The 3 secrets of perfume making

If you are reading this sentence, you probably wear perfume on a daily basis without knowing how it is made.

You probably know that a perfume is made of raw materials... You probably know that your perfume contains alcohol, you may have already heard of "noses" and maybe the word "distillation" rings a bell (we're not talking about your Friday night cocktail). Are you curious to discover all the secrets of the 3 stages of perfume making? Follow us as we explain how fragrances are created. Welcome to the mysterious world of perfumery...

1. The secrets of raw materials

Let's start at the beginning. To make your perfume smell like rose, lily of the valley or tonka bean, you need raw materials. These can be natural or synthetic. In broad terms, it goes something like this:

• natural ingredients are derived directly from plant material (flower petals, leaves, fruit, vegetables, bark, etc.) or from a product of animal origin (such as beeswax).
• Synthetic ingredients are, in simple terms, fragrance molecules obtained through chemical transformation. They can either be created from scratch and obtained solely through chemical reactions, or inspired or derived from nature.

We'll stop here for the definitions. If you want to know more about the differences between natural and synthetic raw materials, we advise you to take a look at this article!

Having made these introductions, let us now turn to the methods of extraction or obtaining these famous raw materials.

Techniques for the extraction of natural raw materials

There are several methods for transforming natural ingredients into fragrance notes. These different extraction techniques have in common that they all lead to the same end result: obtaining fragrant molecules without undergoing a chemical transformation.

• Enfleurage: we start with the oldest extraction technique. This mythical method, which dates back to Antiquity and was developed in Grasse, consists of imprisoning the flowers in a layer of animal fat - not a very vegan story, we grant you - either hot or cold. Because fat, as is well known, tends to retain odours. Think, for example, of the butter packet that you left unprotected in your fridge: after a few hours, it will already have a particular taste!

• Expression: a method reserved exclusively for citrus fruits, expression is - as its name indicates - a method of extraction by pressure. Contrary to what one might think, it is not the juice that is extracted here, but the essence contained in the peel of the citrus fruit! The citrus fruits are first fed into a machine called a "pelatrice", where they are squeezed and the peel is pierced with small holes to release the essence - a bit like when you squeeze the skin of your tangerine and it gives off a little spritz of fragrance. The resulting mixture is then run through a 'centrifuge' to separate the fruit juice (the watery part) from the essence of the peel (the oily part). The advantage of this method is that it does not involve heating the citrus fruit, which guarantees an ultra-realistic smell.

• Distillation: the principle of this method is to extract the perfume using steam. The plants are placed in a still filled with water and heated to a high temperature. The water vapour produced rises and carries the fragrant molecules with it into the distillation pipe. When it comes into contact with the wall of the distillation pipe, the steam, loaded with odour molecules, cools and condenses - it becomes liquid again, if you like. The water will then naturally separate from the more densely packed fragrant molecules, allowing the essential oil to be isolated. Distillation works well for ingredients such as rose, ylang-ylang and orange blossom, for example. And yes, it also works well for your gin and tonic...

• Volatile solvent extraction: this method follows the same principle as distillation, except that the plants are mixed with a solvent (e.g. hexane) several times in a row. The solvent thus captures a maximum of odorous molecules. It is then heated: after evaporation, we obtain what is known as the concrete, a very fragrant waxy material. This concrete is then mixed with alcohol, filtered and purified to obtain the absolute. Today, it is mainly used for fragile flowers that cannot withstand the high temperatures of distillation: for example, jasmine or tuberose.

• Supercritical CO2 extraction: unlike volatile solvent extraction, here the raw materials are treated with carbon dioxide (CO2) at lower temperatures. Contrary to what its name might suggest, this extraction technique is less polluting and gentler on the plant! Used especially for raw materials that cannot be processed with traditional techniques - such as spices or ginger for example - CO2 extraction makes it possible to obtain higher quality perfume extracts, very close to the natural smell of the raw material while being eco-responsible. In short, we take our hats off to him.

Techniques for obtaining synthetic raw materials

This is where it gets complicated. While it's easy enough to talk about natural extraction methods, the techniques used to obtain synthetic molecules are a whole different matter - and may remind you of your high school chemistry lessons. At Bastille, we don't shy away from scientific jargon: put on your chemist's coat and we'll explain it all to you!

