Get a boost in your perfumery abilities by learning from these formulas for fine fragrances.
About the perfume: “A delicate and costly creation that blends the taste and the smell of a single malt whiskey, lucid dreaming and reality, burning Russian Red, personal actions and reactions. It is a sensory hurricane that surrounds one with a mixture of hot and aromatic notes and the scent of old barrels, leaving with …
A fragrance which expertly balances the balsamic sweetness of Benzoin and Vanilla with the dry masculinity of Tobacco and Cognac, Enigma is an enticing experience which transforms any who wear it into a man of mystery and intrigue. An unusual effect occurs where the slightly powdery and Cherry-like tones of Heliotrope mingle with the mouth-watering …
A masterful combination of osmanthus and real violet leaves, “1000” by Jean Patou is a landmark dry aldehydic chypre which is presented here in both an extrait (38% concentration) and eau de parfum (20%) form. In no other fragrance will you find such a mega-dose of pure violet leaf absolute and a striking accord of three of the most luxurious rose materials.
The first fragrance of the house of Dana was Tabu, created by Jean Carles in 1932. Jean Carles was well known for his wonderful creations made of unusual materials. Before creating Tabu, he was instructed to make a fragrance for a whore (‘un parfum de puta’). Thus, Tabu was created, sensual and shocking.
I recently had a fleeting affair with a dangerously sociopathic young man. It left me rather unsettled but as with many trying events in life, it led to a bit of a creative burst. From that burst has come this fragrance which I am calling Bedlam after the famed mental asylum (and now a generic term for an insane asylum or a state of confusion, which sociopaths leave us in).
Bertrand Duchafour is my favourite living perfumer and in particular I love his Or Du Serail for Naomi Goodsir. One weekend I was bored and decided to play around with a bunch of formulas and see if I could make something as sweet and beautiful as the opening of this brilliant scent. I was somewhat successful and while I have not spent any time editing this formula, I thought it might be fun to publish something that is a work-in-progress.
This is the first fragrance I ever created! Well, it’s the nth iteration of said fragrance. The very first instance was just three ingredients: patchouli acetate, Dorinia SAE, and hydroxycitronellal in the form of Firmenich’s Cyclosia base. I had mixed the three together in the proportions found in this fragrance and dipped a smelling stick into it. Hours later I walked into the room I had left it in and was met with the most magical and profoundly beautiful scent.
First and foremost, this is not a modern tuberose fragrance. This is much more akin to Chanel No. 5, or other strong aldehyde bombs of the past. Because of cost reasons on my end, this fragrance does not actually contain any real tuberose absolute but I feel like it does a great job regardless. To incorporate the style and format of vintage fragrances, this formula contains three Louis Appel bases which are fantastic at what they do. Because of this, there is quite a lot of extra work involved in this fragrance if you do not already have these bases mixed up! Anyways, I believe it to be worth it as this is a lovely and very powerful formula.
Chypre by Coty is one of the most important works of fragrance art in history. It inspired thousands of new fragrances and continues to do so today, and it was a nod, in its own time, to the long-lost scent of powdered wigs and the drawing rooms of the European Gentry of the 17th and 18th centuries.
This fragrance has been one of the oldest and most edited fragrances I have made so far. I would go as far to say that it is my favorite creation to date and that there really isn’t anything on the market today that compares. It’s something that performs well in hot and cold weather and though it is strong it is not cloying or aggressive in nature.
