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Perfume History

In acient times, perfume existed mainly in the form of incense which was burned to emit a dense, fragrant smoke. Women who wanted to be perfumed would light the incense and then stand over it, using a blanket or other drape to cover themselves up. This exposed their skin and clothing to the incense.

Since the smell of smoke is known to linger, this probably was a pretty effective way of becoming perfumed.

In fact, the word perfume is related to that early smoky technique. Perfume comes from the words "per" which sometimes means "through" and "fume" which is "smoke." People used to get perfumed through the smoke.

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Perfume and Beauty Quotates

Wish You Said That?
We're collecting quotations relating to perfume, beauty, and people involved in the perfume business. Now we're not exactly librarians so we are doing our best to be sure they are fact-checked but even experts sometimes dispute who said what. So this is our best stab. If you know of other fabulous perfume quotes, do send them to us! You can e-mail us at theperfumereporter@reddpublishing.com.

"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself." Og Mandino or Ralph Waldo Emerson (disputed attribution)

"Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?" Yves St. Laurent

"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it." Marilyn Monroe

"I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon." Proverbs 7:17 (Bible)

"I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas?" Jean Kerr

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye." Miss Piggy

"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud." Coco Chanel

"New generations want to buy their own brands...They don't necessarily want to buy a brand that's been around for a long time." Estee Lauder

"Music at times is more like perfume than mathematics." Gabriel Marcel

"For me, elegance is not to pass unnoticed but to get to the very soul of what one is." Christian Lacroix

"Beauty is also submitted to the taste of the time, so a beautiful woman from the Belle Epoch is not exactly the perfect beauty of today, so beauty is something that changes with time." Karl Lagerfeld

"Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years." Oscar Wilde

"Beauty without expression is boring." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Can anyone remember love? It's like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume." Arthur Miller

"A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future." Coco Chanel

"I'ts always the new challenges that keep me interested." Calvin Klein

"In order to be irreplabeable, one must always be different." Coco Chanel

"I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little--if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny." Coco Chanel

"Thirteen has always been a lucky number for me." Calvin Klein

"I'll pass somebody, smell their perfume, and it will remind me of my very first date. I smell it, and I'm back in school!" Garth Brooks

"I'd aske my mother what she did in the war when her flat had been blown up. She remembered taking a bottle of Shocking perfume, by Schiaparelli. She said, 'When there's nothing left, you stick to the superfluous.'" Jane Birkin

"What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course." Marilyn Monroe

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Ingredients: Bergamot

Bergamot on the Vine

Bergamot is an ingredient used frequently in perfumes as well as in some teas. Most notably, Earl Grey tea, is infused with bergamot.

The term bergamot refers to both the tree and the fruit it produces. Bergamots are a type of orange that grow mainly in Italy.

A bergamot is a cross between the pear lemon (which gives the fruit its characteristic off-round shape) and the Seville orange. Somet types of bergamot are crosses between the pear lemon and the grapefruit.

Although bergamots can be grown in other parts of the world, Italy is most famous for this fruit and it is reputed that the best bergamot comes from the Italian region of Calabria.

The fruit itself is sour but can be eaten. In fact, in Italy you can buy bergamot marmelade. In Greece, bergamot peel is candied and sold.

For perfume, the peel is used. Within the peel is the essential oil that perfumists use. (This is also the stuff that is used as an aromatic in teas and other foods).

When German perfume makers introduced cologne in the town of Cologne (way back in the 1600s), bergamot was used in that. It has been used in perfume pretty consistently since then.