Best perfume: Basic framework

Perfume oils usually contain tens to hundreds of ingredients and these are typically organized in a perfume for the specific role they will play. These ingredients can be roughly grouped into four groups:

- Primary scents

Can consist of one or a few main ingredients for a certain concepts, such as "rose". Alternatively, multiple ingredients can be used together to create an "abstract" primary scent that does not bear a resemblance to a natural ingredient. For instance, jasmine and rose scents are commonly blends for abstract floral fragnances. Cola flavourant is good exampleof an abstract primary scent.

- Modifiers

These ingredients alter the primary scent to give the perfumer a certain desired character: for instance, fruit esters may be included in a floral primary to create a fruity floral; calone and citrus scents can be added to create a "fresher" floral. The cherry scent in cherry cola can be considered a modifier.

- Blenders

A large group of ingredients that smooth out the transitions of a perfume between different "layers" or bases. Common blending ingredients include linalool and hydroxycitronellal

- Fixatives

Used to support the primary scent by bolstering it. Many resins and wood scents, and amber bases are used as fixatives.

The top, middle, and base notes of a fragnance may have seperate primary scents and supporting ingredients. The perfumer's fragnance oils are then blended with ethyl alcohol and water, aged in tanks for several weeks and filtered through processing equipment to, respectively allow the perfume ingredients in the mixture to stabilize and remove any sediment and particles before the solution can be filled into the perfume bottles.