Chicago: No. 2 Trendiest City Files is a website about perfume, perfume ingredients and the history of perfumery. It is designed for different kinds of users: perfumers, evaluators, chemists but also students and marketing people.
Each profile is looking for a different kind of information: perfumers are interested in raw materials, their uses and regulatory notes, whereas evaluators want to know about the olfactory characteristics of an ingredient.
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Perfume ingredients are complex mixtures and often considered ‘trade secrets’ by cosmetic manufacturers. The term ‘fragrance’ or ‘parfum’ on an ingredient list may refer to a mixture of dozens of chemicals. In order to be able to sell their products, they need to adhere to certain labeling regulations set out by the US FDA.
While there is debate within the perfume industry about how to organize and describe fragrance families, most agree that the following families make up a large part of the scent vocabulary. Each family has its own unique characteristics that make it possible to identify the scents of flowers, fruits, woods or spices with a single sniff.
Perfumes are sold in bottles, sprays, perfume pens and vials. The type of perfume application may influence the perception of a perfume. Sprays tend to be lighter and more airy, whereas vials are more concentrated. The newer ‘perfume pen’, a pen-like applicator that allows you to apply fragrance with just a few swipes, is ideal for on-the-go applications. Perfumes can be worn alone or layered to create an individual signature style.