France's perfume and cosmetics industry is world-famous. It ranks alongside French fashion and French wine as the top three commodity industries in France, which is the pride of the French people.
The French began to use essences, spices and cosmetics around the13rd century, mainly in the aristocratic society. In the court at that time, not only women were happy to make up, but also men were happy to make up and tattoo their lips. 1730 The first French flavor and fragrance production company was born in Grasse, and later it reached hundreds at most. Now it has merged into three large-scale flavor and fragrance production enterprises. According to a friend, Glass has been undertaking the business of blending perfume for French famous brand perfume sales companies, but the famous brand perfume sales companies only transfer neutral alcohol and distilled water in proportion at most, and increase packaging on this basis. In France, few famous perfume companies make their own products completely.
In France, the development of perfume industry is closely related to the development of fashion industry. The combination of perfume industry and fashion industry is an interesting cultural phenomenon. Fashion designers find that sprinkling some perfume on fashion will bring excellent results to fashion show and selling perfume, so they sell perfume at the same time. Boiret is the first company engaged in fashion and perfume sales, followed by Chanel. 1925, Chanel launched "chanel no.5" perfume, which was a global success and was regarded as a milestone in the history of French perfume development. Up to now, almost all famous fashion companies have kept their own perfume brands. Of course, several famous brands have been dealing in perfume from the beginning.
Second, the type
The production of French perfume originally used natural raw materials. These raw materials come from a wide range: flowers (roses, jasmine), fruits (lemons, oranges), ball plants (tuberose) and so on. Due to the increase in the cost of producing these raw materials, only some flowers and plants are planted in Grasse area, and most of the raw materials have been imported.
The cost of natural raw materials is relatively high. For example, 600 kg of jasmine can only purify 1 kg of jasmine essence. Due to the development of chemical industry, at the beginning of the 20th century, people began to produce perfumes and cosmetics by synthetic methods, and since then, great changes have taken place in this field. Expand the range of fragrance and make up for the shortage of natural raw materials.
Aromatic products containing alcohol, namely perfume. It is made by diluting the prepared essence with neutral alcohol and distilled water. Perfume has different names according to the concentration of its essence, such as eau de toilette, cologne, perfume, perfume, essence and so on. These signs are basically marked on brand-name perfumes, and you can tell at a glance. It should be noted that not all essences can be used to prepare perfume with high concentration and pleasant smell, and some essences are in the best acceptable state when their concentration is low.
Third, perfume culture.
Perfume is a technical product, but it is also a cultural product. Making perfume is a complicated process. The distributor is a master of art, and he should create according to the changes and requirements of people's aesthetic taste. According to reports, the trial production of a new product usually takes at least one year, while its promotion takes several years and a lot of advertising expenses. You know, it is not easy to create new and distinctive products when there are thousands of products. Of course, the arrangement and combination of more than 8,000 kinds of essence raw materials and their different dosage will be endless. And with the development of science, people will find new raw materials that can be used to prepare perfume.
The choice of perfume is also very particular. Perfume also has personality. Every perfume has its meaning and aesthetic effect, so pay special attention when choosing perfume. First of all, we should distinguish between women's perfume and men's perfume. Women's perfume can not only satisfy women themselves, but also attract men, while men's perfume is the opposite. Secondly, when choosing perfume, we should pay attention to the occasion, object, season, time, clothing, personal age, personal physical condition and other factors. It is not easy to suit others, occasions and times, and depth. It can be said that the choice of perfume is a measure of the user's cultural quality and personal accomplishment.
Perfume originated from the word perfume, which comes from the Latin word "per fumum", meaning "penetrating smoke". The perfume mentioned in the Old Testament usually refers to the formation of a spice, which is consistent with the Latin definition. Egyptian history shows that essence and ointment are used in bathing and after bathing. They are usually kept in exquisite containers, which are found in the tombs of ancient Egypt.
In the Middle East and other parts of the Far East, as well as China, people have long learned to use the fragrance of spices to realize the pursuit of beauty. In BC 1500, the use of perfume became more and more common. Cleopatra often bathes with 15 kinds of perfume and sesame oil, and even soaks the sails with perfume. The ancient Romans liked to spray perfume everywhere, on horses and even in the mortar for building walls.
In ancient Egypt, it was illegal not to wear perfume in public places. After the death of the ancient Egyptians, the corpse was wrapped with spices to make it last forever (mummified). Ancient Greek women also put perfume on religious ceremonies.
Some people think that Persians discovered how to extract the essence from flowers by distillation; The Arabs created religious ceremonies using perfume.
It is their use of exotic spices that laid their important position in the perfume development industry in the next few centuries. Asians have a great influence on the development of perfume use. They think that perfume can not only make people more beautiful, but also make people live longer.
Later, with the decline of the Roman Empire, the development of perfume was divided into two different fields. On the one hand, German priests invented distillation technology; On the other hand, the perfume kingdom-a unique perfume introduced by France from the East, explores its aromatic characteristics.
As a result, European perfume technology began to enter a prosperous period.