What does a Perfumer do every day?

It has been 2 months already, that I am working for a creation company near Grasse. From this occasion of historical milestone, I let you to take a glimpse into my daily duties.

One part of my training is to weigh formulas for the Senior Perfumers, to actually realize their ideas. This allows me to see evolutions of their creations, which is very useful, because all young perfumers have the tendency to create "unfinished" perfumes.
Moreover, of the Senior Perfumer is an expert of Oriental perfumes, his creations are sold all over the Middle East, and believe me, it has nothing to do with Western type of formulation, I am lucky to have an insight into the tricks and the trades of these perfumes' world.

I also do evaluation, which is partly about guiding the perfumers to "add more of this and take off that" and give them regularly my opinion about their creations. The other part of an evaluator is e.g. a client of the Philippines sending a visibly used soap bar and demand the recreation of its scent - and it is me to decide where we take off the formulation of the recreation.
Often these request concerns creams, shower gels, shampoos, etc. I sniff the "subject" sometimes for 30 mins, making notes of all my impressions and guesses, and than spend the rest of the day in the "fragrance library" smelling the possible matches, which could be a base, an accord or a well known perfume ( which the functional products are quite often inspired by ), etc. Sometimes, when even after extensive research I don't find the perfect match, I recreat the smell by making up a new formula.

You might think it is no fun trying to catch the scent of a used soap, but I think of it as an investigation, during which I am the Detective Chief Inspector.
And this also taught me a lot about "trickle downs". Very often functional products follow the trend of fine fragrances, this is why we could meet the scent of Chanel's Allure and CK's Eternity very often in shampoos or hair sprays, Summer by Kenzo in shower gels, and of course the mother of all creams in the 80s : Chanel 5!

I actually made my first discovery well before starting to work as a perfumer, my fabric softener reminded me of Lolita Lempicka and Tony & Guy hair care gave me the impression I am washing my hair with Gucci Rush...

I also do recreation of perfumes. Make no mistake, every company does it! From IFF to Robertet, every single company, should it be in Grasse, New York, Paris or Shanghai.

But nobody talks about it. I remember I found recreation derogating when I was still at school, but since than I have changed my mind. I think of it as playing Bach or Mozart on the piano.

This gives me the chance of studying the style of Jean Claude Ellena, Edmound Routnitzka and Olivier Cresp; which honestly is at first too much information, pretty confusing, but it finally calms down into adding to my formulating culture without influencing me too much.

I am also working as a creator. Just a few days ago, I made an eau de toilette from a 100 % natural raw materials perfume that contains no allergic molecules ( which was a tough one, taken into consideration that most naturals contain allergic molecules in high percentages! ), and handed in another creation for an eye cream of a well known international brand too.

If the day is not over yet, I take olfactory tests with 5 natural and 5 synthetic raw materials that has to be recognized within 10 seconds.

En Passant by Frederic Malle

The first time I heard about "niche perfumes", my friend told me that the difference between institutional perfumes and niche ones is the fact that while the first category spends about 80% of the perfume launching budget on marketing and PR and only about 20% on the actual juice itself, it is the absolute opposite in case of a niche perfume brand.

Last week, I have been working on the recreation of Frederic Malle's En Passant by perfumer Olivia Giacobetti. I smelled this perfume one year ago in a small niche perfume shop, in Montpellier when with friends from school, we visited the beautiful region of Camargue.

When trying this scent, like usual, emotions hit me first, I instantly think of my Mum, than I realized that the perfume is a soliflore - lilac creation.
Where I come from, we offer traditionally lilacs for Mother's day, therefore I associated to her directly. I smelled the full Frederic Malle collection, and this perfume along with L'eau d'Hiver marked me the most. So I was really happy when my Senior Perfumer offered me as a practice to work with him on this perfume.

I read other reviews about the fragrance, and due to the fact that the olfactory pyramid is published, lot of perfume fan describes this perfume to smell like cucumber and bread in the dry down, since the official notes are watery notes, lilac, orange blossom, cucumber and wheat.
Happily, I wasn't biased by the official description of the perfume, so I more think of living lilacs on the tree, caressed by cooling wind and fed by morning dew.

