Perfumer interview (part 2)
Written on 30 August 2022
As we saw a few months ago in our previous article on the profession of Perfumer (Nose), this mastery is the combination of creativity, chemistry and inspiration.
Caroline, during our last meeting, you talked to us about what could inspire you to create a new perfume: a walk, a memory… and then?
Do you sit in front of your perfume organ and start mixing essences?
Haha not so fast! First I write down everything related to this inspiration: soft, floral, powdery, fresh, green… and from these notes then follows the list of some of the raw materials that I will use to compose this perfume, possibly some proportions. Then I can sketch its olfactory pyramid to get an overview.
When you say "raw materials" are you talking about small bottles of flower or fruit essences?
Yes, but not only. Like all perfumers, I will use natural raw materials such as floral, woody, spicy notes, etc., but also, and even in large proportions, synthetic products.
How many of these products do you have on your organ?
A: Several hundred, in the form of oil, concrete, resin, powder….
Several hundred is impressive! But for a single perfume how much are you going to use?
It depends on my formula. This can range from twenty to more than one hundred ingredients.
Once you have your formula is it time to mix?
I first start by checking the stock and the quality of my products simply by smelling them one by one and then I can start weighing them.
And once the formula is weighed you can market it?
Not right away: a perfume is composed in stages and each stage requires a period of rest and possibly readjustment or rebalancing of the formula. The mixture of raw materials must macerate to obtain its final fragrance and it is a process that can last from a few days to several weeks.
If you only do one perfume at a time, is it all very long?
I obviously work on different projects at the same time, which require different maceration times so I always have something to do.
You spend a lot of time smelling, how do you do when your nose is full?
When I saturate, I go out to get some air for a few minutes or I smell my “own smell”, for example my wrist or a piece of clothing I’m wearing. This is enough for me to “reset”.
All these explanations make you really want to make your own perfume, too bad it's too late to study chemistry!
It may be too late to study chemistry but never too late to compose your perfume: at Galimard you can come and transform yourself into a “nose” and create your fragrance by taking part in one of the workshops we offer.
This is an excellent idea, you have not finished making us dream! A big thank you and maybe see you soon in front of a perfume organ!
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