How are perfumes made?

Well, I just cut and pasted this, sorry, but it’s best to be accurate:

“Musk is the name originally given to a substance with a penetrating odor obtained from a gland of the male musk deer, which is situated between its stomach and genitals. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name, originated from Sanskrit muṣká meaning “testicle”, has come to encompass a wide variety of substances with somewhat similar odors although many of them are quite different in their chemical structures. They include glandular secretions from animals other than the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors.[1]

Until the late 19th century the fragrance was only obtained from natural sources.[2] Now synthesized compounds are used almost exclusively.[2] The organic compound primarily responsible for the characteristic odor of musk is muscone.”

So I see that mostly we don’t use the real thing much any more. You have to kill the deer for it and that’s now mostly illegal around the world. But apparently there is still some poaching going on. I really don’t like the idea of having the smell (real or synthesised) in my perfume, anyway.

The classy, expensive perfumes do have the original smell in them - I think it’s distilled in some way (e.g. rose petals) but you’ll need an expert to tell you how they do that. The cheaper ones are artificial copies, I think,

The really yucky thing in some expensive perfumes is musk, though. Do you know what real musk is?

what is musk!