Our perfume today is produced in factories, but that was not always the case. Ancient perfumers worked with primarily natural ingredients, and some of those ancient ingredients are still common in perfume today (although sometimes in synthetic variation). Plants, roots, herbs, and flowers used in perfume were often used a lot in traditional healing, which is probably why up until the 18th century, perfume was considered as much an antiseptic and medicine as cosmetic.Mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts, frankincense and myrrh were substances so valuable they rivaled even gold. Frankincense is a resin from a gum tree that is produced in shapes called “tears” when the bark of the scraggly Boswallia tree is disturbed. These trees are rare and grow mainly in arid Middle Eastern lands and require hand-harvesting, contributing to their exorbitant price.Today, a fragrant product that uses frankincense is Love Butter by Carol’s Daughter.Myrrh, called a “bitter perfume” in the Christmas Carol “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” is also used today. Myrrh is a gum resin produced from a bush-like desert plant. In Arabic, the name Myrrh means “bitter” and this burnt orange looking substance does indeed have a strong, bitter aroma. Originally used […]

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