Being a soliflore, the recreation was not so difficult, the juice equals to a beautiful central lilac accord surrounded with watery-airy notes, supported with powdery sweet notes in the base. I will of course not reveal all the secret of this perfume, but I decided to share - even if not precisely - one shocking detail about it: It's price.

En Passant n'est pas chère!

I mean, the fact that Olivia Giacobetti made something great which cots not much just proves to me how great she is doing her job, I was just expecting something more expensive, rich from this collection. And while we all know that Parisienne of YSL cost 48 EUR because Kate Moss is still drunk from her night before orgasm in a bed full of purple roses, I wonder what justifies 95 EUR for 50 ml of En Passant?

I think we can agree, that we pay a higher price for the free flow of the creativity of the creator and for the luxury of having a unique scent.

It smells like Aspargus...

Asparagus is tasty and very healthy. ... and it makes you stink for many days!

It was two days ago that I passed to the toilette at my workplace, and I smelled something unmistakable. Somebody have eaten asparagus. I had no doubt, because I recently discovered its special property on my own "skin"...

I don't think I have eaten a lot of asparagus in my life, so I had no idea about its secret attribute until one fine day, about a month ago, I ate some for lunch in my workplace.

Very soon after eating it, I passed to the toilette and just a second after starting pipi I sensed one of the most rank smell ever!

Something very dirty yet detergent like, aggressive, overwhelmingly smother... I instantly bursted out in insulting the cleaning lady, thinking that she had left some scaling products in the cistern for way too long. It was not even an option that this is coming from me...

Later during the day, I went to another toilette on another level, in another building of the company, trying to avoid the stinky one. I investigated the quality of air before entering it, so the moment the sulfurous odour appeared I knew it could only be me. I got surprised, and just hoped nobody will come after me to the toilette for a while. Only 3 days after this event could I pipi in a relaxed way, that much time it took me, until asparagus evaporated from my body.

Therefore, when I detected the "post-aspargus aspect" two days ago as well, I went happily to ask my colleague -who I know is the only one using the same toilette - if he had eaten any recently.
He looked rather puzzled, he answered "Yes, why?".
It passed my mind that maybe I should avoid telling him that his pipi stinks, maybe I should just smile mysteriously and than leave his office, but no, I finally told him the truth.

He replied that he didn't go to the toilette. I really didn't see that coming... Poor him. Him lying made me feeling somewhat pity to him, so I said something like, "No, no I actually like it!" (Hells, yeah! One of my favorites, right? )
He looked really confused by that time, so I continued with "No, but I am not disturbed by it, you can eat asparagus." ( He probably did not need my permission for his future consumptions though... ) He looked even more confused, so I decided to leave his office.

I wish I had just shut up.... Instead of him admiring my clearly amazing olfactory capacities, he probably thinks I am on drugs.

My clearly amazing olfactory capacities now even detect "post-asparagus aspect" without passing to the toilette. Today I crossed an other colleague, and -again, without thinking- I asked him if he had eaten asparagus. He said yes, and I first thought of telling him that he probably peed on himself, but suddenly I understood that in fact, not only your urine is effected by this vegetable but your sweat/skin too.

According to scientists, it depends on the functioning of one gene only in our body, if somebody will have a desagreable urine at all. Supposedly, 100% of the French but only 46% of the English will experience this inconvenience.

Moreover, it is also genetically defined if somebody can detect at all this specific scent. Again, depending on the functioning of one gene only, you might eat tons of asparagus, have a stinky urine and don't even know about it...
Even if my colleagues had such privilege, thanks to me, there is nobody left in the company who eats asparagus without anxiety and guilt from now on!

Perfumes & Passion Ltd - 341.

Sometimes I feel that I am not working in a perfume factory, but I am part of this Latin-American soap opera.

Episode 341.

Esmeralda, the new employee of Perfumes & Passion Ltd starts the day - like usual - with some olfactory testing in the presence of Santa Maria Rodriguez. They are training their nose to identify raw materials. When smelling Hydroxicitronellal, Esmeralda realises that for such a long time, she underestimated the beauty of this synthetic raw material reminding her of Lily of the valley.
Realizing this unbearable injustice, her eyes are filled with tears, which Santa Maria Rodriguez finds really moving and instantly have a secret crush on Esmeralda.

