Make a perfume

To make a perfume, you need to understand the manufacturing techniques, the notions of concentration but also everything that can be part of the composition of the perfume itself. To accompany you in the world of perfumery, Sylvaine Delacourte presents you everything you need to know about the making of a perfume.

Reminder on perfume concentrations

Let's start with a reminder on fragrance concentrations. These different concentrations are classified here from the freshest and most volatile to the most tenacious and powerful.

• Eau de senteur
• Eau de Cologne
• Eau fraîche 
• Eau de toilette
• Eau de parfum
• Perfume extract or pure perfume

The perfume extract is concentrated from 20% to 40%, it is intimate and is only smelled by the person wearing it or people that are close to this person. Very few perfume brands offer this product now, as it is often presented in small quantities and is very expensive.

The eau de parfum can be concentrated from 15% to 30%, it is a good compromise because it has both tenacity and trail. 

The eau de toilette is concentrated from 6% to 20%, less tenacious, it is generally smelled in the wake than on the person himself.

The eau fraîce, with a concentration of 7% to 15%, is made up of many citrus notes, aromatic notes, this construction often has chypre base notes.

The classic eau de Cologne is 99% made of natural ingredients, citrus and aromatic notes. This is the reason why this product does not hold up well. Nevertheless, this eau de Cologne can be used as a splash to refresh yourself, before using one's usual eau de toilette or eau de parfum. It has a concentration of 2 to 6%.

The modern eau de Cologne has more top and bottom notes, and some synthetic molecules. Therefore this eau de Cologne has more tenacity with a concentration of about 4% to 10%.

The eau de senteur is intended for babies and toddlers, it can be with or without alcohol and is very low in concentration.

 

 

The techniques for making a perfume

From the oldest to the most recent :

• Enfleurage consists in bathing the flowers in a greasy substance in order to deplete them of their perfume. Example: absolute tuberose ointments.
• Distillation is a technique that heats the raw materials using a still. The product obtained will be the essence or essential oil. Example: rose essence.
• Expression consists in pressing the skin or juice of citrus fruits. Example: bergamot essence.
• Extraction by volatile solvents consists of placing fresh or dry raw materials in extractors. The solvents coming from the oil will then extract the scents from them, in two stages. First a wax called concrete, then the concrete will be washed with alcohol and become the absolute. Example: rose absolute.
• Head space consists of analysing the living matter, flower or atmosphere like the scents of a forest, thanks to more or less important sensors, then analysing the information given in order to reproduce it as closely as possible.
• Sofact or extraction by C02 is a fairly recent method which is close to the method of extraction by volatile solvents but here replaced by C02, an odourless gas. Moreover, in this method the raw material is not heated. The quality will therefore be optimal and the scent very faithful to the raw material from which it comes.

There are two types of synthetic raw materials. 

On the one hand, there are materials obtained solely by chemical reactions, such as ester, aldehyde, lactones, macrocyclic musks, used for certain white musks, or methylionones for violet notes, among others.

On the other hand, there are isolates, coming from natural products, such as indole found in jasmine, geraniol found in rose or geranium, linalool and linalyl acetate in lavender and bergamot, as well as certain musks, found in animal musk. 

Many synthetic raw materials are therefore constituents of natural products.

 

Make your own perfume

It's tempting to want to make your own perfume, playing the perfumer's apprentice is a lot of fun.

However, be careful with the compositions you are going to make, as they can cause allergies. 

Even if the raw materials are safe, mixing them together can give allergic reactions. This is why, before being launched on the market, the perfumes are tested in the laboratory.

Don't forget that both natural and synthetic fragrances can give rise to allergies. If you are going to make a composition yourself, spray your perfume sketch on your clothes and not on your skin.

 

The creation of a bespoke perfume

The bespoke perfume service has always existed, initially for kings and queens or even wealthy VIPs. Now this luxury is more accessible and different actors offer it.

There are two categories: 

Those created during 1 hour or half a day perfume workshops. These workshops are open to everyone, you will be able to mix accords or raw materials with the advice of someone passionate about the world of perfume. This will allow you to create a perfume sketch and leave with your creation. The perfume you made should be worn on clothes and not on the skin as it is not tested by dermatologists.

Those created by professionals, each perfumer will have his own technique to define the personality and the precise desires of the customer.

• Francis Kurkdjian offers you a tailor-made perfume for around 15 000 euros. 
• Flair: For 50 ml of eau de toilette or eau de parfum and for 15 ml of extract, it costs about 2,200 euros.
• Guerlain offers 2 litres of perfume in a 500 ml crystal bottle and 20 glass bottles for 55,000 euros. 
• Cartier: it costs 60,000 euros for 2 gold and crystal bottles. 

 

Bespoke perfume by Sylvaine Delacourte

Alongside her Collections based on the most beautiful raw materials in perfumery (cf. Musks Collection, Vanilla Collection, Orange Blossom Collection) Sylvaine Delacourte has been creating for more than 15 years bespoke perfumes for private customers from different cultures and countries, and offers this possibility to create a custom-made perfume from 20,000 euros including the dermatological test and a custom-made bottle.

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musks and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.