We all use perfumes but do we know about them or do we just follow trends ending up buying the most commercial essence in the market? At The Water Brand, we want to awaken interest in the perfume world and all its secrets. Would you like to become a real expert in perfumes? Continue reading and join our community! After some time, we continue our blog mentioning raw materials that are used in perfumes.
Let’s open this loving month learning about the origin, smell, and uses of the Violet.
Scientific name: Viola Odorata
This eye-catching colorful plant is in fact a low-growing perennial that has been deeply rooted in history. It is native from Europe, south of the Alps and west into France, but has increasingly expanded to northern areas because of widespread cultivation.
Its origins date back to Greek mythology, mother of Western philosophy. According to this tradition, violets were created by Zeus. The Greek word for violet is 'io'. Io is a character in Greek mythology who was Zeus lover. In order to keep secret their loving affair and not get discovered by Hera, Zeus turned Io into a cow and then created the sweet-scented flowers that we now know as violets so as to provide her with some special food.
After having been at the core of loving affairs at Olympus, under the nickname of ‘Corporal violet’ it became the emblem of Napoleon imperial empire. Astonishingly, this plant was part of a secret code that helped to determine someone’s loyalty to the emperor. Strangers where asked whether they liked violets. If the reply to the query was Yes (Oui) or No (Non), it revealed one who did not know the plot. If the answer was –’Eh bien’–, the loyalty of the person to the case was affirmed.
In the 19th century, cultivating violets became an enormous trade in Northern and Southern France and Middlesex, England. It was in this country that they were especially popular during the Victorian era.
Other common species of violet which are also scented or faintly scented include Viola alba, Viola hirta, Viola reichenbachiana, Viola palustris, for instance, which are characterized for their similarity.
Not belonging to wildlife plants, Viola Odorata must be planted from May to September. It blossoms from March to April.
As they are considered to be easily cultivated plants, if we want to grow our Viola Odorata we should just bear in mind that it requires moist soil in partial shade. Cuttings should be taken off from May to June so as to foster blossoming.
Process: Distillation/Solvent
Origin: Natural
Family: floral
Since this highly aromatic, solvent-extracted leaf absolute first appeared in the collection of natural perfumers, more and more people have wanted to include it on their perfume creations. In fact, it is regarded as a rare and irreplaceable element in perfumery. Viola odorata is used for its leaves rather than its flowers. Surprisingly, violet leaves lend a cut grass and cucumber note to fragrances, quite different from the sweet and powdery scent of violet flowers.
Leaf absolute is one of the costliest and most labor intensive natural fragrance materials to produce – approximately 2300 kilos of hand-picked leaves yield only 1 kilo of the absolute.
How could we define absolutes? Absolutes are highly concentrated, aromatic oils. The process of transforming raw materials into absolutes which are important materials in the creation of perfumes might be performed by distillation or solvent extraction as it was mentioned in our blog post about roses (link). The method selected depends on the flower features, for instance, some flowers are too delicate for steam distillation, like Jasmine, Mimosa and White and Pink Lotus. The extraction process involves lower temperatures than distillation, so the aromatic compounds in absolutes can smell exceptionally fresh.
Being a crucial element used in traditional fragances such as Coty L’Origan (1905), Guerlain L’Heure Bleue (1912) and Nina Ricci (1948), Viola Odorata has been defined as 'powdery, a little sweet and decidedly sad. Musically, a violet note would be a minor chord.'
In the innovate approach to perfume so as to create alcohol free fragrances, the smell of violet offers a new potential use as it has not been yet included in many commercialized scents.
Considering that with these flowers we can add powdery and sweet notes touch to a perfume, would you like us to introduce a new scent with these particularities? Sweet and powdery?
Leave a comment if you have liked this post. If you would like to know more about our products and the philosophy behind our company, don't hesitate to visit our website and our perfume shop. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news from The Water Brand directly to your inbox.
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The most intimate - it penetrates under your skin
The most public - those around you can feel it too
________Anecdote:
I happened to take the metro in Barcelona, it was full, 8am, everyone went to work. I find a seat and sit next to a person, I smell his scent and it started bothering me. It looked like he had fallen into his perfume bottle. And yet, it is not his fault! And here's why ... the 80% alcohol in scent helps the scent molecules disperse into the air around you, so you feel like you're walking with a scent cloud.________________
At The Water Brand, we opt for an elegant “sillage” (not too much) overwhelming. We create fragrances that make you feel good and happy to YOU. And that does not necessarily mean the race for power. As stated, these are alcohol-free perfumes, which do not seek to impose their trail on others but to keep the scent experience to oneself.
The scented particles are deposited elegantly and lightly on your skin, for a more intimate and personal use that invite you to get closer (rather than sniffing).
