Perfume is more than just an odor eliminator, it’s an expression of personal identity: what factors should you consider when choosing?

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Perfume is a cosmetic product that has evolved from ancient times to the present day, and it has become an important tool for expressing personal identity beyond simply eliminating odors. Perfumes are divided into different types based on the amount of fragrances they contain, with three main scents: top, middle, and base notes, which change over time and give off their own charm.

 

How much attention do you pay to the choice of perfume before going out? Do you enjoy wearing perfume? As the English term for wearing perfume is “wear a perfume”, perfume is a pleasure for the user, like wearing another piece of clothing. Furthermore, perfume has moved beyond its traditional purpose of eliminating bad odors and has become a way to express personal identity. This is important because just as we express our personality through our clothes, we can create our own unique mood and image through perfume.
The origins of perfume date back to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the world’s first recorded chemist is also known to have been a perfumer. Initially, it was used as part of religious rituals and ceremonies, especially as an offering to the gods, and evolved into incense burned or applied to the body. As such, perfume has been around for a long time, and its technology has steadily evolved. For example, in ancient times, clay earthenware was used as storage containers, whereas today, plastic containers are used. Early perfumes were also made from plants and animals, such as flowers, but technology has evolved and now perfumes are made from synthetic ingredients.
If you wanted to extract the scent of roses, you could only use natural ingredients, but nowadays, you can use synthetic ingredients to create the scent of roses. Of course, high-end perfumers still insist on using only natural ingredients, as natural ingredients provide a deep and complex fragrance, but synthetic ingredients are much cheaper and easier to extract than natural ingredients, so they are widely used to make relatively inexpensive perfumes. This difference between natural and synthetic ingredients has a huge impact on the quality and price of perfumes, and consumers will choose the one that suits their needs and budget.
It is a widely known fact that perfume is a cosmetic product made by diluting fragrances in a solvent such as alcohol. However, you may not know that perfumes are categorized into parfums, eau de parfum, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne based on the amount of fragrance they contain. Parfum is the strongest type of perfume and is made of 99% pure alcohol and 1520% perfume. Because it is the strongest perfume, it lasts the longest and is the most expensive. Eau de cologne, on the other hand, is the lightest perfume, with a fragrance concentration of 35%, and is also relatively inexpensive. Eau de toilette is a type of perfume that many people use without realizing it. Considering that a 50 ml bottle of eau de toilette from one brand can cost around $60, you can see how expensive fragrances can be.
Another characteristic of perfumes is that their scent changes over time. A common piece of advice when buying perfume is to spray it on and wait 30 minutes to see if you like the scent. This is the same as saying to look for top notes, middle notes, and base notes. Note here refers to the scent of the perfume, but the term note is used because the scent changes through the three notes, much like a musical performance. The top note is the strong scent that you smell immediately upon spraying the perfume, and it is very volatile, fading away in less than 10 minutes, leaving behind the first impression of the perfume. The middle notes are the center of the perfume, lasting for about three hours after the top notes have passed. If you’ve ever met someone and found their scent so mesmerizing, it’s because you were drawn to their middle notes. The base notes are the last part of the scent and they blend with the body odor to create a warm feeling. I like the lingering, warm scent to linger on my clothes until the day after I spray it on, so I pay particular attention to the base notes when choosing a perfume.
The longevity and performance of a perfume is another important consideration. How long a fragrance lasts after application and how well it performs in different environments are important to consumers. For example, in humid weather or high body temperatures, fragrances may spread and dissipate more quickly, while in dry environments they may linger longer. For this reason, it’s a good idea to consider your lifestyle and the environment in which you’re usually active when choosing a fragrance.
A stylish case design can be another attraction of a perfume. What makes a perfume with a seductive scent so appealing is a sexy case that matches the scent. Therefore, many perfume companies create cases with attractive shapes or interesting concepts rather than simple shapes. This is a strategy to give consumers a visual treat as well as a scent, and many people are actually attracted to the design of a perfume and decide to buy it.
Perfume is a complex process that involves extracting fragrances from numerous raw materials, creating a symphony of three notes, and packaging them in a case. As such, it’s a more complex process than making a piece of clothing, and it doesn’t come cheap, either. Now that you’ve compared it to wearing clothes, it’s clear why wearing perfume is called “wear a perfume”. If you don’t already wear perfume, it’s a good idea to treat it like you would a piece of clothing: buy a perfume and feel the scent. The process of choosing and using perfume is not just a daily habit, it can be an important way to express yourself and make an impression on others. As such, perfume has become a deeply ingrained cultural element in our lives.

 

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Hello! Welcome to Polyglottist. This blog is for anyone who loves Korean culture, whether it's K-pop, Korean movies, dramas, travel, or anything else. Let's explore and enjoy Korean culture together!

About the blog owner

Hello! Welcome to Polyglottist. This blog is for anyone who loves Korean culture, whether it’s K-pop, Korean movies, dramas, travel, or anything else. Let’s explore and enjoy Korean culture together!