Careers in Chemistry

Perfumer

A perfumer, sometimes called a "nose," creates new fragrances by combining fragrant chemicals. These chemicals can be natural or synthetic. Natural sources include plants such as flowers, fruits, leaves, and wood. Musks from animals are extremely expensive natural chemicals used in perfuming. Honeycombs, lichens, and seaweed are also natural sources of fragrant compounds. Synthetic chemicals are usually used in place of natural ones due to the much lower cost of synthetics. Fragrances are usually a combination of natural and synthetic chemicals.

Think of all the products that have a smell. Perfumes, colognes, air fresheners, soaps, and cosmetics are a few. There are only a thousand perfumers in the world who produce all those scents. The process of creating a new fragrance is usually started by someone or some company that needs a fragrance for the product they produce. The person or company needing the new fragrance describes it to the perfumer in words. The description includes things like the mood of the fragrance and what feelings it will arouse. Then the perfumer combines some fragrances from his library of essential oils and other fragrant chemicals to create the scent the customer is looking for.