Time

Perfume creation takes time, though in a multinational company where we have daily request to work on a perfume with shorter and shorter deadlines, the creation time is really reduced to its maximum.

I see more and more of my colleagues working in the following way: based on the client's request, they take an already existing perfume from the perfume library and work around it according to the brief. Also, the majority of the clients are already coming to us with examples in their mind, which perfume's atmosphere they would like to be recreated in their product.

Despite the very tempting perfume briefs, I already have refused to work on projects where the clients set an unrealistically short deadline. The tendency have been unfortunately set already, by other perfumers who claim that they are ready to come up with a finished product within just 5 days.

A totally different approach is, when a perfumer is creating a juice just to express feelings, manifest his own inspirations. I have many perfume samples that are always in the process of creation, whenever I have an hour free I continue to work on them, for years now. I am not sure I could sell these ever to any brands, they are so personal and representing important moments of my life. Unless I come up with my own series, they are going to be sitting on my desk and evolving until I still feel the need of changing them. Commercializing was never the reason I created them anyways.

I remember Alain Astori telling me how one of his colleague ( who wish to remain anonymous ) worked on the perfect scent for his wife. Estée Lauder came to the perfumers office and since she didn't like anything they were proposing her, she took random bottles from perfumer's desks. ( According to the anecdote, she always tested the perfumes on her skin, but usually sprayed more than one product to the same spot... )

Lauder took by chance the only bottle which the perfumer didn't want to sell and insisted to have that one as her next launch. And hence, Estée Lauder's next perfume turned instantly into an all time classic.

This is how all perfumes should be created. With love, passion, sincerity and pure intentions. And with the decent amount of time.