Pleasure Fragrances

Perfume has been around since the ancient Egyptians used perfume for cleansing rituals during religious rites and ceremonies.
Perfume making can be traced to Mesopotamia and Egypt. The word perfume originates from the Latin word “per fumum,” which means through smoke.
A known chemist Tapputti, a Mesopotamian chemist, created perfume using flowers and oil in 2000 B.C.
In ancient times, rose, peppermint, almond, coriander, bergamot, frankincense and myrrh were scents used to create incense and perfumed oil.
Ancient perfume formulations were originally burned as incense, as well as applied to the skin. Other early civilizations used perfumes for rituals and personal use including the: ancient Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans.

Egyptians did not use animal product in perfume, they grew-jasmine/white violets/roses/marigolds etc.
They left the flowers to dry on wooden racks and then removed stems sifting them and grounding them with mortar pesels to extract the oils.

Egyptian women applied perfumed ointments and creams to their skin infused with aromatic herbs.
These women used perfume to adorn their bodies with scent before lovemaking, or for toiletries and cosmetic purposes.

The first modern perfume was created in 1370 for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. It was the first formulation to combine an alcohol solution with scented oils.

Europeans adopted the bottling of alcohol solution with scented oils from the Hungarians and opted to call it Hungary Water.
Later when the French learned of these essential oils it was two french ladies that commercially produced perfume in early forms. They were Catherine de Medci and Rene le Florentin.
Perfume was widely used in France in the late 1600s and was applied to clothing and furniture during the reign of Louis XV.

Noted perfume production facilities were established in Grasse, Paris and London in the 18th century.
Wealthy aristocrats used perfume in France to cover their lack of daily bathing rituals with strong scents.

A Persian chemist named Avicenna created a distillation process to create rose water. Prior to his discovery, early perfumes were created by mixing oil and petals or crushed herbs to create a scent.

Perfume was widely used in Islamic countries including Greece and Rome until the fall of the Roman Empire.
Then the spread of Christianity created a decrease in the use of perfumes until international trade routes brought perfume to other countries in the 12th century.

In the 1600s, wealthy members of the royal French court applied perfume to their fans and gloves. Due to advances in chemistry, the 19th century boasts an expansion of perfume as synthetic scents and the development of perfume houses in Europe.

In the 20th century, famous perfumes included: Coco Chanel’s, “Chanel No.5,” created in 1921, and Jean Patou’s “Joy,” created in 1935.