SOCIETY EXTRAVAGANCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 24, 23 October 1907, Page 11

SOCIETY EXTRAVAGANCE.

' Nowadays socioty demands in scent,' as in everything else, a constant change, and manufacturers , are agreed that; tho- oldfashioned .simplo , perfumes aro doomed. There is still (says a Home paper) a - great for eau-de-Cologne, and' lavenderwater, hut not us scent. . They aro used almost exclusively for toilet waters,-to perfumo and soften the water in tho daily bath.' Among popular perfumes, the. violet scents, which wore at one timo all the rage, are now going quite out of fashion. The reason for this is. that tho cheaper varieties .aro not made from real violets at all, and tho odour wears off. vory .quickly after . having boon ■sprinkled on the-handkerchief or dross. ■ Ileal essence of violet costs from Bs. 6d.J'or a very tiny bottle, to 385.. 6d. for one of quite medium proportions.. :: Tho most popular cheap scents just ,iiow are various preparations of patchouli,masquerading under fancy Japanese names. • . : •. ■ ■ , : •

■■■ .But society grows moro extravagant in its perfume bills every, year.; One of tho leading firms used to put up sixpenny bottles of its new perfumes at Chnstmas-timo, but now it sells nothing under 10s. 6d. Formerly it brought out • a new perfume onco in every two or threo years. Now it brings out two or threo every year at least, and sometimes more. One of the leading West End retail scent merchants says that some of his regular customers spend from £2(10 to £'100 a year on perfumes and scented soaps. The perfume industry has attained large dimensions in recent years. Moro than (wo thousand tons of orange-blossom and nearly two hundred tons of violets aro fjrown in the South of France each year for tho purpose; of scent making. The seat of the rose industry for the production of otto of roses is Bulgaria, and hero GOOOIb. are produced voarly, at an avenigo value of about a sovereign an ounce.