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.
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