How to smell like a perfumer
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of proper smelling techniques for those involved in perfumery. They discuss common mistakes, such as smelling directly from the bottle, which can lead to olfactory fatigue and an inaccurate representation of a scent's true profile. The speaker suggests using scent strips to dilute and evaluate fragrances, avoiding contamination, and maintaining an odorless environment for accurate scent perception. They also touch on the significance of hydration and exercise for maintaining a clear sense of smell, providing tips to enhance one's ability to understand and create perfumes.
Takeaways
- 👃 Smelling is a fundamental skill for a perfumer and should be second nature.
- 🚫 Avoid smelling directly from the bottle as it's unrepresentative of the strength in a real perfume.
- 💧 Dilute the material beforehand to get an accurate picture of how it might smell in a perfume.
- 🧠 Be aware of olfactory fatigue, which occurs when your nose becomes desensitized to a smell over time.
- 🌿 Use scent strips, which are absorbent papers, to properly evaluate a scent without overwhelming your nose.
- ⏰ Allow the scent strip to dry for a minute or two before smelling to let the volatile ethanol evaporate.
- 📝 Label your scent strips with the percentage, molecule, and time to keep track of your evaluations.
- 🏠 Smell in an odorless environment to avoid contamination and olfactory fatigue from lingering molecules.
- 💧 Stay hydrated and consider regular exercise to help maintain the clarity of your olfactory perception.
- 👃 When smelling, keep the strip about a centimeter away from your nose and take only one or two inhalations.
- ⏱️ Evaluate the scent over time to understand how it evolves, which is crucial for using it effectively in perfumery.
Q & A
Why is smelling properly important in the context of perfumery?
-Properly smelling is crucial in perfumery because it allows for an accurate assessment of how a scent will behave in a final product. It helps to understand the true nature of a scent, especially since individual ingredients in a perfume are typically present at concentrations of 1% or less.
What is the common mistake people make when smelling scents from a bottle?
-A common mistake is directly smelling from a bottle, which is unrepresentative of the scent's true strength in a perfume. This high concentration can lead to olfactory fatigue, desensitizing the nose and leading to an inaccurate perception of the scent.
What is olfactory fatigue, and how does it affect the sense of smell?
-Olfactory fatigue is a phenomenon where the nose becomes desensitized to a scent over time due to continuous exposure. It occurs as scent molecules linger in the olfactory receptors, blocking them and reducing the ability to perceive the scent, eventually leading to a diminished or lost sense of smell.
Why should one not smell a scent immediately after dipping a scent strip into a solution?
-One should not smell a scent strip immediately after dipping because the volatile ethanol solvent, which is used to dilute the scent, is still present. This can overpower the nose and lead to an inaccurate perception of the scent.
What is the recommended method for smelling a scent strip in perfumery?
-The recommended method is to dip a scent strip into the diluted scent solution, let it air for a minute or two to allow the ethanol to evaporate, and then take one or two inhalations from about a centimeter away from the nose to avoid contamination and olfactory fatigue.
Why is it important to label scent strips when evaluating scents?
-Labeling scent strips is important to keep track of the scent's identity, the concentration, and the time of evaluation. This helps in conducting accurate and organized evaluations over time, especially when assessing how a scent evolves.
What environment is ideal for evaluating scents?
-An ideal environment for scent evaluation is one that is odorless and free from contaminants. This could be an area with fresh air, like near an open window or outside, or a room separate from where samples or chemicals are prepared to avoid olfactory fatigue and contamination.
How can one minimize the risk of olfactory fatigue when smelling multiple samples?
-To minimize olfactory fatigue, one should smell only a few samples at a time and allow the nose to rest for a few hours before resuming. This gives the olfactory system time to recover and maintain sensitivity to the scents being evaluated.
Why is it advised to stay hydrated and engage in regular exercise for perfumery?
-Staying hydrated and engaging in regular exercise can help maintain the health of the mucous membrane in the nose, which is essential for the docking of scent molecules. This aids in clearing out old molecules and regenerating the olfactory receptors, leading to a clearer sense of smell.
What are some external factors that can contaminate the sense of smell while evaluating scents?
-External factors such as eating strongly scented foods, brushing teeth with minty toothpaste, or drinking coffee can leave lingering smells in the mouth or on the breath that can interfere with the evaluation of scents on scent strips.
How should scent strips be stored to prevent cross-contamination?
-To prevent cross-contamination, scent strips should be kept at least 10 centimeters apart, especially when they are wet with ethanol and the scent solution. This allows the ethanol to evaporate without carrying scent molecules from one strip to another.
