Here’s a bit of odor research showing that symptoms like fatigue, chest pain and lower back pain may actually be related to the odors you’re smelling.

Researchers had 194 people keep track of their stress levels and odor experiences over the course of 8 days. What they found was that physical symptoms actually got worse after people experienced intense odors. They don’t know exactly how the two are related but they believe that the memory of the odor becomes linked to the pain which triggers the sensation.

So what can the Beauty Brains community do about it? Well, you might keep a diary like the people in this study did. Anytime you feel fatigued or pain write down all the things that you smell. You may start to notice a pattern and start avoiding odors that trigger the symptoms.

Hey Brainiacs, Sarah Bellum here with an interesting, although somewhat off-color, product review. This one comes from Fauxmccoy in the Beauty Brains Forum. You should join the forum if you want to get all the behind the scenes scoops and sexy chit-chat that’s too provocative for the blog.

Case in point: Faux tipped us off to a new fragrance product that I guarantee is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. (This one’s not for the kiddies, so if you’re under 18 stop reading this now. I mean it! Ok kids, have you stopped reading? Good. Still not reading? You’d better not be, or I WILL call your parents, you little brats. Alright, that’s better. Here we go…)

The product Faux referred to is called VULVA and according to their website it’s a “precious vaginal odor filled into a small glass vial. Not a perfume but a beguiling scent for your own smelling pleasure.”

As is the case with all truly noteworthy scientific endeavors, VULVA was discovered by researchers who were examining “the entire range of erotic products available on the market.” Their efforts led to “years of cost-intensive research” which finally resulted in “capturing the arousing, milky aroma.” And now a tiny vial of VULVA is available to you, my friends, for a mere $30.

Yes that’s right. For only $30 you and your boyfriend/husband/significant other can smell someone else’s p@##% anytime you want. I’ve heard of “scent of a woman,” but is ridiculous! Is it a joke? I’m not sure because I didn’t actually try to order any product. But here’s the thing that worries me the most: what happens when the people who make Glade find out about this technology?

I stumbled upon this story in the great magazine Chemical & Engineering News (well, great for a card carrying member of the American Chemical Society anyway). There’s a fabulous column called Newscripts where they find all sorts of quirky and interesting stories about the world of chemistry.

In this article, they report on a fragrance company called Demeter who is producing products designed to bring you back to your childhood days. The odor receptors in your nose are directly linked to the olfactory lobe in your brain. As a result, odors can trigger some of the most intense childhood memories possible. These are typically more intense than both visual and audio induced memories.

The Demeter Fragrance Library has a host of smells such as Orange Cream Soda, Thunderstorm and even Dirt. Recently, they introduced Eau de Play-Doh which smells just like the pastey plaything you molded as a child. And look, they’ve even got Jelly Belly fragrances! I haven’t smelled them yet but they sound great.

So, if you’re interested in transporting your mind back to younger, happy times try some of these fragrances by Demeter. Now, if I can only get Left Brain to stop wearing the Fuzzy Navel fragrance. Well, I hope that’s just a fragrance.

Did you know that about 400,000 people in the US were born without a sense of smell? These people have a condition known as anosmia and effects not only their sense of smell but also their ability to taste. (Here’s one author’s experience with anosmia). Why most can’t smell is mystery but that may be changing.

You can imagine how unfortunate it is, especially when it comes to using perfumes or heavily scented beauty products from places like Lush or Bath & Body Works. Without fragrance people would have a very difficult time noticing any difference between various products.

Does fragrance make the beauty product?

In fact, brands like Philosophy are all about fragrance. Let’s compare a couple of their products.

Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake 3-in-1 shampoo

Water (aqua), TEA Lauryl Sulfate, PPG 2 Hydroxyethyl Cocamide, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycol Stearate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Glyceryl Polymethacrylate, Fragrance (Parfum), Polyquaternium 7, PEG 150 Distearate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzotriazolyl Butylphenol Sulfonate, Buteth 3, Tributyl Citrate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Propylene Glycol, Yellow 5 (CI 19140), Red 40 (CI 16035)

Philosophy Double Rich Hot Cocoa 3-in-1 shampoo

Water (Aqua), TEA Lauryl Sulfate, PPG 2 Hydroxethyl Cocamide, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycol Stearate, Caramel, Disodium Laureth Sulfocsuccinate, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Glyceryl Polymethacrylate, Fragrance (Parfum), Polyquaternium 7, PEG 150 Distearate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzotriazolyl Butylphenol Sulfonate, Buteth 3, Tributyl Citrate, Propylene Glycol, Benzyl Benzoate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Red 33 (CI 17200)

Notice anything? The formulas are identical except for the color and fragrance. Now, for a non-anosmiatic like myself this is not a problem. I love both of these products. The intense fragrances transport me to happy times; a birthday party when I was 7, a cold winter evening snuggled up by a fire. Oh, such memories from simple body washes.

