Admittedly, I am a detail oriented person; probably a product of years studying analytical chemistry. After all, chemistry is a science obsessed with understanding underlying phenomena, a way of looking under the world’s hood. In many ways, chemistry involves solving the world’s smallest jigsaw puzzles, each atom slowly moving into place to reveal a larger picture at work. The closer you look, the more detail revealed in every piece. My connection to chemistry has definitely shaped my formulation methodology style; it guides my decision making process like discussed in my “What’s a Fragrance Brief?” post. My process, however, is by no means demonstrative of an universal creative approach that can be used in crafting perfume.
Landscape Fragrance Formulation
Some fragrance developers opt to go the landscape route when approaching formulation. They spend less time worrying about individual details (in my case, individual accords), instead creating a larger stage (a fragrance skeleton or base) to begin work from. Each future pass of fragrance modification using the landscape formulation method focuses on introducing additional details, filling in the foreground of the scene until reaching a client’s desired sense of completion. Once the final fragrance is deemed complete, the scent can then be dissected into accords (upon request) to aid in selling, marketing and education. In this scenario, the formulator starts with a macro point of view.
Regardless of which formulation path you choose, one thing is always certain: No matter how you get there, the final fragrance’s connection to the fragrance brief‘s story, its ability to evoke relevant emotional responses, remains the most crucial element to a scent’s success. Finding you own path there is just another fascinating part of the art and beauty of fragrance creation.
