perfumes), "spirits of the old ladies' (and it is people say with affluent imagination, committed associations) .  Generally perfumes that "smell like perfume" perceived by the consumer without enthusiasm, as today in vogue ease and freedom, it is these traits are inherent in modern lifestyle .  And even completely synthetic flavors, so-called "fruit salad" (although in their composition, there can be a natural fruit, the smell of which can not be extracted) or "frutchuli" (for example, perfumes Miss Dior Chérie, or their predecessors, Angel) perceived as natural, because that is how they are positioned on the market .  Moreover, these flavors - just an imitation, they are obtained through the use of synthetic fragrances, but at the same time considered to be "trendy", "modern" with powerful advertising campaigns .

So, ironically, what was considered "fashionable" and "modern" in the 1970s, in 2010 perceived as something "old-fashioned", "irrelevant." However, this is the reality.

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