While anosmiacs won’t be able to tell any difference between these two products (except for color), relief may be on the way. Researchers at the Washington DC Taste and Smell Clinic report that they have identified cell death factors in the mucous of anosmiacs. And now they can get to work on finding ways to reduce the effect of these factors.

So if you happen to lose your sense of smell or were unfortunate enough to be born without it, you may be able to take a pill or nasal spray that will allow you to to know the difference between Vanilla Cake and Hot Cocoa shampoo.

Archeologists have discovered a Sephora store from 2000 B.C.

Ok, it`s not really Sephora, but it is believed to be the world`s oldest perfume factory.

Appropriately located on Cyprus, said to be home to Venus the Goddess of love, this factory still contains the original distilling equipment along with ingredients like olive oil, pine, coriander, laurel, bergamot, parsley and bitter almonds. The laboratory they uncovered is over 40,000 square feet and includes rooms dedicated to olive pressing, copper refining, and fragrance oil storage. According to the researchers, the plant employed dozens of people.

But the really cool thing is that these scientists have used the remnants of this ancient factory to recreate scents that are 4,000 years old. They duplicated the original perfumes using fragrance ingredients extracted from traces left in containers at the site. They even replicated the ancient extraction techniques by steeping the spices in water and oil.

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Imagine smelling a fragrance that was made 4000 years ago “ this may be the closet you`ll ever get to actual time travel!

The Beauty Brains thank the M&C blog for the tip on this article. And you can read more details from the original associated press account.

According to Global Cosmetics Industry, Coty UK, maker of fine fragrance lines like Vera Wang, J. Lo, Kenneth Cole, Baby Phat, and of course Calvin Klein, are set to introduce the world`s first cyber-scent.

The company has just announced that its newest fragrance, ck IN2U, will be launched in the virtual world of Second Life (www.secondlife.com). In case you`re not familiar with Second Life, it`s an online community where visitors can live, shop, work, play, and date, just like the real world. Well, except that it`s NOT real.

Nonetheless, now you`ll be able to “pick up” virtual bottles of the new ck fragrances and spray other Second Lifers with fizzing fragrance bubbles to start a conversation. Just like the women at the real fragrance counters in the mall. Well, except that it`s NOT real.

And if you`re lucky enough to be in the UK you`ll be able to click through to www.ckin2u.com to order a real sample of this cyber-scent. Well, except that it`s NOT¦oh wait, the sample IS real.

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To quote GCI: “ck IN2U speaks the language of a generation connected by technology,” said Lori Singer, vice president of global marketing, Calvin Klein Fragrances. “They are the first generation to be defined more by their means of communication rather than fashion or music.”

Hmmm. I’m holding out for the virtual bikini wax.

Visit Cirugia estetica

In parts 1, 2, and 3 of this series, we talked about how fragrances are created by Fragrance Houses and sent to cosmetic manufacturers. In the fourth and final part we`ll talk about the issues chemists face when putting a fragrance into a finished product.

Adding Fragrance

Adding fragrance to a shampoo, body lotion, facial cleanser, or any other product, is not as easy as you might think. Chemists must first ensure that the fragrance can be properly mixed into the formula base. This may be tricky because fragrances are oily materials and may not be fully soluble in all types of formulas. If this is the case, additional chemicals called solubilizing agents can be added. (If you read the back of the bottle, a solubilizer typically looks like like “Polysorbate” followed by a number. ) Chemists must also make sure that the fragrance is added to the product at the right temperature or the scent might not smell right. Some products are heated during manufacture because many cosmetic ingredients have to must be melted before they can be used. Since fragrances are very temperature sensitive, this can be a problem. To avoid damaging the fragrance, formulators add fragrance after they`re done heating the product.

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Testing The Finished Product

Even after the fragrance is in the product, a lot can go wrong. For example, the ingredients in the formula can change the way the fragrance smells or the fragrance can cause the product to become cloudy or change color. So, once the chemist has properly incorporated the fragrance into the product, they use a process called stability testing to look for incompatibility between the fragrance and the formula. This process can take a month or more and involves testing samples that have been stored at elevated temperatures and exposed to UV light. These conditions accelerate the kinds of reactions that cause chemical changes.

During stability testing chemists look for any changes to the product. One of the most common types of change caused by a fragrance interaction is a change in viscosity. Some formulas will get thicker or thinner than they are supposed to be because of an interaction with a component of the fragrance. Fragrance can also affect a product`s appearance. Fragrances have been known to turn a body wash from blue to green, or a conditioner from white to pink. They can also make a clear product, like a hair gel, turn cloudy or hazy. And fragrances can make creamy products, like hand lotions and suncreens, look grainy or even fall apart. Of course, the formulator also has to smell the product to make sure that the fragrance is not becoming distorted over time. That can happen because fragrances contain chemicals that are very reactive like ketones, aldehydes, esters, amides and alkynes.

