Over the years of creating perfumery training, I’ve realised that to get new and beginner perfumers from idea to scent creation there is a specific process that works well. I share it as often as possible because it works. As humans we like to overcomplicate things and perfumery is complicated enough without adding any extra unnecessary dogma to the mix.
When you are starting out simplicity is key, even if you want to create a complex fragrance.
As I shared a few weeks back in The Scent Design Challenge . The first step is coming up with a story or a clear theme for your fragrance and using that to help you select your materials.
One of the key components of this plan was mapping out the accords we were going to incorporate into the fragrance.
Sometimes when you’re learning something new there is the temptation to do it all at once. When tackling something as complex as creating a perfume we need to do the opposite and take it a step at a time. This is what we did when mapping our fragrance – chunking each piece down into separate building blocks to make it more manageable to create.
The number one mistake I see most people making when creating a perfume is to pull all the materials together and try to blend them into a fragrance – all at once. Unless you are very experienced and know your materials well, this rarely works.
Over the next few weeks (in my Wednesday newsletter) I’m going to be sharing more about accords creation some tips to get you started.
So, what is an accord?
An accord is a harmonious blend of two or more materials that when combined no longer smells of one thing or the other but something new.
There is such a temptation to just dive in and try to make a complete perfume but if you do this, you’ll end up disheartened when things don’t work out and give up. Or waste loads of time and expensive materials.
If you focus on creating simple accords and recording your results and formulas, you will start to build up your own library of combinations that work.
In the Artisan Perfumery Mastermind, we have a whole module on accords creation plus I’ll be running a live masterclass this month just for the group solely focused on accords.
If you’re in the program already make sure you check out the Facebook group as that’s where the reminders will be.
If you’re not and want to join the live class, enrolment is open HERE – just make sure you join now as the Exploring Accords Masterclass is in 2 weeks.
Happy perfume-making & I’ll see you next week when we will be looking at different types of accords.
