The Secret Life of Cologne and Perfume

We all feel the need to look, feel and, yes, smell good at all important occasions in our life. Whether it is an important interview, celebration or a date, smelling good is one of the assumed pre-requisites. After all, one cannot expect to impress one's peers or the people one comes in contact with by subjecting them to offensive body odor!!! Also, a distinct, pleasant smell which we wear also helps others to identify us as it keeps on lingering with them even after we leave a certain place.

Nowadays, thousands of perfumes and colognes have flooded the market and adjudging which smell goes with which occasion can be a pretty confusing task in itself. Also, most people often fail to distinguish between cologne and a perfume.

A perfume is basically an amalgamation of various essential oils and solvents which yield a pleasant smell. While the use of perfumes is mostly associated with women, cologne is used by men. Colognes and perfumes aim at serving the same purpose but they differ in their concentration. Perfumes mostly consist of a higher concentration of pure aromatic oils as compared to cologne. Also, colognes have a shorter duration and their smell wears off more quickly as they are less intense when compared to perfumes.

Perfumes date back to some of the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations where rulers used to spray scented oils on themselves to smell more appealing. The word perfume derives its origin from the Latin word "per fume" which literally means through smoke.

But, since their origin the business of bottling alluring fragrance i.e. manufacturing perfumes has come a long way. Today, perfumes and colognes hold a multimillion-dollar industry. And, owning some of the finest, pure perfumes can burn a hole in one's pocket. Most of the perfumes and colognes are extremely expensive, depending on the concentration of pure oils in their composition.