The creamy watery texture is a texture that brings perfect sensoriality: the notes that melt on your skin, like a second skin. The sensory experience is at the source of our perfumery.
Health point: Our perfumes and our trail, what does that say?
When you wear perfume, have you ever thought about whether your coworker, boyfriend / ie, child or family tolerates it? Sensitivity to perfume is a very common condition and the discomfort experienced by it is very real and can manifest itself as respiratory problems, headaches, tightness of the throat, itchy eyes and fatigue.
It is not the smell that bothers but the volatile organic compounds, that is, the substances of the perfume that are found in the air. A perfume can contain more than 100 components and alcohol causes a very large increase in the amount of VOC (volatile organic component) in the air.
At The Water Brand, our perfumes are not aggressive and heady for you and above all do not disturb those around you. Make way for alcohol-free perfumes that respect your nose and loved ones.
So what's your “sillage”? You wear it to seduce someone or to please you, to mark your territory or surround yourself with your protective bubble ... Looking forward to reading you. Leave us a comment
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A fragrance without roses is almost unthinkable as a love affair without kisses. On this next blog category for raw materials we will talk about one of the most important flower of all in perfumery: the rose. Let’s learn about its origin, smell, treatment, and how it’s being used in perfumery.
Would you like to become a real expert in perfumes? Continue reading and join our community!
Scientific name: Rosa
This elegant and symbolic flower has occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of people everywhere. Fossils records show rose to be one of the most ancient of flowers and probably originated in Central Asia but spread and grew wild over nearly the entire northern hemisphere. It all started about 5000 years ago and have been an intimate part of human civilization ever since.
It is said that Cleopatra was filling a room with rose petals to have a passionate love affair with Marc Anthony. (Ohlala). Romans were also building lavish rose gardens and decorating banquet tables with thousands of rose petals. They believed that roses had refreshing properties. Ancient woman used cosmetically in the form of rosewater for face masks, but also in blush, eye shadow and even deodorant.
The rose belongs to the family Rosaceae and genus Rosa with around 150 different species. From the point of view of a nose: sometimes powdery, sometimes woody, musky, myrrh-y, clove-like, sometimes fruity, or just blowsily feminine – but always, intensely romantic.
The most common rose used in perfume is the Rosa Damascea, with climatic features such as altitude, temperature, rainfall, humidity and sunlight create a favourable environment for growing the highest quality roses in the world. The blooming season lasts only one month from mid-May to mid-June. Workers wake up from early morning in harvesting May to reach the rose gardens at the first light of the day. The pick-up starts at 5:00am and ends at 11:00am at the latest. The rose flower should always be collected in the morning when there is no strong sunlight. The sun rays decrease the rose’s oil yield.
From petal to essence, around 70% of the rose oil in the world comes from Bulgaria. Other significant producers are Turkey, Iran and Morocco, and precious, limited quantities from Grasse.
Process: Distillation/Solvant
Origin: Natural
Family: Floral
Rose essential oil is obtained from the petal of the rose. It can be done in two ways: by distillation, it takes about 3.5 tonnes of rose petals to make 1 kg of essence. The petals are placed in a tank with water and heated up to a specific temperature until obtaining the essential oil from the odorous prominent vapour. By extraction with volatile solvent: 700kg of petals for 1kg of absolute. From the same quantity of flower, we obtain 6 times more absolute than essential oil. That’s why rose’s absolute costs less.
The rose fragrance is used in 70% of woman fragrances and 30% of men’s. The rose offers recognizable olfactory notes among all. Belonging to the olfactory family of “florals”, the rose is the very symbol of femininity. Her character is heady, incandescent, even violent. And with more than 450 different scent molecules, the rose is a raw material from which we can extract a multitude of facets; vegetal, fruity, lemony, spicy, fresh, powdery nuances ...
The perfume “Bossa Wood” alcohol-free perfume by The Water Brand is inspired by the classical and modern scents of history. Starting with very fresh and spicy notes of Cardamom, Cinnamon and Cloves. In the middle notes, the accords of Turkish Rose and Ylang-Ylang with traces of Carrot Seeds give an impression of extreme sensuality. It is said to be daring, even rebellious, fresh and chic. The rose brings a touch of femininity and originality to the notes which all tend to be alike: woody and spicy.
A fragrance that possesses timeless appeal and cause an explosion of memories and trigger powerful images and emotions. All the notes are harmonious in an eternally beautiful way.
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Leave a comment if you have liked this new category. If you would like to know more about our products and the philosophy behind our company, don't hesitate to visit our website and our perfume shop. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news from The Water Brand directly to your inbox.