What Santa Maria Rodriguez doesn't know is that Esmeralda has her period, that is why she is having such emotional roller coaster. Esmeralda anyways has a secret crush on the President of Perfumes & Passion Ltd, the aging Senor Carlos Alvarez.

Esmeralda later participates during another olfactory testing session, which aims to prepare the perfumers to recognize instantly the Top 100 perfumes on the market. She exercises with Juliano, a young sales men, who is the best friend of Adalberto from the production site and the archenemy of the President's successor, Basilio Alvarez.

Esmeralda recently found out that Juliano and Basilio Alvarez loved each other like brothers for many years until the day Juliano's lover has been fired from Perfumes & Passion LTD. Accordingly, because President Senor Carlos Alvaro's wife was jealous of her.
Since than, the two friends don't even say buenos días to each other.
According to Basilio Alvarez, it is Juliano who indirectly blames him for the dismissal of his lover, and according to Juliano, it is Basilio Alvarez, who stopped talking to him, once his lover was sent away.
Esmeralda thinks they are both nuts.

From the production site, Adalberto, the best friend of Juliano, comes in a rush to the President's office, complaining that some employees are not wearing their protection shoes - in spite of his repeated warnings. Mr Carlos Alvarez takes action immediately; he asks Basilio Alvarez to take action immediately, who knowing that Adalberto is the best friend of Juliano, sends him back to the production site to continue to give warnings until he is able to successfully manage the protection shoes issue.

Esmeralda is heading to the dining hall, where Alejandro, the best friend of Mr Carlos Alvarez, is showing off with his love bite. Esmeralda pretends that she is worried about the mysterious bruise and she suggests to Alejandro to visit a dermatologist. Esmeralda doesn't like Alejandro, because he is hitting on her despite the fact that he is married and taken into consideration the love bite, he is married and having a regular sex life too.

Esmeralda is also secretly jealous, because she doesn't have a regular sex life, her fiancée, Pablo is living in Mexico city, hence they can only meet every 2 weeks. She thinks of Pablo, how much she misses him, and she starts to eat with her eyes filled with tears. Alejandro misunderstands the tears of Esmeralda, he thinks that Esmeralda is jealous of his wife and continues to hit on Esmeralda even more openly. Esmeralda thinks he is an idiot.

In the afternoon, Esmeralda has back pain, can hardly stand on her legs, but doesn't share her suffering with any of her colleagues. Not even to Marco, the chief perfumer of Perfumes & Passion Ltd, with who she usually talks when she feels insecure in the perfume business. Marco is a very competent perfumer and offers his help to Esmeralda, but she feels that Marco has no time to spend on her training, because about 80% of Marco's work time is taken by sucking up to Senor Carlos Alvarez, the President of Perfumes & Passion LTD.

Marco asks Esmeralda to evaluate some new samples but also tells her that she doesn't have to do it right know, he emphasis that answering requirements immediately is not recommended in perfumery.
Esmeralda thinks that he is a weirdo, and she starts the evaluation directly. However, she accidentally pours the totality of sample No.12 on her skirt. Esmeralda is being sent home from Perfumes & Passion LTD to have a shower.
Esmeralda thinks that at least he would follow Marco's advice, the evaluation has been postponed until tomorrow.

On the way back to home, Esmeralda wishes she had chosen a bigger company to work for, and she prays that No. 12 doesn't leave marks on her skirt.

Meeting Jean-Claude Ellena

I first heard about him not long after I have decided to become a perfumer. It was my friend who freshly graduated from ISIPCA, who mentioned him. The way she said his name gave me the impression that we are talking about somebody sacred, very wise, noble and obviously he has my friend already as biggest fan. Limit stalker.

Later when I started perfumery, my colleagues showed particular interest in him, getting slightly obsessive about collecting information of his career. I read an article about him, in which he mentioned how much he doesn't like perfumery being mixed with cuisine - this I considered as a secret message to Olivier Cresp. One of my closest perfume friend directly agreed with Ellena. Based on the article, I was sure he is totally overweening about himself.

So I had more than a negative prejudice towards him when our Chemistry teacher announced that we will visit him in his apartment/laboratory in Cabris. I almost didn't go, I was nervous and was already prepared to have a bad time. I pictured myself listening to my fellows posing their questions with downcast eyes overwhelmed with respect and adoration and listening to his superficial answers full with clichés and not even hidden self-marketing.

