Enhancing Inspired Fragrances
Just like wine, before perfumes are bottled they are aged in larger containers to fulfil their full potential. This is especially true when making a perfume which is high in natural ingredients or have a lot of rich base notes.
Why is Perfume Maceration important
The aging process of a fragrance is called ‘maceration’. This means that once the perfume concentrate is diluted in the desired solvent, usually perfumers alcohol, it is left to mature for several weeks in a cool dark area.
Aging the final solution gives the fragrance time to combine with the natural materials, to settle and mix well to reach a consistency or odour profile, which creates a structured and high-quality perfume. At this point the perfume is ready to be transferred to a bottle.
NB: Match Perfumes macerate all their fragrances for at least 6 weeks before bottling.
Maceration is a gradual process and once the perfume is bottled, the fragrance will continue to mature until the bottle is opened or exposed to sunlight for a period of time.
Perfume changes over time
Oxygen, light, heat and humidity are natural enemies of perfume. Exposing your perfume to these elements will speed up the aging/spoiling process. The longer it sits the more it changes. The fragrance may still smell good but will not likely smell the same as when it was first put in the bottle.
The maceration process is critical to the quality and beauty of the fragrance, particularly when large amounts of natural ingredients are part of the formula. These days many companies skip this practice, to save time and increase their cash flow.
Synthetic Copycat Perfumes
If a perfume is made with all synthetic ingredients, the maceration process is totally unnecessary, as they are single molecules that do not need settling out.