The Perfume Making PodcastBack to Basics Part 2 - A Beginner's Guide to Perfume Formulation
Karen’s ‘back to basics’ mini-series continues this week with part two, which takes a look at ‘Formulation’. Formulation is, as Karen says, “The reason you are here.” It is the very essence of perfume making, but it is also an area that most beginners rush into and, by doing so, make a number of costly, but easily avoidable, mistakes. In this episode, Karen breaks down the basics of formulation, guides you through the process of creating stunning formulas and goes into detail on the most common mistakes so that you can avoid them and formulate with ease.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- A mistake a lot of beginners make is to throw their favourite materials together and expect a beautiful-smelling scent. However, as Karen explains, without a complete understanding of what each material will bring to the party, this will inevitably end in disaster.
- Karen introduces the idea of scent mapping - a way to organise and guide your material selection. She discusses in detail how it works and how it can enable you to create solid formulations.
- Less is often more when it comes to formulation. Karen gives her advice on how to avoid a very costly mistake - using too many conflicting materials.
- What are the most common mistakes that beginners make when it comes to formulation? Karen goes over them in detail and gives you pointers on how to avoid them.
BEST MOMENTS
“There’s a temptation to throw together your favourite materials and hope that something magical will happen, but successful perfumes are not just about mixing materials that you love the smell of.”
“As you get comfortable with formulation it is easy to fall into a few common traps. Knowing what to watch out for is going to save you time.”
“Just because you’ve got something that smells great initially, doesn’t mean you have to stop. you can still tweak it.”
EPISODE LINKS
VALUABLE RESOURCES
ABOUT THE HOST
Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way.
Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances.
With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques.
Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing.
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