Outlines
👃 The Art of Smelling in Perfumery
The speaker emphasizes the importance of proper smelling techniques, particularly in the context of perfumery. They explain that smelling is a fundamental skill for a perfumer and should become second nature. The common mistake of directly smelling from a bottle is highlighted, as it does not represent the true strength of a perfume ingredient. The speaker suggests diluting the scent before smelling and warns against olfactory fatigue, a phenomenon where the nose becomes desensitized to a smell over time. To avoid this, they recommend using scent strips to absorb a diluted version of the fragrance, waiting a minute or two after dipping the strip to let the volatile ethanol evaporate, and then making an initial evaluation. The speaker also stresses the importance of labeling the scent strips with the percentage of the molecule and the time of evaluation to track changes in the scent over time.
🌿 Creating an Ideal Smelling Environment
The speaker discusses the importance of the environment when smelling fragrances, advising against doing so in the same room where samples are prepared to prevent olfactory fatigue and contamination from foreign molecules. They suggest finding an odorless environment, such as a room with fresh air or outside, and limit the number of samples smelled at one time to avoid overwhelming the nose. The speaker also recommends staying hydrated and exercising regularly to maintain a clear sense of smell. When smelling, they advise keeping the scent strip about a centimeter away from the nose, taking one or two inhalations, and then noting the scent's description. The speaker also touches on the importance of avoiding contamination from recent meals, strong smells in the mouth, or other sources that could interfere with the accurate perception of the scent.
🔍 Advanced Smelling Techniques and Contamination Avoidance
The speaker provides advanced tips for smelling fragrances, such as allowing time for the scent to evolve and noting when the scent no longer registers to understand its longevity. They stress the importance of understanding a material deeply to use it effectively in perfume creation. The speaker also discusses the risk of cross-contamination between scent strips due to the high vapor pressure of ethanol, suggesting keeping wet strips well apart from each other. Once the scent has faded and the vapor pressure is low, the risk of contamination decreases, and strips can be placed closer together. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of these techniques for anyone interested in perfumery and hints at future videos that might delve deeper into smelling exercises and techniques for understanding fragrance materials.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Smelling
💡Perfumery
💡Dilution
💡Olfactory Fatigue
💡Scent Strips
💡Ethanol
💡Hydration
💡Contamination
💡Evaluation
💡Olfactory Receptors
Highlights
The importance of proper smelling in the craft of perfumery.
The common mistake of smelling directly from a bottle and its consequences.
The necessity of diluting materials to accurately represent their strength in a perfume.
Understanding olfactory fatigue and its impact on the perception of scents.
The phenomenon of olfactory fatigue and how it affects the ability to smell over time.
The use of scent strips to avoid high concentrations and olfactory fatigue.
The waiting period after applying scent to a strip to allow volatile solvents to dissipate.
The importance of labeling scent strips for accurate evaluation over time.
The recommendation to smell in an odorless environment to prevent contamination.
Advice on limiting the number of samples smelled at one time to maintain nose sensitivity.
The benefits of staying hydrated and exercising for maintaining a clear olfactory perception.
Techniques for smelling a scent strip to avoid contamination and olfactory fatigue.
The method of evaluating a scent's evolution over time for a deeper understanding of its characteristics.
The potential contamination from recent meals or strong smells and how to avoid it.
The risk of cross-contamination between scent strips and how to prevent it.
The suggestion for future videos on advanced smelling techniques and exercises for perfumery.
Transcripts
all right so today I'm going to talk
about smelling you know how do you smell
something and this actually is something
that's quite important so you can
imagine if you're into trying to do
perfumery so you're trying to make
something smell nice it might actually
be quite you know quite useful to know
how to smell something properly and this
I would say is definitely a fundamental
skill of a perfumer I mean it's got to
be something that second nature but you
want to know how to do it properly and
the reason that I say this is because a
lot of people don't smell properly
I mean smelling something in real life
is fine you know just smell it but when
you're trying to do perfumery you have
to smell things in a certain way so one
mistake that I see a lot of people make
is they'll take kind of a bottle and
they'll just open it and and they'll
just smell it right and there are so
many things that are wrong with this
thing there are so many things so right
firstly when you've got a bottle like
this it's a completely unrepresentative
of the strength of a real perfume so
you've got to understand that when
you're making a perfume any one
ingredient it is probably going to be 1%
or less in most cases maybe a bit more
but what that means is you definitely
want to have the material diluted
beforehand so here for example I've got
something so this is floral ozone which
is a synthetic molecule and that's
actually Dobies it's a 1% and what this
means is if I were to go and smell this
you've got a much more accurate picture
of what actually might be like in a
perfume - that is the first thing that's
good
and the second thing is when you're
smelling like this you're susceptible to
something called a factory fatigue yeah
so or factory fatigue it's basically a
phenomenon that occurs which is when you
smell something all the molecules so
they go into your nose and they go into
the receptors and obviously that's why
you smell it
but when these molecules go to your
receptors they aren't evacuated straight
away right they kind of stick around a
little bit so what happens is that over
time all of the receptors get blocked
and you become effectively desensitized
to smart so when you keep smelling
