Perfume is a liquid mixture of fragrant oils and alcohol designed to make people smell pleasant. When someone sprays or dabs on perfume, they're applying a carefully crafted scent that might smell like flowers, vanilla, citrus, spices, or hundreds of other possibilities blended together by expert perfume makers called perfumers.

Creating perfume is an ancient art. For thousands of years, people have extracted fragrances from roses, jasmine, sandalwood, and other natural sources. Today's perfumers combine both natural and synthetic ingredients to create complex scents. A single perfume might contain dozens of different fragrances layered together, some that you notice immediately and others that emerge gradually as the perfume warms on your skin.

The word also appears in everyday language: a bakery might be perfumed with the smell of fresh bread, meaning that pleasant scent fills the air. When spring flowers perfume a garden, their natural fragrance spreads through the space.

People choose perfumes based on personal preference. What smells wonderful to one person might seem too strong or sweet to another. That's why perfume counters offer so many options, each one designed to match different tastes and occasions.