Unveiling the Secrets of Perfumery

  Unveiling the Secrets of Perfumery  

The perfumer beginner

A beginner perfumer at the beginning of his passion will feel like driving without a steering wheel. Trust me, we've been there. What we want to share in this series of blog post is our personal journey as a perfumer. Now, we're not claiming that we are expert perfumers. But we feel we probably have now a little bit more knowledge then the average perfume users. It really is a never ending learning process. It appears that even the most esteem perfumers working at it for 20 - 30 years feel like they still have a lot yet to be learned. Such is the expanse of the field.

So can you really be a perfumer in such a short time when it typically takes more than 7 years just to be a beginner perfumer. We believe it can be done. Hearing to most rebel experts in the field, the reason why it takes so long in the traditional perfume learning institution is when one starts as apprentice you're being told nothing. Perhaps you might be told to mix the juice for a senior perfumer and if you and your olfactory sensors are extra smart, you might figure it out... eventually... in time... or never! The truth is the world of perfumery is clouded with corporation secrecy or perhaps just lack of wisdom. We will try to unveil those secrets.

We aim to cut that time much shorter by actually understanding and acquiring knowledge that is required and hopefully we''ll find time to share it here.

So this will our journal on our road to perfumery. It will surely be a hell of a ride and we hope you will learn something from our posts.

So here we go.

This is called a perfume organ. What is it for? I will tell you about it in some other post

What is perfumery?
Perfumery is the art of making perfume. It is actually mostly art then science. Having some science background will help you get there but not really a requirement. What you really need though is a nose. If you don't have one what on earth you're doing here? Go to the hospital straight buddy!
If you're still here we congratulate you for having one, preferably with two holes. Now we've sorted that out let us tell you this. There is no such thing as a gifted nose. Nobody is born with a special sense of smell. However, you can practice and make your sense of smell be aware of different scents better. This happens because you are training your olfactory memory. Like any child learning the alphabets, we train them by drilling it in them through repetition or making it as a sing along (just to make it bearable... but repetition, nonetheless) until they remember it. The olfactory memory is that part of your brain that store and index smell in your brain. I'm sure how some scent have transported you back into time, reminded you of a specific event and a specific emotion. I smelled an old Drakar Noir one day and I was transported back to when I was 7, there was a dresser, my mum putting on makeup and my dad putting on drakar noir. They were chattng. They were happy. And folks that specific moment made my whole day.
So now it's time to train your nose. You don't really need to buy essential oils and aroma chemicals for this. There are enough things around you ready for training. Smell those herbs and spices in the kitchen, the soil and flowers in your garden. Basically anything with a smell. And that my friend is our first tip on our road to perfumery: 

SMELL

Stay tuned for our next post on structure of perfume. Till then be kind to one another.

cheers...

Perfume... the BOUTEILLE way