Why Flowers Are Still the Preferred Source for Better Perfumes

While perfumes can be made from many different substances, like fruits, herbs, trees, grasses, tobacco and chocolate, and sometimes even from animal products, their base is very frequently the scent from flowers. Each particular flower has a particular smell that can add a distinctive quality to a perfume. Some flowers can generate even more than one aroma

The difference in the smell of a flower can even create to be studied like the differences between the flavors of a wine. Things like where the flower grew, soil conditions, even whether or not pesticides were used to care for the plant, all affect the way its flowers will smell.

Fragrance makers are finely aware of these things and select consequently. Fragrance makers separate the essential oils, the essence of aromas, from plants and flowers to use in their products. Essential oils can be extracted from pretty much any organic substance, but by far the most common ones used in fragrance creation are rose, jasmine and orange flowers. Another flower, somewhat less commonly used, is the ylang-ylang flower.

The ylang-ylang flower is the most foreign of the common ingredients in perfumes. It is found merely in Southeast Asia. The best ylang-ylang flowers are harvested only after the buds have been open for a couple weeks, and then instantly processed, like jasmine.