ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Absolute: It is a concentrate obtained from a concrete or a resinoid. These are washed with ethanol and then glazed (at a temperature between and) to solidify the fatty bodies (cires) then removed by filtration. Finally alcohol is eliminated by distillation to give the absolute.

Accord: When a perfumer combines two or more raw materials and gets a particular smell. The quality of its harmony depends on the balance of the proportions and the olfactory intensity of each one.

Alambic: Apparatus for the separation of products by heating and cooling (distillation). The apparatus consists of a tank in which water is heated under grids where the perfume materials are arranged. A swan collar overcomes this tank and leads the water vapor charged with perfumed molecules to a condenser (fridge) where it will be liquefied. Water and essential oils are separated by difference in density in a container called Florentine vase.

Alcohol: or spirit of wine is ethanol. It may also be other alcohols, such as isopropyl alcohol (propanic alcohol). Used in perfumery as a solvent, holder or thinner for perfume.

Alcohol: The alcohol is the result of maceration of plants in alcohol. The extraction operation is carried out in a ironing chamber.

Aldehyde: An aldehyde is an organic compound, part of the carbonyl family, one of which is carbonyl in the primary carbon chain. The first perfume to use aldehyde is Chanel's. Their use is at the origin of the perfumes of the "Aldéhydé" family.

Grey amber: Grey amber is a pathological secretion of a very common cachalot: Physeter macrocephalus, apparently due to irritation of the stomach by squid beaks and some crustaceans. The animal releases amber spontaneously. Freshly expelled, amber usually has a dark blackish colour, a soft consistency, and a sickly smell. Under the simultaneous action of seawater and the atmosphere, amber becomes more and more light, silver grey to gold yellow, and eventually becomes almost white. Its smell refines, it becomes suave, very pleasant, characteristic. The bacterium Spirillum recti physeteris is believed to be responsible for the release of this pleasant grey amber odor into the digestive tract of the cachalot. Cabalots are prone to colic and when they warm up quietly on the surface, it is possible to hear huge gargoyles from their bowels, punctuated by monstrous rots that can be heard over great distances at sea.

Ambré : Olfactory family of perfumes also called Oriental. The family owes its name to François Coty's antique amber perfume, the first oriental fragrance launched in 1908.

Anosmia: L