I was wrong.

We got to his house in the afternoon, and every one of us still shocked about the beautiful view he has the chance to admire while working, I found myself sitting in his office/salon on comfortable deep brown couches when he invited us to ask any questions we want.
I saw that nobody really dares (?) to ask anything so I went on and on making a mini interview with him about everything I was curious about. He didn't mind. We ended up having private jokes while discussing how he usually creates, how he refuses to admit the power of marketing perfumes in Hermes, how he considers Head Space boring since it does recreate nature simply, and how much more he appreciates an abstract perception of a rose over the simple "imitation" of the rose's scent.

He has on his wall a framed photo of the word "VRAI-MENT" which is the French equivalent for "really" and "truly" put together from VRAI and MENT, separately meaning "true" and "to lie".
This is the idea that marked me the most. He talked us about the difference between the "truth" and your perception about the truth. He emphasized that truth is distorted by how you lived or remembered that moment and this is when art becomes interesting.

For me this has always been the main source of inspiration. That is why a perfume creation based on a past experience will be personal and full of emotions, because it is not simply telling a story but also engaging the audience in the emotional state you were at.

Contrarily to his opinion, I do believe that the key of success for any perfumer is to manage to recall strong childhood memories of customers with their perfume. He considers that in creation there is no past, there is no future, just today. One of the reason why his perfumes are all very modern.

While we talked for about an hour, I got to see that he is confident and assumes the success he has, but he is also objective and not being high and mighty.
I also got to know that he is somebody very intellectual and suddenly I started to feel that I sort of hang on every word of him, just like some absolute fans of his from my class. I realized that I cannot help liking him. A lot.
He was funny, entertaining, very kindly informal and stayed polite and instructive even though he probably heard the question "When do you stop working on a perfume?" about a million times before.

He later on showed us his laboratory, where his assistant - a girl each and every perfumer student is jealous of - is weighting his formulas. He showed us some tricks of the trade, told us about his collection of raw materials, we smelled some of them together.
At the end I was so impressed that I wanted to ask him to bury me under his lab if I die. I didn't. He would refuse... Just as he refuses to take interns to our biggest disappointment.

I kept calling him the "minimalist" but he rejects this label due to the definition of the word. I recently wondered which word can really describe his style. The simplest? The maximalist covered by the illusion of minimalism? Simply the Illusionist?

At the end of our visit, I wanted to stay there for the rest of my life, we had to get back to his office, where he agreed to have photos with us. After the first photo I pretended that I had my eyes closed just to have another one with him. He also dedicated his book to each of us.
I couldn't have been happier to see that for my friends he wrote " To XYZ, with regards, JCE", but to me he wrote "To Viktoria, with my BEST regards, JCE".

Just as anybody else in my class, I fell in love with Jean Claude Ellena, and the idea of stalking him became suddenly a very tempting and logical option.

The new students

Yesterday I have met the new students of Grasse Institute of Perfumery. Only women, with the exception of one Indian boy. He is a lucky guy!

They are pretty, fresh, independent and visibly making a great team already. Or still...
Apart from the fact that we had a nice chat all together, I think I am so much overwhelmed with men in my workplace that I highly appreciated women company! After the Concours de Nez, we went for a drink with most of this year students, 2 of us from my school year and 2 of the one before that. Like a big family!

There was no dispute of where to go, since there is only one pub open in Grasse after 10 PM. It is called Maneken Pis and it is a tribute to the famous Brussels Landmark, a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked boy urinating into the fountain's basin. I ordered good old Mojito after smelling the rather dubious Daiquiri of the Indian boy. My Mojito arrived with mint leaves that probably have yield its soul already months ago, but since I don't like beer, I consider myself lucky compared to my other cocktail drinking fellows.

Students came from all around the world, creating an even more colorful patchwork of cultures than the years before. I usually feel comfortable with people who are at least as much direct as me, so I directly got on well with one girl from the US, one from New Zealand and another one from Canada with Egyptian and Lebanese origins.
The girl from Los Angeles - with who I have spent most time - has a skin so sheer and white as porcelain and she smells naturally elegant like Tonalid!

I had such a good time with these girls I just met few hours ago that I cannot wait to see them again and get to know all their stories of how they got to perfumery.

