Monday, December 8, 2008

Perfume Ingredients: Cat faeces and Whale vomit?


Obviously I have been surfing the guardian website as I found this one on perfume just after the one about theatre critics.

"Many of perfumery's most venerable creations owe their sensuality to the use of animal ingredients with a certain "spray" element: civet, a faecal paste extracted from the anal glands of the civet cat; castoreum, a leathery emission from the genital scent sacs of the castor beaver; ambergris, a briny and vomitous by-product of the digestive system of sperm whales; and musk secreted from the sheath gland of the musk deer have all been popular perfume ingredients. Then things become still more complex: civet may be cut with hair or - brace yourself - infant excrement."

Baby poo in your perfume?

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