More expensive than gold: Top 8 most expensive perfume ingredients in the world

Have you ever wondered what is in creating your favorite aroma? And why are some perfumes so expensive? The secret, according to experts, lies in the main ingredients. Many ingredients are used when creating perfumes. Both the most expensive and expensive perfumes consist of natural oils obtained from certain types of flowers.

If you see very inexpensive perfumes that state that they contain one of these rare ingredients, they are most likely made of synthetic scents created in laboratories to simulate a real ingredient. They will smell nice, but will evaporate faster from your skin and will not have all the depth of the aroma. Byrdie writes about the most expensive perfume ingredients. If we talk about the cost of perfumes, the less the ingredient, the more expensive it will cost.

As for the ingredients, they can be obtained from the most unexpected sources: flowers, trees and even the glands of animals or the viscera. "The deficit makes things expensive, and the same applies to these materials. To produce one kilogram of essential oil, many flowers that are collected at certain times of the year. Thus, all these expensive materials are expensively expensive through sources.

" -says chemist-cosmetologist Ginger King Jasmine and its synthetic version is used in more than 80 percent of all women's perfumes. But to produce one pound of jasmine oil requires about 2000 pounds of jasmine flowers, and to obtain a 1/25 oz of absolute oil (the most valuable of oils because it is very concentrated) is required as much. Due to the huge amount of flowers needed for oil production, the price of jasmine oil is extremely high.

For comparison, 1/8 oz jasmine oil costs about $ 100, and 1/2 ounce of lavender oil costs $ 13. The extraction process is very time consuming and requires a large number of flowers that bloom only at night, which complicates the harvest. Jasmine flowers are incredibly fragile and should be placed in special baskets to protect the petals from damage. They should also be processed immediately into oil. Aroma: floral, sweet, clean and slightly fruit, with a shade of green notes.

It goes well with: a rose that creates a classic floral and sweet aroma; sandalwood - for warm, creamy and slightly woody aroma; vanilla for sweet, warm aroma. Like jasmine, rose oil is found in most aromas. But the production of roses takes even more time and, therefore, even more expensive than jasmine production. The production of a pound of oil requires 10,000 pounds of rose petals.

Bulgarian roses, especially Rosa Damascena, are known for their exquisite aroma, but are grown in limited regions, such as rose valley in Bulgaria, which produces 70 percent of rose oil in the world. Roses in this valley are harvested more than 300, but the collection season is very short. Workers have only a few weeks from May to June to collect flowers, and they have to do their work in the dark before sunrise.

Each flower should be cut individually, put in willow baskets and immediately bring to the plant. "The extraction method, known as steam distillation, requires a lot of time and requires a considerable number of rose petals to produce a small amount of essential oil," says chemist-cosmetologist David Petrillo. Not surprisingly, 1/8 of an oz of concentrated essential oil of the Bulgarian rose on a site like Mountain Herbs costs tremendous $ 237.

Due to the high price for rose oil, fraud is thriving. Some rose manufacturers deceive the system by diluting the oil with essential oils of geraniums or palmasis that contain the same chemicals as rose oil. Aroma: intense floral, with a rich, deep note of the rose, with sweet, spicy and honey shades. It goes well with: geranium, for slightly citrus aroma; jasmine - for the drunk, sweet and floral aroma; Patchouli - for earthy, wood and exotic aroma.

"Irisa essential oil is obtained from iris rhizomes, including Iris Germanica and Iris Pallida," says Petrillo, noting that these rhizomes take several years to mature before they can be processed. The extraction process involves drying rhizomes for several years and grinding them into powder. James Craven, Les Senteurs, Archivist, called Iris one of the three most expensive perfume ingredients in the world. Why? Because the creation of such material is a huge headache.

You will need one ton of bulbs (roots) of irises aged two to five years to produce 2 kilograms of essential oil. Aroma: powder, violet, slightly wood. It goes well with: a violet that creates a soft and romantic powder aroma; rose - an early flower mixture with powdered and slightly sweet tint; sandalwood - for cream and deep warm aroma; cedar for wood-earthy aroma. UDD is obtained from a wild tropical tree, called a alown tree, UDOM, a paradise tree and an agricultural tree.

Wood should be infected with mold called Phialophora parasitica, which forces the wood to secrete UD, a dark, extremely fragrant resin. Apparently, only 2 percent of agar trees produce UD, which makes it incredibly valuable and therefore expensive. Due to its rarity, high demand and complexity of gathering, UDA oil is one of the most expensive oils in the world. At some point, its value was estimated 1. 5 times higher than the cost of gold, and was sometimes called "liquid gold".

UD was popular in the Middle East for centuries, and now in the West it has been experiencing a boom: more and more brands are creating scents based on wood and smoke oil. But they all have their price. Gucci oud aroma from Gucci will cost you $ 137. The Tom Ford's Tobacco Oud Favorite costs $ 340. Aroma: wood, smoky goes well with: floral and woody aromas.

Although natural musk is one of the most expensive products of animal origin in the world, the vast majority of musk produced and sold in the world is synthetic. Why? Because in order to get a real, natural musk, you must first kill the male Kabarga, who is endangered in the disappearance in the Nepal region. It is absolutely unethical and cruel.

"Nowadays, musk can be obtained by synthesis, but even if synthetic materials are used to achieve such aroma, it can still be expensive," - says King about the ingredient that smells of heat, wood and, well, animal. Natural musk was widely used by the end of the 19th century, when ethics began to play a decisive role, and people stopped slaughter Kabargi because of hunting and trade prohibitions.

Unfortunately, the poachers still kill these deer, collect their musk pods (glands located in the abdominal cavity near the penis of the deer), and then create grain from the dried musk pod. "Musk is a universal and fundamental note of aroma that goes well with a wide range of aromas, creating complex and attractive aromatic combinations. It can add aroma depth, sensuality and durability," - says Petrillo. Aroma: deep, wood and resinous aroma with smoky, animalistic and balsamic shades.

It goes well with: vanilla, which creates a warm, sweet aroma; amber for a warm, deep aroma; Parsule - a deep earthy aroma with sweet and woody shades; Sandal for cream and smooth aroma. Ambra today is one of the three most expensive perfume ingredients. It is a secret that is produced by sperm whales, and it is rare because the sperm whales disappear and because it is not easy to find the finished ambuba. Ambra can be found in the ocean, or when it throws it ashore.

Aroma: a unique and complex aroma with marine, sweet and earthy notes that highlights the oceanic aroma. It goes well with: Citrus: fresh and spicy citrus notes, such as bergamot or lemon, can complement the ambra, adding the aroma of a bright and inspiring aspect; vanilla for warm, creamy, attractive aroma; iris - powder and sophisticated floral aroma.

In the culinary world, saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, but it is also used in perfumes because of its warm, spicy and earthy notes. According to Petrillo, each flower of the saffron crocus gives only a few threads of saffron, which makes it incredibly time -consuming. Shafran has a slightly sweet aroma with "shades of hay and earthy", and is often described as such that "has a complex, floral and to some extent medicinal aroma. " Aroma: floral, sweet, clean.

It goes well with: exotic flowers such as Frahipani, gardenia and magnolia. If you are a fan of sweet perfume, then most of all they contain tuberrose known to their drunk, sweet and floral aroma. Tuberose flowers, often used in elite perfumes, are difficult to grow and require special conditions for optimal growth, which increases their cost. Aroma: floral, sweet, clean. It goes well with: flower aromas such as gardenia, orange blossom and ylang-ylang.