The one and only perfect First

My "first times" are usually ending with moderate catastrophes in general.

I remember the first time I decided to wear my clothes alone in the morning. Until that day my mum used to come to my room around half past 6, and with eyes still half open she would help me to wear my tshirt, skirt etc etc. One fine day, summertime I decided that I am going to surprise my mum and by the time she came to my room I was already sitting on my bed fully clothed. But I screw it, cause instead of a swift applauding or why not a standing ovation, my mum told me I have to wear something else than my dirty clothes from yesterday.

I also remember the first time I went to do shopping alone. I think my mum sent me to take something unnecessary on purpose. I guess I was around 8 years old. I went inside, took a trolley, took the unnecessary thing, paid, and than... left the product at the cashiers desk, and like a zombie went outside the shop. With the trolley. I even remember forcing the trolley out of the shop's door.

I remember my first kiss. I was so suprised ( though I totally provoked it myself ) that I forgot to shut my eyes.

I remember first time having sex. I was 17 years old. The condom broke. We had to wait 30 mins to the nearest non stop pharmacist to wake up and beg him not to ask for a prescription for a morning-after pill.

And than the first time I created a perfume... It was just a month after we started school and I had no idea about the rules of perfume creation in general. I just added whatever I felt like, my that time favorite jasmin, some rose, osmanthus and my now favorite firewood. And thanks to a divine inspiration I made a beautiful all natural perfume that was miraculously without the brut side-scent so typical of other all natural perfumes.

It was the first time not only did I make something the first time AND right, but with perfumery I made an exceptional "first" still receiving plenty of compliments when wearing my first creation ever.

Leave wonderland with Rosemary

Yesterday, after my friend has drive away with the leftover of the dinner, I decided it was time to empty my trash containing plastic bottles into the public container a bit up on my street. While doing it, my keys slipped out of my hand and fell into the container too. It was of course midnight, only one public light strictly winking every second, full moon, some dogs -wolves? - howling the moon and me scared as civet absolute... I opened my eyes as much I could and started to search for it, without success.

Luckily, a neighbor approached with car and though first she wanted to gas-spray me, after realizing that I am in the container with plastic bottles she believed I was not hunting for some garbage - fetishism. So I asked her to put her car in a way so that when I roll over the garbage, we would see what is inside, and hopefully find my keys. When rolling over the garbage container, I was really grateful to God for France's strict selective garbage collection because I wasn't in the container until my elbows full of some potato peel or rotten chicken bones - only plastic bottles. Found the keys, than sniffed Rosemary.

My mom's birthday is this weekend, so after long hours of research, I managed to get a sample of a perfume that was discontinued about 5 years ago already. That was her favorite perfume. So I got the sample and worked on recreating the scent for like a month already, when I realized that instead of the metallic smelling raspberry inspired raw material I should use a round, very naturalistic raspberry flavor to complete the creation. I made a huge bottle of perfume for her, a luxurious cream base mixed with 5 % of the concentrated perfume ( usually they are maximum at 2% ) plus scented shower gel and shampoo. Than sent everything to my brother to keep the surprise. Than I remembered that I don't remember writing the postcode, than hit my head purposefully into the wall a few times and only than, sniffed Rosemary.

Rosemary is one of the most popular essential oil used to improve concentration. Aids focus, concentration, strength of purpose and stability. ...And smells damn good too!

An emotional perfumer

While creating a perfume, I don't think in raw materials. Sometimes I am not thinking in accords or scents either. It the feeling you want this perfume to represent that I am constantly focused at.

When starting school, I realized that I am describing raw materials in the most weird ways, not once shocking my fellow students or make them laugh out loud. I always have instant feelings that are matched by raw materials which is really a reliable source for memorizing one scent, even though it is very not objective.

In many perfumery schools they are teaching young perfumers to identify a specific raw materials by describing them in no more but 3 words in a specific order. For example cis 3 hexenol would be grass, green, fresh. Students are asked memorize these 3 parameters and are asked to describe this raw material in the same way every time as well. I have to admit that this is a great way to create a common language that are used by perfumers, but it is also a bit like "formatting" young perfumers shepherding them into the same herd.

I knew it in the first day that I am not going to be able to do that. I know that I am going to take much more time with memorizing the raw materials, because my method is very subjective, but I couldn't help myself directly identify the feelings I have when smelling a specific raw material.

For me cis-3-hexenol takes me back to my childhood on a Sunday afternoon at our cottage, lawnmower working loudly close to me. That was the first time of my life I started to get consciously interested in odors. I was wondering the first time of my life, how can I preserve and put into bottle the scent of fresh but grass. When I smell cis-3-hexenol, I think of the feeling of discovery.

It works the same way with smelling finished products, perfumes. When smelling a composition, I first have a sentiment, a feeling, an ambiance that the perfume puts me into, and only identifying this feeling can I concentrate on identifying the major ingredients.

Perfume for me, is a magic translation of a feeling and you use a perfume in order to revive those feelings. It captures a moment better than photograph, a painting, better than diary and better than any tape.

Arriving to Grasse - A Retroactive tale

Woke up at 7:00 sharp. Packed everything into the car. Marked 48 avenue Riou Blanquet, Grasse into the GPS.

Route de soleil. This is the name of the highway you have to take if you go from the North of France - Paris to the South - Grasse. Route of Sun. Despite the poetic appellation, it rained cats and dogs during our 12 hours drive. One would say it was very French eating camambert and baguette in the car, but no, it was just sad, despite all the excitement.

As we got to Grasse, I started to be nervous. Not only cause I had my newest kitchen device falling on my head in average 5 times per hours, but cause I started to realize that from that night on, I am a permanent resident of the city referred often as the cradle of modern perfumery. I always thought that Grasse will smell like leather. I guess because I read that the modern perfumery was actually born due to the fact that the glove makers started to scent their goods.

To my biggest surprise, Grasse smelled like soft humid pine with a touch of cypress.

We got to the address, and the owner of my new apartment, a women in her 40s smelling like saw from a pencil-sharpener, was waiting for us already. She put the keys into the locker and before she turned the keys, I prayed that there won't be any cookbooks on the shelves, as the night before I had a dream that I was killed while reading about how to make tarte au citron in my new apartment.

No cook books, what so ever, neither plates, nor any dishes actually, but a complete series of BD and National Geographic from the 1970's to our days. Most importantly, nothing to do with the design of the apartment I was killed in my dream! I paid the caution and gave the bottle of white wine to my new landlady.

I felt fresh, fun, new and adventurous. How cool is that I am finally starting studies in perfumery? How awesome I am doing this school from my own money? How supernatural is that I have decided this would happen almost 3 years ago within a fraction of a second when I opened that book? And it is to be realized now. This is my new apartment. This is the place I am about to live for the next few years (if not for the rest of my life!).

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful scent-ship.