I’ve been nervous about this whole thing, certain that I was going to be in a room of master perfumers who could recognize every scent by smell, something I’m rather terrible at. But none of this panned out. The environment is relaxing, yet serious; the whole thing is inspiring.
Mandy started in with some stuff I was already familiar with—such concepts as locking (her word for the tendency of some materials to add up to more than the sum of their parts) and burying (when one substance obscures another). She also brought up the notion of “filling” materials, substances that creep in between the spaces and smooth things out. One example she used, is phenylethyl alcohol. She’s also big on phenylethyl acetate which floralizes the top notes and brings the floral aspects down toward the heart.
She also put a lot of emphasis on the “shape” of an aroma, be it flat or round or something other, and on an aroma’s texture. Both of these help focus in on the ingredients and more readily understand their interplay.
Her approach, is something I’ve never seen written about in any of the books in my extensive (and very expensive) collection. Usually, when I work on a scent I start with a base note combination that I think will support my composition and then gradually build upon it, adding notes here and there that I thank will improve it. Sometimes this goes on until I’m absolutely lost and soon dealing with forty ingredients or more.
She says to take only two ingredients—two that form an accord you like or whose relationship you wish to explore. Then, instead of hopping right on it, she says to open up to the emotional content of the combination, examine its shape and texture, and consider what might be used to build upon it. This leads to step two which is to add another ingredient to form the simplest accord of three items, a base note, heart note, and head note.
Next post, I will go describe amazing step three.
Wish me luck.