Create a perfume

Birth of the idea 

Creating a perfume is a long and delicate process. It can take months, or even years to achieve the desired result.

In the beginning, before the creation process, there is the birth of the idea.

Inspired by the memory of an emotional moment, a person who has marked us, a landscape that has turned our heart upside down, or a scented odor brought back in a corner of our suitcase... the perfume will materialize: colors, shapes, adjectives, textures, an imaginary olfactory universe will be created. 

The choice of materials

All these ideas put down on paper, it is at this moment that the choice of materials begins. This step is one of the most fundamental in the creation of a fragrance; there is a multitude of natural materials coming from all around the world, so it is important to determine the universe of the desired perfume and to choose the ingredients accordingly.

What are the materials that represent the words, colors, textures, sensations chosen to represent the idea, the universe of the fragrance I want to assemble?(blog article: The 7 olfactory families)

"The memory of a sunset on the beach: I see red orange colors with shades of pink and yellow; the moment is soothing, relaxing, enveloping, a feeling of well-being. A duality sets in: the heat of the end of the day envelops me, but the coolness of the nightfall arrives. The grainy sand caresses my feet...".


The first materials I will think of are enveloping, warm, slightly sweet to represent this moment of well-being and the colors of the sunset: orange for its sweet smell and the feeling of relaxation it provides, red tangerine for its tenderness and mischievous side, bergamot for its joy of living that it gives us or sandalwood for its milky and mellow facet, vanilla for its harmony and sweet warmth ...

The creation of the formula

Once all the raw materials have been selected, it is now time to build the perfume and create the formula.

A delicate moment, a game of patience and concentration, drop by drop, tenth of a drop by tenth of a drop, gram by gram, the perfume will slowly surface. 

The world of perfume is certainly very poetic but during the formulation it rests on well defined bases. Indeed, all perfumers use the olfactory pyramid to build a perfume (The olfactory pyramid). This pyramid allows to harmonize the perfume and to classify the materials according to their volatility
All the materials assembled and diluted in alcohol the first test is born. 

It is now necessary to assess the perfume, is it well harmonized, are all the materials melting well? Should I remove a material? Or maybe add one? A material may take up too much space, or dilute another…

Obviously, it is extremely rare, if not impossible, to reproduce the desired universe on the first try. This test is often the first of several months or even years of work; especially after there is the stage of maturation and stabilization.

Stabilization

 (The different concentrations of perfume)

Natural raw materials are living materials, they need time to bind together. 
Stabilization simply consists in letting the perfume rest protected from light and heat. During this process the materials will harmonize and evolve together.

But it is possible that during this stage you realize that the evolution of the perfume is not as you had imagined, then back to the test phase, until the result is what you want.

To create a perfume is to make people travel in another universe, it is to tell a story, to get an emotion, certainly the process is long and delicate but when you arrive at the desired result I will not be able to explain this effervescence, this feeling of escape and pure happiness.

Then when this moment arrives, all that remains is to appreciate it and bottle it.

Creating a perfume is not done with your fingers in your nose ;)


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