I never paid much attention to the giant magnolia tree in my next-door neighbor’s backyard until this early spring, when I watched it bloom while I was stuck inside due to the pandemic. While the flowers’ aroma is subtle, I noticed how the beautiful floral aspects were underlined with a kind of earthy decay, as though it were already fall.  Excited, I started work on a perfume that would capture this inherent dichotomy of a floral that anticipates its own demise.  I made a rich floral base—it contained plenty of ylang ylang—that while appealing, lacked the dark brooding side of those ..read more

After tweaking Ambergris and Green Iris, I’ve worked on nose training and improving my olfactory vocabulary. But now that I’m gearing up to create a new scent, I’ve set out to make an Osmanthus.  Osmanthus is a flower with a complex aroma that smells like fruity-and-floral oud with the floral hiding behind a deep aroma of leather. It’s not a playful or fun flower, but it has a unique gravitas brought about by its organic and animalic complexity. I find it irresistible.  A few weeks ago, I smelled hexanol—an alcohol with seven carbon atoms—which is also called “leaf alcohol” because it smells l ..read more

Several years ago, I came across an advertisement for “ambergris CO2 absolute.” Normally, I would turn the page since as far as I know, ambergris isn’t treated in this way. But this product, listed under “essential oils,” was expensive—very expensive, as in $10 a gram.  I ordered a bottle and it didn’t smell at all like the ambergris I had experienced. It came as a thick, syrupy, oil. It was way funky such that at one point I thought it might be civet. I couldn’t figure out much use for it because it was so deeply fecal.  I tinctured it, some at 10%, some at 3% in two jars set in front of the ..read more

While animal products, with their rich underlying funk, draw me to any perfume that contains them, so do the opposites of animal products: Aromas whose purpose is not to seduce and intrigue, but to brighten, freshen, and cleanse. These fragrances are sometimes referred to as anti-erogenic. Many perfumers use these same aromas in eaux fraîches—roughly translated as “cool water”—that contain few heavy musks or sticky resins. In so doing, they have established a trend for those who prefer lighter fragrances—evanescent, but delightful and irresistible. Rather than wear an eau de cologne that cling ..read more

I have great fun smelling new stuff. When I go online to look for a product I’ve encountered in my reading, I’m so tempted by tantalizing descriptions of other various materials that I never escape unscathed; I may order twelve things instead of one. I just got more orris concrete for Green Iris and practically swooned when I gave it a sniff. The stuff costs a fortune—$800 for an ounce. From the same company, I discovered carnation concrete. Since, unlike absolutes, concretes contain the original waxes extracted from the flower, they have a subtle complexity all their own and help (at least in ..read more

Sometimes two substances have no affinity and simply clash, but often something comes about that neither of the ingredients hinted at on its own. One such example is vetiver and patchouli. Vetiver has a lovely grassy-green, woody quality while anyone who remembers the 60s and 70s will know the warm, slightly cloying scent of patchouli, often reminiscent of leftover wine. To balance the two on smelling strips, I had to hold the patchouli strip at arm’s length and put the vetiver almost up against my nose. As I moved the strips slightly back and forth, something unexpected emerged: The mixture s ..read more

Mandy Aftel taught me to start out small. Instead of adding one ingredient after another in a desperate dash for some irresistible accord, it is better to take two substances—only two—and smell how they interact. There are many ways of choosing the two ingredients. I often grab two off my shelves, without looking, or select two I find so irresistible on their own that I must know how they will intermingle. I try to stay observant and open to the odd chance occurrence while keeping in mind that it has been the unpredictable accident and the serendipity of discovery that have inspired, challenge ..read more

Olfactory Fatigue, Perfume, and Fine Wines I’ve noticed in my experiments that certain substances tire my nose more quickly than others. Usually, repeated smelling of one compound decreases the nose’s sensitivity to that compound only, but some ingredients shut down the nose almost entirely. This well-recognized phenomenon—known as olfactory fatigue—is usually a nuisance, but there are times when it can be put to our advantage. When we evaluate fine wines and perfumes, they should constantly pique our interest as new aromas unfold. A fine old wine may exhibit a hundred different smells in one ..read more

One of my favorite books, Perfumery: Practice and Principles, by Robert R. Calkin and J. Stephen Jellinek, discusses the basic structures of some of the best-known classic perfumes. The authors give a rough idea of what’s in the perfumes, but no formulas.I sent away for tiny vials of as many of the great classics as I could find—Shalimar, Oscar de la Renta, L’Air du Temps, Ma Griff, Arpege, Chanel 5, etc.—and have set about copying them.My first project has been L’Air du Temps, first released in 1947. Jellinek describes it as the origin of a distinct family, based on an accord between eugenol ..read more

Ambergris production has been rolling along smoothly except for one thing: the seaweed absolute turns the perfume black and murky. The absolute, when mixed with alcohol, is clear but very dark. Setting out to eliminate the dark hue, I bought a centrifuge and spun the stuff for two hours, thinking that whatever is causing the murk would settle to the bottom when subjected to massive g-forces.Since this didn’t work, I did some reading about clarifying mixtures. I decided to approach the issue as I would a new recipe to develop. I’ve clarified plenty of consommé in the kitchen using egg whites, s ..read more