Selection of odours to be reproduced

The arrival of synthesis in the 19th century marked a great turning point in the world of perfumery. It made it possible to reproduce natural scents more cheaply and quickly, to widen the field of possibilities, to offer more creativity to perfumers, to protect animals... In short, let's face it: synthesis has shaken up the perfume industry - and may also scare some of us. So how do we get these synthetic ingredients?

The first step is to select the odorous molecules that we wish to recreate to compose a perfume. To do this, several methods are available to chemists:

• Fractionation: imagine a natural scent of which you only appreciate a part. For example, a magnificent patchouli that has a little earthiness that is not always pleasant... Fractionation is the solution: it separates the different constituents of an essence, isolating the interesting chemical bodies and removing those considered useless. Here, we are not really talking about synthetic molecules but about isolates: it is still a natural raw material, it has simply been reworked to keep only the useful aspects.

• The headspace technique : developed in the 1970s, this technique aims to reconstitute "in vivo" (within living organisms) all the odorous molecules of a raw material - it allows us to obtain, in a way, its olfactory identity card. This process makes it possible to reconstitute the odours of raw materials that are difficult to extract, such as fruit, for example, or to make so-called "dumb" flowers (such as lily of the valley or honeysuckle) speak for themselves when the yield is too low or the olfactory result after natural extraction is disappointing. Even more incredible, this method can also analyse and capture any smell - like the beach, the mountains or the 10€ note in your pocket... We'll let you imagine which smell you'd like to capture!

  How is a "head space" created? The raw material is placed under a glass bell jar filled with a neutral gas which is charged with odorous molecules. The gas collected is then analysed using a number of techniques. Either through chromatography, which allows the precise identification of the odorous molecules that make up the smell in question - a technology that is also commonly used to identify and copy the composition of perfumes on the market. Or through mass spectrometry or carbon-13 NMR. We'll spare you the technical details, but in any case: these techniques make it possible to establish the olfactory identity of the raw materials processed.

Today, several perfume companies have patented headspace technologies, each with their own little secrets. Among them is IFF with the Living Flower. Invented in 1985, this process made it possible to capture the smell emitted by a rose sent into space... Original, isn't it? Embarked in October 1998 on board the space mission Discovery, the rose called "Overnight Scentsation" developed more floral notes, quite different from those it had on earth.

The reproduction of molecules

Once the molecules have been identified or isolated, chemists can then reproduce them in the laboratory. There are three methods for doing this:

• Or the odours are entirely recreated from one or more chemical reactions: this is called total synthesis. The resulting products are said to be "nature identical". In other words, they are exact copies of what you can smell in nature... but reconstituted in the laboratory. For what purpose? If you've been following along, synthetic molecules are generally created to reproduce smells that are difficult to extract naturally or because they are also, for many of them, cheaper to produce synthetically.
• Or by synthesising odorous molecules isolated from their natural structure, in order to modify their smell. In this case, we speak of hemi-synthesis. The aim of this product is to give the target molecule odorant properties that it did not have thanks to slight synthetic modifications.
• Third possibility - and I promise we'll stop there: by creating scents that don't exist in nature and that we can only imagine. We are thinking in particular of calone, a molecule born in the 1990s that evokes marine and iodine scents, or ethyl-maltol, which gives perfumes that regressive and gourmand smell of cooked fruit or caramel. Fun fact, this molecule was originally invented for the food industry. It was Mugler with his Angel perfume who first dared to use it in perfumery! These "invented" scents are not extracted from a plant or a fruit, but come straight from a laboratory. In general, they come from petrochemicals - granted, it's a little less glamorous than what the perfume ads want you to see.

2. The mysteries of perfume composition

After extracting the natural ingredients and creating the synthetic molecules, it's time for the magic... that is, the composition of the perfume!

The person behind the creation of your fragrances is a perfumer, also called "nose". To compose, the perfumer has at his disposal more than 4000 raw materials - 90% of which are synthetically produced. To do this, he or she usually assembles a hundred or more ingredients to create the perfumes on your shelves.

Endowed with an exceptional sense of smell thanks to daily training over several years - you'd be surprised at their olfactory memory! -Perfumers combine the different raw materials in the manner of an orchestra conductor. This long and complex step requires great meticulousness. They elaborate, test and create a perfume around a brief given by the brand and their vision of the olfactory pyramid they are trying to achieve: the famous top, middle and base notes.