Trouble Shooting

Depending on what goes wrong during stability testing, the chemist may attempt to fix the problem by adjusting the formula. For example, a shift in viscosity can be compensated for by adding a thickening or thinning agent. (Common table salt is widely used to thicken shampoo and body wash formulas.) If the problem is more serious, the chemist may also ask the fragrance house to modify the fragrance oil to resolve the issue. To arrive at a final fragrance and formula combination, the chemist and fragrance house may have to experiment with several versions of the fragrance. After each fragrance revision, stability testing is repeated until the product is finally proven it`s ready to be sold.

Alls Well That Ends Smell

As you have seen in this 4 part series, creating a fragrance and adding it to a cosmetic product is a complex process that requires both scientific and artistic skills. But thanks to the diligent efforts of the cosmetic chemists in the personal care industry, we`re blessed with thousands of great hair and skin products that work great and are fun to smell!

As we saw in Part 1 of this series, perfumers design new fragrances based on a fragrance brief, a profile provided by the company requesting the new scent that describes the desired characteristics of the new fragrance. Based on this direction, the perfumers must select ingredients like those we talked about in Part 2 to build the fragrance with. As we saw, there are thousands of ingredients to choose from. In Part 3, we talk about the process used to select these ingredients.

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Selecting and Blending Ingredients

This selection process is part science and part art. A scientific background is required to understand the chemistry of how fragrance ingredients react with each other and the product they will be put into. (Remember, perfumers are not only creating perfumes, but fragrances that are used in skin lotions, nail polish removers, hair conditioners, and hundreds of other products.) An artistic flair is required to understand how different fragrance ingredients can invoke moods and feelings. As you can see, a master perfumer must be a good chemist and a good artist to get the job done properly.

The perfumer begins the process by building an accord which is the basic backbone of the fragrance that establishes its basic character Is it floral, fruity, or spicy? A complex fragrance may contain multiple accords that are layered on top of one another. After the perfumer has created this basic version of the fragrance, an evaluator assesses it to see how well it meets the requirements of the brief. In this stage, the fragrance is added to the actual product it is intended to be used in and smelled. The evaluator is looking at how well the fragrance meets the concept as well as initial compatibility with the base.

Based on the results of these evaluations, the fragrance may then go back to the perfumer for further tweaking. Several rounds of formulating and evaluation may be required before they are both satisfied with the fragrance as a viable candidate for the project.

Evaluating the Fragrance

Once the perfumer and evaluator agree that the fragrance is acceptable, it’s ready to be put through a series of additional tests. The simplest tests are consumer panels that are used to ensure people perceive the fragrance the way the perfumer intended. Other tests are used to measure the strength of the fragrance or the way it blooms when the product is dispensed. While a perfume is easy to evaluate by spraying onto skin or a paper blotter, it can be trickier to test fragrances designed for products that are diluted in water like shampoos and body washes. For this reason, the larger fragrance houses are equipped with sensory testing centers that allow them to evaluate products under a variety of conditions. For example, a shampoo fragrance can be tested in a chamber which simulates a bathroom shower. This way the fragrance can be smelled under “real life” conditions.

These test results are used to further optimize the fragrance. If the fragrance did not bloom well enough in the shower or if didn’t last long enough on skin, the perfumers can return to the laboratory to make modifications. Once the fragrance has passed all these in-house evaluations, it’s ready for the final test which is typically done with a larger number of panelists. It’s typical to have up to 100 people smell the final fragrance to make sure it meets the requirements of the original fragrance brief.

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Testing for Safety

Throughout the process, safety is a primary concern. Perfumers only use raw materials that have been pre-screened to ensure their safety. Ingredients that have serious health concerns are banned from use. Others which have no serious issues but which have the potential to induce a mild allergic reaction in some people, are identified by name. Recent laws require the listing of these fragrance allergens on the ingredient statement for the final product. This is helpful to consumers that have allergies to fragrance components, because they can read the ingredient list and avoid products that contain that ingredient.

The Final Steps

This entire development process, from the time the brief is submitted to the time that a fragrance is complete, usually takes at least 2 months, depending on the nature of the project. At the end of the time, samples of the fragrance oil are sent to the client for evaluation. In final part of this series, we’ll look at how cosmetic formulators at the client company add the new fragrance to a product.

In Part 1 of this series, The Beauty Brains shocked the world by revealing a deep, dark secret of the beauty industry: most companies don’t create their own fragrances. Instead, they hire specialized companies known as Fragrance Houses to do it for them. In Part 2 we talk about the ingredients that these Fragrance Houses use to create all those wonderful scents.

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Fragrance Structure

Fragrance notes are used to create a perfume the same way bricks are used to create a building. You start with a foundation, and you add layer after layer until you reach the top. A good fragrance is kind of built like a pyramid with a large, solid bottom layer and a smaller, lighter top.

