How many ingredients are used in making a perfume.

Many perfume ingredients go into the making of a fragrance or perfume and many hours of research and study is conducted to ascertain the best ingredients to use, based on the base market being targeted for a new perfume. Nearly two hundred chemicals and compounds can be found in a typical aromatic mixture. The very least amount of components is around fifty, with alcohol, oils, animal product, chemicals, water and some natural or synthesized products being included.

Fragrant bases will include the notes of a perfume, being the top, middle and base and determine how the fragrance evolves over time, from first spray or application, to a few hours later. The development and maturity of the fragrance, can all be predetermined by the perfumeries and manufacturing scientists, who concoct the mixtures of colorants, aromatics, chemicals and aromas to form the notes of the fragrance. The notes are layered in such a manner that the evaporation and natural tendencies of the aromatic components help with the evolution of the fragrance once applied or sprayed.

A number of fragrance ingredients used to make perfumes are derived from animals, and some, like musk are extremely popular. The heady rich fragrant burst of musk has made it a sort after component, and ensures a very marketable product in the end. Synthesized compounds are thrown into the mix of ingredients, as are some natural substances. If one is to go by some of the ingredient labelling, the reference to "natural" substances is actually a referral to an animal byproduct or oil. These oils can only be acquired from source, and musk can be obtained from a number of animals that produce the scent. Further on the list of usual perfume ingredients is alcohol, and this can be manufactured from a number of carbohydrate sources to produce the end product. Water is also amongst the top perfume ingredients making up a fragrance or perfume