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At The Water Brand, part of our mission is to teach you a little bit everyday more about the perfume world and all its secrets. Would you like to become a real expert in perfumes? Continue reading and join our community! We open a new blog category for raw materials used in perfumes. Let’s start with the plum! You will learn about its origin, smell, and how it’s being used in perfumery.
Scientific name: Prunus Domestica
We do not know the exact origin of the plum tree that is cultivated today. It seems, however, that this one is the results of a cross between several European and Asian species dating back thousands of years. The cultivation of plums seems to be very old. Archaeologists have found cores similar to those of the Mirabelle plum dating back to the Bronze Age. It is also knowing that in Egypt, dried plums were placed in the tombs of the pyramids.
The plum, often hybridized with other species, and now has around 400 different varieties. The flesh of the plum is fibrous, juicy and very sweet when ripe.
When it comes to eating the fruits, plums develop for 3 to 4 months from blossoms, and ripen from hard and green to fully colored and soft on the tree. Plums will only be ripe on the tree for about 2 weeks and drop as they become over-ripe. Usually, they start to ripen in late May. The season goes until around the start of October.
Process: Distillation
Origin: Artificial
Family: Fruity
In perfumery, it is nearly impossible and very expensive to extract plum oil. Therefore, plum fragrances are reproduced synthetically, thanks to the “damascone” molecule (also present in roses). This is what occurs for many of fruits, also because it reduces the risks of allergens present naturally in the raw material.
The plum fragrance is used in both men’s and women’s perfumery. Plum offers velvety, sweet and gourmet fragrances with floral and sweet facets. Plums belong to the “fruity” olfactory family and are mainly found in the top note. As in the perfume “Bossa Wood” alcohol-free perfume by The Water Brand.
Plum on the top note, brings its very sweet-sour nuances to the heart of the fragrance with the peach, and balance it perfectly with the explosion of spicy refined notes: clove, cardamom and cinnamon. The base is rather woody. The result is an elegant urban fragrance that brings you a whole new vibe.
Depending on the variety of the plum, perfumers put the spotlight on either its sweet, fruity side, its floral side or its gourmet accord.
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Leave a comment if you have liked this new category. If you would like to know more about our products and the philosophy behind our company, don't hesitate to visit our website and our perfume shop. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news from The Water Brand directly to your inbox.
]]>The Water Brand is first and foremost a company that was launched as the result of an unpleasant personal experience. Here is my story …
You know those little beasts that sneak into our kitchens and invade our house at night. Yes, that's it – cockroaches! Well, it was the start of a long fight for me and my body, but one that led to an entrepreneurial revelation many years down the line.
Exactly 6 years ago, following a cockroach infestation in my apartment in Barcelona, we called in a professional to eliminate the insects. The same day, my roommates and I returned to the apartment, and a few hours later, I start to feel itching, tingling, and swelling all over my body.
I didn't want to leave my house anymore to go to class or anywhere else where I would be faced with other people. I completely lost my self-confidence, and I couldn't understand what my body was telling me and why the swelling and itching never stopped.
Doctors simply observed that I had symptoms of "hypersensitivity" but no real solution to the issue was provided.
This ordeal lasted for more than 4 months until the day a doctor diagnosed me with poisoning from a powerful insecticide. They told me that the only solution was to eliminate it from my body.
In January 2021, I finally stopped taking antihistamines. My skin is gradually starting to recover. However, I still experience the after-effects of this ordeal. My skin is extremely sensitive, my body can no longer tolerate seawater (and I am an avid diver), and I regularly feel tingling. My skin has dried out a lot, and above all, I no longer use cosmetics that contain alcohol because my skin dries up and becomes even itchier.
In March 2019, I joined a high-end perfume house, and I started to travel frequently around the world, particularly to the Middle East, to showcase our fragrance collection for women and men. I quickly became fascinated by their culture and their unique and pure approach to creating perfume for women with solutions that were often alcohol-free.
In May 2020, during the health crisis, I lost my job, but the desire to become an entrepreneur and launch a business took over. I decided to embark on a crazy adventure – creating a perfumery offering an alternative to traditional perfumes with alcohol-free perfumes.
To clearly differentiate our perfumes from other options on the market, we have created a full range of alcohol-free perfumes. Our perfumery is like nothing you've ever experienced before. Our products are kinder to your skin, alcohol-free, and come in a spray format. All of our perfumes are water-based and 100% made in Spain.
If you would like to know more about our products and the philosophy behind our company, don't hesitate to visit our website and our perfume shop. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news from The Water Brand directly to your inbox.
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Fresh, light, and sweet. A scent can awaken memories of past vacations. But how can you be sure that it isn’t harmful when you expose yourself to the sun? With the risk of photosensitisation and other dangers, you might want to think twice about choosing one of those trendy scents for the summer. Instead, The Water Brand offers you a stunning scent while looking after your health!
