Luxury in a Bottle: How Perfumes Are Made? Making perfume is an art form that was first developed by the ancient Egyptians, and later refined by the Romans, Persians and Arabs. However, it is in the Islamic cultures that we owe much of the contributions to the development of perfumery, or the art of making perfume. They can be credited to perfecting the steam distillation method of extracting fragrances as well as the use of then-unconventional raw materials.

Especially on ancient civilisations wherein water was a scarcity and bathing was a luxury, masking smells became a necessity. Perfumery became so ingrained into their lives that it crossed beyond its basic use of providing fragrance to other places in their culture. Early Egyptians anointed their dead with perfume, and offered deities their own specific fragrance.

Since early times, perfume has been a mark of extravagance – a status symbol – that separates the wealthy from the poor. They were kept in extravagant perfume bottles, and were considered as gifts worthy of a king.

Initially, perfume was made using only natural ingredients and resources. Oil was extracted from plants, flowers, spices, roots, resin, and even animal by-products, and then mixed with resources like petrochemicals, alcohol, coal or tar.

Luxury Perfume Bottles Today. Nowadays, chemicals can recreate the fragrances of these natural ingredients, and we have modern technology to thank that for. It has helped evolve perfumery by having the ability to recreate fragrances of non-oily substances.

There are five ways of extracting oils from plant substances to create perfume. These ways are solvent extraction, enfleurage, steam distillation, expression, and maceration.