How to stimulate creativity? Go abroad.

A random, personal rose…

Orange Oil from Florida
Prunella
Patchouly
Rhodinol
Citronellol
PEA
Damascone Beta 10%
Damscenone 10%
Ionone Beta
DMBC Acetate
Liffarome 10%
Honey Base
Lychee Base
Helvetolide
Davana Oil
Rose Absolute Maroc
Osmanthus Absolute
Tonka Bean Absolute
Maté Absolute
Sandalwood Oil
Violet Leaf Absolute 10%
Encens Oil
Rose Crystals
Linalol/Ethyl Linalol
C14 10%
Benjoin Siam 50%

Perfumery took me places…

I forget how blessed that I am to get the chance to do perfumery.

Perfumery took me to Lyon where I experienced a beautiful city of fine dining, art, culture, fashion, and bright lights (http://www.lumieres.lyon.fr/lumieres/sections/en). This is where I learned about the French culture, bathed in the French language, and I began my cultural integration. To satiate my olfactive needs, I lived in the Hermes/Dior/L’Artisan Parfumeur boutiques and had easy access to Printemps (a higher end French department store) with its Serge Lutens.

Then perfumery took me to the south of France where I learned the bases of perfumery in Grasse… there I experienced the fields of jasmine, lavender, and rose under the grace of the never-hiding sun. I slaved away in the open, perfumery lab from morning to night. Outside of this, Cannes, Nice, Antibes, and Monaco are memories ingrained in my brain.

Right out school, I was taken immediately into a company in Grasse take to reformulate, manipulate, and create formulas… activities that most perfumery students do not get the chance to do so early in their careers. While I had a fantastic “master,” I also had to teach myself and learn by myself while using every resource around me. I expanded my fragrance vocabulary two-folds, worked on several projects, and weighed nearly a thousand formulas… observed and learned the perfumery of today. Having a reference of the past and the now is important because it makes me search harder to create new things.

Led by curiosity, I tried to learn every aspect of perfumery from production, to legislation, to control quality, to fragrance analysis, to marketing, to evaluation, etc. And I owe all of this to the company that trusted me and saw my value and gave me a chance.

But I had another calling, so I decided to leave…

And now I am in Paris where a new chapter of life begins, continuing my studies and working, hoping that I will get the chance to express myself and give to the perfumery world.

My affinities and what my mind is thinking about

I have a thing for modern chypres and I want to develop new chypre structures that break away from patchouly (even though I love patchouly) and mosses.

I have a new thing for eau de colognes (Cologne Mugler, Cologne Bigarade, Eau Sauvage, Escale à Portofino, etc) and would like to create new cologne structures.

While I love orientals and heavy ambery, balsamic fragrances, I like transparency as well. I will not hesitate to put massive doses of Hedione or helional.

I have an affinity for apple, cassis, lychee, and raspberry notes but in subtle quantities where necessary.

I am insanely mad for musks right now. I might fail an olfactive test if asked to distinguish all the musks on the market, but I am starting to understand how to create nice effects from different musk combinations.

Some concepts that I am playing a lot with are: tea, tobacco, fig, salt, exotic flowers, ice, etc.

I am more interested in fantasy accords than copying nature though it is my dream to create the headspace smell of the perfect rose.

A strength that I am really proud of is my creativity when it comes to using natural raw materials.

A few beautiful perfumes…

I need to keep reminding me what are some beautiful perfumes…

Narciso Rodriguez for Her (EDT) – a wonderful modern chypre which its beauty comes from the special musks, a lychee like note, and a honey/animalic base.

Dior Homme – a fantastic masculine take on iris.

DG Light Blue (and all of Olivier Cresp’s LB reworks).

Shalimar, Eau Sauvage, Miss Dior, Chanel No. 19, Dune, Obsession, Loulou, Eden, Escale à Portofino, Gucci Rush, Miss Dior Cherie, Silver Iris Mist, Sa Majesté La Rose, L’eau d’Hiver, Kelly Calèche, Cartier Declaration, L’Instant de Guerlain, Encre Noir, Rose 31, Bulgari Au Thé Rouge, Omnia pour Femme, Omnia Amethyst, Allure Homme, Cologne Mugler, Rose Alexandrie, Cuir Amethyst, Carnal Flower, NR for Him, JPG Classique, Amarige, Musc Ravageur, Vetiver Extraordinaire, and the list goes on and on.

The next bottle that I will buy will be Dior Homme.

A new beginning.

I’m busy learning perfumery, so I have no time to write. I’ll continue posting a few thoughts here and there, but learning perfumery is now my priority!