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The golden number of perfume

Do you like numbers?

Well, here is a collection of figures that shed light on this astonishing mystery called perfume in all its facets.

Approximately 2000 fragrances launched in 2018, compared to 170 in 2006.
There are 700 rose varieties, but only two roses are used in large quantities in perfumes: the Damascena rose and the Centifolia rose.
5 kg of May roses (Centifolia) are picked in Grasse per hour, i.e. 40 tons per season.
400 kg of Centifolia rose petals or roses of May give 1 kg of concrete and 600 grams of absolute. This rose appeared in the 17th century in the Grasse region.
Tuberose: 20 flowers per flower spike, 1000 flowers per kg collected, 2 tons of flowers give 1 kg of concrete.
There are 200 varieties of jasmine in the world, but only two are used in perfumery: Sambac jasmine and Grandiflorum.
Grandiflorum Jasmine: 700 kg of jasmine flowers are needed to produce 1 kg of absolute, the quintessence of perfume, 8000 flowers per kg collected.
Iris Pallida: 3 years is the time the rhizome spends in the ground, 3 years is the drying time of the rizhome.
2.8 tons of iris give one kg of essential oil called iris butter because it sets at room temperature. 16 tons is the quantity to obtain 1 kg of absolute.

12°C is the ideal temperature for storing perfumes (the wine cellar is ideal).
100 is the number of ingredients that go into the composition of a perfume. Contrary to popular belief, the simpler the formula, the more difficult it is to master, because the slightest defect then takes on its full meaning. So we can say that the shortest formulas are the best!
365 days is the average time to develop a perfume, with an average of 500 tests. But it seems that Fracas and other masterpieces were written in 1 day!
5000 olfactory receptors located in a small part of the nasal epithelium, which detect odorous molecules ; at the age of 10 years our nose is apparently the sharpest.
1000 natural materials available to a perfumer, and 3000 synthetic, but 1000/1500 maximum (natural and synthetic) are on the perfumer's organ commonly used by raw material companies (Givaudan, IFF, Firmenich, etc) or in-house perfumers (like Guerlain, Chanel).
A custom-made perfume (serious: with dermatological tests) varies between 10,000 euros and 45,000 euros.
15 seconds recommended so as not to saturate the sense of smell between two perfume tests, 4 perfumes maximum to be tried on the skin, 3 is the ideal.

Hopefully all these numbers didn't give you a headache!

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.