Perfumer or not, the best way to get friend with somebody is drinking with them. Taking this into consideration, we set it off pretty well and we have high chances that me and the girl from New Zealand will be best friends for ever, because by 2 PM I held her hair in the ladies room while she bended over the toilette.

I think this was the proper way to welcome the new students for 2010...

The unofficial Winner of the "Concours de Nez"

Yes, I have won the 2010 Nose Competition in Grasse yesterday.

...And directly have been disqualified too, since I am considered as professional.
( I should have shown them my paycheck, they would immediately restore my status as "exploited perfume fan"... )

I had a rendez-vous with my friends at 11:30 in front of the Grasse Palace of Congress. I was a few minutes late as usual so I received an sms while parking my car that the event starts only at 2 PM. I went to take a coffee in the city center, which is really only a small square with a few cafés and restaurant. The saturday market was still on, so before heading a café, I smelled some freshly cut flowers. I diagnosed again that I prefer the green -faceted Hyacinth's scent over the obligatory "all time favorite" Rose.

I already ordered the cappucino when remembered that I only like the smell of coffee, the juice itself makes me nervous. I only ate the cream from the top and made myself a note to order tea next time I want to play the Parisian...

It is definitely already Spring in Grasse, because on my 5 minutes walk back to the Congress Palace, I got more Bonjour from random men than ever and I even earned a Je t'aime from a possible future stalker.

The Concours de Nez is organised by The Rotary Club which is a charity association all around the world. The main goal of the event is to educate people on perfumery and raw materials as well as raising funds. The event was hardly advertised - I only knew about it because I got a flu and my doctor is part of the Rotary Club - but still a few hundred people attended the 12th annual Concours de Nez. This year's theme was "The 4 elements".

Mane's stand represented Fire, with Cinnamon from Ceylan, Pimento Leaves from Latin America and Cade wood, which is the hottest of them all with its deep dry scent reminding me of smoked ham.
A young lady and a men in his middle-age with cheer elfish eyes made the presentation of the raw materials. I think he flirted with me. When making us smell their theme perfume, Absolut Fahreinheit, I saw him looking at my mouth. Not my nose. I directly checked if he had a ring ( that just shows how old and desperate I am... ), and I found no rings, but a slightly lighter strip on his ring finger instead of a ring. I heard too many urban legends in the surroundings of Grasse about married male perfumers too much fond of women to know that it is truth... I sniffed bitterly a last one from the not so bitter Absolut Fahreinheit and went to the next stand.

Charabot standed for Earth, we could smell Patchouli, Veryver from Haiti ( amazes me every time how humid its scent is! ) Iris butter ( that is contrary to what everybody thinks is obtained by distillation! ) and Viridine, which is a synthetic raw material with the distinc odeur of mushroom with a slight touch of honey. The presentation was held by two lady and a third one joined them later and directly started a mini presentation of her own, addressing her words only to me. I think she flirted with me. I didn't check if she had a ring. Rather ran away just after smelling their theme perfume, Terre d'Hermes.

The third stand was for Robertet company. A mid age lady and a young man showed us synthetic raw materials such as Benzyl Salicylate ( introduced as the smell of beach, but all I could smell was tired plastic wheel... ), Helional ( nice mixture of airy watery notes and watermelon ), Floralozone ( smells just like Ozone, and I know how Ozone smells since at the age of 10 my father bought an Ozone-maker to my bedroom, from healthy reasons ) and Canthoxal ( sweet and sour anisic note ), the theme perfume was Kenzoair, suprisingly nicer than what I remembered.

The fourth stand had the Aqua theme, but we had no time for it since the competition was about to finish soon.
The concours had an olfactive and a theoretical part where questions targeted the information you could hear if you pay attention to the stands presentations. I personally think that they should call it more like "Competition of Memory" rather than Nose...
There was 2 question that needed some extra perfume knowledge and the olfactory part - in which 5 raw materials and 2 perfumes were chosen from the different presentations were only accountable for 25 % of the total score.

My doctor - Rotarist ( who probably also flirted with me and does have a ring... ) told me in advance that my test will be taken into consideration only outside the frame of the competition and mentioned that there are many professionals evey year trying their chances and getting disqualified too.

Well it seems among them I have the best memory...