Summer Fragrance Quiz

1. What percentage of essential oils do you find in the new ‘elixir’ fragrance concentrations?
2. What fruit do freesia flowers smell like?
3. How many tons of rose petals does it take to produce 1 kg of concentrated rose essence?
4. What comes first, the fragrance or the bottle design?
5. Who is the famous face used in the global ad campaign for Versace Dylan Purple? Bonus points if you know her father’s name.
6. How many fragrances do perfumers recommend you rotate regularly in your collection so as not to suffer from ‘scent fatigue’?
7. What is fragrance layering?
8. How long does a scent last when you first open the box?
9. Name four ingredients you might find in a summer-themed fragrance
10. Who once famously said, “A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future?”
11. What is the best time of day to try a new fragrance?
12. Where does the word ‘perfume’ come from?
13. What famous English royal insisted that all public places be scented? This was often done with rose oil.
14. What is ‘steam distillation’?
15. What is another name for ‘perfumer’?
16. Why do fragrances smell stronger in summer months?
17. Who created the very first decorative perfume bottles?
18. What part of the lemon do perfumers use in perfumery?

Answers:

1. Elixirs are the strongest versions of a fragrance on the market today. They typically contain approximately 26% essential oils. One spritz will last six-to-seven hours.
2. Fresh strawberries. Freesia blooms have a sweet, fruity scent that smell like ripe strawberries in summer. Perfumers love to add this note as it adds a fresh, bright character to any scent. You’ll find it as the star ingredient in the new Versace Dylan Purple.
3. It takes approximately 5 tonnes of fragrant Damask Rose petals to produce 1 kg of rose essence. This is achieved through a process of steam distillation which results in a very fine and delicate rose aroma. These roses are cultivated in Turkey and Bulgaria. Thankfully it only takes a very small amount of rose essence to make an impact in a modern fragrance. Rose not only smells feminine and romantic, it has the ability to unite all the other floral notes in a composition into a cohesive and uniform scent.  Before adding rose, flowers like jasmine and tuberose can clash. But a tiny amount of rose can make them blend beautifully. It’s a remarkable flower for so many reasons.
4. The bottle design. This surprised us when we learned of it. Flacon designers can take twice as long as perfumers when creating and testing bottles. Not only does the bottle need to look beautiful, but it must stand up to international shipping. The move to green and eco-friendly materials makes it even more challenging. A perfumer will usually take about 12 months from start-to-finish when creating a perfume depending on the response from the client.
5. Model and actress Iris Law is the face of Dylan Purple. “I love Iris. She has carved her own path. She has an amazing spirit. She is gorgeous, smart and a little bit wild…A true Versace girl. For me she is the perfect face for our fragrance. She brings it to life with great personal style, energy and fun,” says Donatella Versace. Iris is the daughter of actor Jude Law.
6. Five. Our sense of smell can get used to a smell and literally stop registering it. You can avoid that by changing up your fragrances regularly. Perfumers recommend you rotate five different fragrances. You’ll actually smell them more clearly.
7. Traditionally, fragrance layering is a method of applying scented products to make a fragrance last longer. You usually start with a scented shower gel followed by a fragranced body lotion, then an eau de toilette or parfum – all featuring the same scent. This layering of the scent can make a fragrance last hours longer.
8. The second meaning of fragrance layering is a more modern approach whereby a person layers different eau de parfums on his or her skin creating a custom smell. The key to making this work is to make sure that each fragrance you spritz has at least one note in common such as citrus or vanilla. This is a very popular practice in the Middle East.
9. Summer limited-edition fragrances tend to be lighter and fresher due to the hot, humid weather. Perfumers will often use bergamot citrus, coconut accord, tiaré flower (also called Tahitian gardenia), mint, solar accord (the scent of warm sun on skin), jasmine, driftwood, and sea water accord (that smells like an ocean breeze)
10. Coco Chanel.  “No elegance is possible without perfume. It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory,” she said.
11. Before 10 am in the morning. That is because your sense of smell is at its peak first thing in the morning. By the time to get to late afternoon, your nose has smelled several thousand different aromas and odours. It can become fatigued by late day.
12. The word perfume comes from the Latin phrase, ‘per’ meaning ‘thorough’ and ‘fumus’ meaning ‘smoke’. The French later gave the name ‘parfum’ to the smells produced by burning incense. Ancient cultures would burn a variety of resins and woods for religious ceremonies.
13. Queen Elizabeth 1. She so hated foul odours that she demanded all public spaces she visited by scented. This was long before modern hygiene practices and perfumes were used to mask odours.
14. Steam distillation is based on the principle that plant materials placed in boiling water will release their essential oils which then evaporate with the steam. Once the oil and steam have condensed, the oil will separate from the water and can be collected.
15. Nose. Typically, an individual must apprentice at a fragrance house for a minimum of six years before being considered a perfumer. A good ‘nose’ must be a meticulous chemist and a creative artist. Did you know there are more astronaut’s the planet than Master Perfumers?
16. Fragrances smell strong in summer months because scent molecules expand when heated. So during hot, humid days, the scent molecules in your favourite fragrance will expand and will become stronger. For this reason, you may want to apply one less ‘spritz’ or switch to a lighter version like an eau de toilette or cologne.
17. The ancient Egyptians. Their perfume containers were made from stone and alabaster and decorated with creative designs of wildlife, their Gods or everyday life. They were the first to create the ‘image in the bottle.’
18. The rind. Perfumers use a cold press process to extract the wonderful aroma from fresh lemons. Surprising, the juicy fruit inside isn’t used in scents.

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