In Europe, cosmetics legislations are some of the strictest in the world. The perfume industry is also regulated by the IFRA Standards (International Fragrance Association). Its role is to ensure that perfumes are safe for humans, and among other things, that there is no risk of photosensitisation and phototoxicity for the skin. Today, the oils of lemon, bergamot or mandarin, which are used by perfumers, are “cleaned” of all traces of photosensitising molecules before use.
Pure alcohol is not recognised as a photosensitiser. However, the drawback is that it can negatively dry out the skin and disturb the hydrolipidic film, which is the skin's natural barrier, and weaken the epidermis. The sun also has a drying effect, so it is best to avoid spraying perfume all over your body before going out to try and catch a tan. Once the surface of the skin has reddened and has been attacked by alcohol, exposure to the sun is strongly discouraged because it accentuates the original burn.
- Spray perfume on your clothes.
- Scent your hair.
- Put perfume on areas of your body that are not exposed to the sun.
If your skin is regularly exposed to the sun, alcohol no longer has any real use because it evaporates even faster in the sun. Under the higher summer temperatures, it loses its effectiveness and no longer works to fix the aromatic notes of a perfume. If it is not photosensitising, alcohol dries out the skin and can increase irritation.
These perfumes are ideal for the sun, but that's not their only benefit! Alcohol-free perfumes are essentially composed of pure water and fragrance oils. They are softer, lighter and gentler for your skin. When things start heating up this summer, go skin safe with alcohol-free perfumes.
Our tropical alcohol-free scent which clearly evokes the smell of holidays. Once the skin is heated by the sun, the milky aromas of fruits such as coconut or sambac jasmine emerge for your pleasure and enjoyment.
Discover all of The Water Brand's products today in our perfume shop, because you'll want to pack them all in your holiday suitcase when heading on holiday this summer! Try out the mini-box to enter the water perfume universe.
Leave a comment on this post or on our blog, and share with us your experience with The Water Brand and your reviews of our products. Your opinion is very important to us! Make sure you visit our blog again soon for more information about the benefits of switching to water-based perfume.
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When creating a fragrance, alcohol is the main ingredient used in the final composition of the perfume. Alcohol is a very good and cheap solvent which makes it very suitable to use with oils. Also, it helps the scent molecules to disperse into the air around you, so you feel like you are walking with a perfume cloud surrounding you.
Alcohol-based perfume isn’t the only way to go! You can find oil-based perfumes, solid perfumes and water-based perfumes, all of which are already very popular in the Middle East.
There are many reasons why people should consider wearing alcohol-free perfumes and opt to go with a more natural, water-based alternative.
1- Contrary to what one might believe, water-based perfumes offer long-lasting and full-bodied fragrances. Water is a very challenging base to work with, so we have worked hard to ensure that each scent we create has all of the intensity of a high-quality perfume that sprays into the finest of mists. Water-based perfumes offer an eau de parfum that can easily be worn all day and into the evening (containing an oil concentration of 15%).
2- Unlike alcohol, water is a very non-invasive chemical for the human body. Our formula allows us to avoid the most common ingredients used in perfumes: denatured alcohol, SD alcohol, and ethyl alcohol. Their harsh nature can strip your skin of moisture and dry out your whole body over time, causing irritation and breakouts. Water-based perfumes are safer for a wider group of consumers and make the ideal scent option for sensitive skin.
3- They have a clean, fresh scent that isn't too overpowering. We have all met someone who wears too much perfume, and the scent ends up taking over the whole room. Water-based perfumes are made for people who prefer the simpler things in life. You won’t have to wait for the alcohol to evaporate, and the perfume will smell just like it says it will.
4- Water-based perfumes can be used for many different purposes, as they can be safely applied on the skin, and also used as hair perfume for women, clothes perfume and on many other fabrics. We recommend applying it on clothing for longer-lasting results, and you’ll be pleased to know it won't stain the fabric.
5- Any perfume, cologne, eau de parfum or eau de toilette which contains alcoholis considered to be a ‘dangerous good’. As ethanol is a highly flammable substance, should your bottle of perfume become damaged in transit or leak from its packaging, it could pose a serious fire risk if exposed to a flame. Water-based perfumes are safer for you to travel with and to keep in your home, especially if there are kids around.
Discover all of The Water Brand's products, which will detoxify your skin from alcohol! Try out our mini-box to enter the water perfume universe.
Leave a comment on this post or on our blog, and share with us your experience with The Water Brand and your reviews of our products. Your opinion on our perfume shop is very important to us! Make sure you visit our blog again soon for more information about the benefits of switching to water-based perfume.