Creativity, curiosity, memory, precision and patience are the key words of this rare and coveted profession!

At Bastille, our perfumers have a great deal of freedom in the creation of our fragrances. We give them briefs, of course, but these are essentially inspiration - a moodboard, sensations and a few initial material ideas, rather than ready-made instructions. This guarantees creative fragrances that you won't smell on everyone! Discover them here:

3. From concentrate to bottle: the hidden side of your perfume

Maturation of the concentrate 

Before being diluted in alcohol, the concentrate - which is the mixture of fragrant raw materials created by the perfumer - is weighed and goes through the maturation stage. The perfume concentrate will rest for a few weeks in large vats to encourage chemical interactions and synergies between the olfactory notes. In other words, this stage gives the fragrance molecules the opportunity to express themselves with each other to obtain a harmonious concentrate.

The use of alcohol

After resting comes the stage of putting the alcohol in. This stage is important because alcohol allows several things to happen:

• The alcohol distills the concentrate: it allows to obtain what is called the "juice", or more simply, what you call "my perfume". This step is used to determine the nature of the creation: an eau de Cologne, an eau de toilette, an eau de parfum or a perfume extract. Depending on the part of the concentrate in the final juice, we do not create the same product!

• Alcohol is essential to fix the concentrate and sublimate the scents previously worked on by the perfumer: particularly adapted for perfumery because it is very volatile, it evaporates quickly enough to let the odorous molecules develop quietly on your skin.

• Finally, alcohol is an excellent preservative: it is indeed thanks to it that your perfume lasts after opening!

  NB: alcohol does help preserve your favourite perfume, but that's no reason to leave it lying around on a windowsill in summer. Your perfume is alive, and if you want to enjoy it as long as possible: read this article which explains how to preserve it!

"Is that gin you're putting in there?" We are exaggerating but this is an interesting question. Well, you can imagine that the alcohol in your fragrance is not the same as the one you find at your local supermarket... In fact, the alcohol used in the creation of your fragrances is odourless and above all denatured - in other words, undrinkable.

In conventional perfumery, brands often use synthetic ethanol to dilute concentrates. At Bastille, we've chosen to avoid ethanol created in laboratories in favor of an alcohol of plant origin: organic wheat alcohol, gentle on the planet and your skin.

Maceration and glazing of the juice

Once the concentrate has been diluted, the resulting mixture must macerate for several weeks - usually between 2 and 4 weeks - so that the mixture stabilises and the alcohol absorbs all the odours. Once this is achieved, the next step is the glazing.

This step consists of cooling the juice to around 0°C so that the less soluble substances (e.g. natural ingredients such as resins and balsams) that could cloud the fragrance solidify. These solids are then removed by filtration, to obtain a completely clear and pure juice.

There is one more step - optional - before bottling: colouring. Some houses choose to use colorants to tint their juice. If this is the case, this stage very often involves the use of UV stabilisers to prevent the colour of the juice from changing due to heat or light.

At Bastille, there are no stabilizers or other UV filters. Our juices are never colored; their hue is due to the nuances of the natural ingredients that make them up - like Un Deux Trois Soleil, our oriental fragrance, which turns a beautiful golden yellow thanks to its natural vanilla.

Bottling

Final stretch: filling the bottles. Once the perfume has passed all these stages, it can be bottled and packaged before it can be marketed - and land on your shelves!

At Bastille, our perfumes are bottled in Chartres, and our bottles are decorated in Val-de-Marne. Favoring made-in-France products is our way of supporting the local economy and French know-how, while reducing our environmental impact! In a way, this is the rebellious spirit of our company.

As you'll have gathered, creating a perfume is no mean feat: it requires a great deal of know-how, and a certain number of resources. In fact, all these steps are part of the answer to the question many of you are asking: "Why does perfume cost so much?" If you'd like to find out everything there is to know about the cost of perfume - and Bastille to be precise - take a look at our dedicated article!

Well done! You now know all about the process of making perfume and have something to show off at your next dinner party. We'll let you know in the comments if you still have questions: on your mark, get set, go!

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Sources: Nez, Les Echos, Grazia, Wikipedia, Une nuit nomade, sylvaine-delacourte.com, incibeauty.com, Le grand livre du parfum - Nez éditions

Photos : Inconnus