Ingredients known as “bottom notes” form the base of a fragrance. These account for about 40% or 50% of the fragrance. Because these bottom notes are heavier, longer lasting scents you can still smell them even after you`ve been wearing a fragrance for hours.

The middle of the fragrance is the part you smell the strongest after you`ve been wearing it for 30 minutes or so. This section makes up about 30% to 40% of the fragrance and is usually a complex floral blend.

At the top of the fragrance pyramid, you`ll find the lightest, fastest evaporating scents. These “top notes” make up about 20% of the fragrance and they are described with terms like “sparkling” and “fresh.” You smell them when you first open a bottle of perfume but they evaporate quickly once you apply it to your skin.

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Types Of Fragrance Ingredients

There are thousands of fragrance ingredients that can be used as bottom, middle and top notes. Perfumers group them into the following categories :

Citrusy
As the name implies, these are derived from citrus fruits like limes, lemons, oranges and grapefruits. These are typically used as top notes to brighten a fragrance.

Floral
Flowers are the most popular of all fragrance scents - rose, tuberose, jasmin, freesia, and lily are just a few of the many possible floral notes. In general, floral notes are diffusive and natural smelling. But they are also quite diverse - floral aldehydes tend to have a fatty odor; green florals are almost vegetable-like; and fruity florals are bright and sweet.

Fougere
Fougere is the term used to describe a group of fragrance notes that include certain
citrus fruits, geranium and lavender. These notes are very crisp and clean smelling and are said to smell like fresh air or the outdoors. This type of scent is frequently used in men`s colognes.

Fruity
In addition to citrus fruits, apple, peach, berry, and melon notes are also used as fragrance ingredients. The original Herbal Essences fragrance, for example, was built on a strong green apple note. These scents are very well liked and do a good job of covering up the odor of other chemicals in the formula. They are described as being sweet, fresh, and natural.

Herbal/Green
Herbal and green notes can be made from rosemary, sage, basil, and other similar plants. These also make good top notes because they diffuse very quickly. They are often described as fresh, clean and natural.

Oriental
Oriental notes typically include amber, frankincense, myrrh, incense notes, sandalwood, vanilla and fir balsam. These are heavy, long-lasting scents so they make good bottom notes. (Note : Oriental is a technical term, not to be confused with “Asian “which is the more politically correct term to describe ethnicity.)

Woodsy
Woodsy notes smell like cedar or pine. They tend to be heavy and long lasting so they make good bottom notes too.

We`ve barely scratched the surface with this short list of ingredients, but hopefully you’ll be able to decipher at least some of the fragrance descriptions the next time you`re shopping at Sephora. And now that you understand these basic building blocks of fragrance chemistry, you`re ready for Part 3 where we`ll talk about how perfumers combine these chemicals to make us all smell so sexy!

This is part 7 of our 7 day countdown to Valentine’s Day.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Could a chemical actually improve your sex life? Well, if this study from San Francisco State University researchers is to be believed it can. According to their work, men are more attracted to women wearing pheromones resulting in more dates, kisses, cuddles and even sex.

What are pheromones

Pheromones are a type of compound that allows animals to chemically communicate with each other. They are versatile chemicals that help ants figure out how to get home, that let dogs mark their territory and that let mammals know when to mate. The word pheromone comes from the Greek words pherin, to transfer, and hormon, to excite. These chemicals are similar to hormones but instead of working within the body, they work between bodies.

How do pheromones work?

The chemical communication of pheromones is simple. One animal (or human) releases the pheromone and another senses it. In essence, the behavior of the sensing animal is controlled by the pheromone releaser. In mammals, pheromones are detected by an organ called vomeronasal organ (VMO) which is located somewhere in the head between the nose and mouth. Pheromones are a bit like odor molecules but they have a much different effect.

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So do pheromones really work?

Well, if pheromones really worked it would mean that controlling the behavior of people would be simple. If you wanted someone to fall in love with you, you could simply spray some pheromones whenever they’re around. Fortunately, human behavior is a bit more complicated than that.

It is still debated among scientists whether pheromones have an effect or not. These researchers demonstrated that women actually saw an increase in sociosexual activity when wearing perfume that contained pheromones. The impressive part of this research was that it was compared to a placebo control. But one study (of 36 women) isn’t enough to substantiate these incredible claims.

Other researchers have looked at all the human pheromone data and the results are inconclusive. Yes, pheromones are real. Yes, they have some physiological effect (such as synchronizing women’s menstrual cycles). But how much pheromones change behavior is still unclear.

If it weren’t Valentine’s Day, I’d be more skeptical on this one, but it is and I really want to believe!

We’re not saying these products will work.  Still, this might just be the thing that helps make this a Valentine’s Day to remember.