something what's going to happen is your
perception of this smell is actually
gonna get less and less and less over
time until you smell nothing so this is
actually the same effect as like when
you go into the kitchen say you're
making some food and the first five
minutes you're dropping a ball like the
vegetables and the rosemary the garlic
all that kind of stuff and it smells
quite nice you know that yeah there's
gonna be some good food here but then
then what happens is you start cooking
it and then you don't smell anything
anymore
so you don't think anything of it but
then maybe someone else comes in the
room and they say oh that smells nice
and of course at this point you can't
smell anything at all so that's exactly
the same phenomenon happening here so
that's called a factory fatty so this is
something you really want to avoid at
all costs so basically whenever you're
trying to smell something you want to
avoid avoid avoid olfactory fatigue so
there are a number ways we're going to
do this but firstly not smelling from
the bottle because you're smelling such
a high concentration that basically your
nose is just get blocked up so it's not
a good idea so yeah then who comes a
question of how do you smell properly so
you want to take one of these little
these scent strips you can find these
like on eBay or or somewhere like that
basically they are filter paper
effectively they're just kind of
absorbent paper
that this is pretty much what you want
to use and you want to take one and you
just want to dip it in so this is the
diluted and the floor a litter and I had
earlier right as we just take it dip it
in now the temptation is to smell this
straightaway but don't and the reason
for that is because it's just been in
the bottle so all the ethanol which is
the solvent which is really volatile
that is still kind of hanging around and
strep so for now basically a load of
ethanol is going to go up your nose so
what you want to do is kind of leave it
for I would say a minute or two and then
you can do your first evaluation and
actually when you're doing this you want
to you want to label it it's quite
important too
I'm just gonna write this I normally
write by the percentage the molecule
you're smelling and what time those
three things I would say because
otherwise you're gonna get left with a
load of strips and you're gonna have no
ideas like what's what
and when you want to start doing
evaluations for a longer time periods so
say it's the base note you're looking at
you want to know what happens preferably
over a day or a few days that's gonna be
more important than maybe what happens
straightaway so at that point you're
gonna need to really label strips but I
mean okay so now I've got that we've got
to consider where we're smelling here so
you definitely don't want to smell in
the room or somewhere where you've
prepared your samples or where your
aroma chemicals are kept and the reason
for this is because it's a source of
contamination so firstly having those
molecules lingering in the air can be a
source of that olfactory fatigue I was
talking about but secondly you can have
foreign molecules so molecules different
to what you're trying to be smelling
which go in the air and that can
actually alter your perception of what
you're you are actually trying to smell
so you want to be ideally in a
completely odorless environment so
somewhere maybe with some fresh air like
an open window even outside that's not
too bad or a room that's completely
completely separate from anything else
right secondly you want to make sure
that you're only smelling a few samples
at a time so you you don't want to have
kind of loads and loads and loads of
things at once
you wanna because your nose is going to
get tired what you want to do is have
just a few things to evaluate at a time
and then you know maybe a few hours
later or something when your nose has
had a chance to kind of get back to
normal then you can go back and you can
keep going so I think consistency is a
lot better than just trying to go in one
smell everything because your nose is
going to get confused it's gonna get
full of molecules which is going to
start blocking up your receptors and
effectively things are going to start
going wrong thirdly you can do things
like make sure you're really hydrated
this is gonna help the mucous membrane
inside your nose so we're all these
molecules are docking is going to help
that clear itself out and regenerate and
if you do this and that's going to
definitely help you kind of have that
clarity in perception and other things
like if you do regular exercise you know
that will help with the same thing clear
out the mucous membrane and help you
kind of reset your nose so that's all
good right so now it's been kind of two
minutes or something so I'm gonna take
this which is a floor alisone right so
you don't want to contaminate your nose
that's the other thing so when you smell
it you don't want to hold it you don't
want to touch your nose because if you
do that basically the molecules are
gonna get onto your nose and then that's
gonna cause the olfactory fatigue and
then when you smell it again
suddenly you're already going to be used
to it so you're not gonna smell anymore
or at least smell a lot less so I would
say keep the tip about a centimeter away
from your nose if possible
and then the next thing is when you're
about to smell it you want to take one
or two inhalations and that's it because
again it's that same effect with the
olfactory fatigue you don't want to give
your nose any chance to get used to it
you want to kind of have this the smell
you want to crystallize it in your mind
and then you want to find the words to
describe it and write them down and
that's it then you sort of walk away and
leave it so so I've just had that and
that's fine like that's that's all I
need one one smell and to me that smells
very much a water like fresh kind of
almost metallic water so what I'm going
to do is I'm going to write that down
and that's it it's just you know what
does it smell and that is kind of step
one in crystallizing exactly how that
that thing smells to me so the idea is
if I now go and repeat that so firstly I
can do this over time so I can see how
that evolves and said it doesn't smell
anymore because that's important right
and you know when when you're using a
certain material you want to know it you
want to know it really deeply because
that's how you're gonna be able to use
it properly in a perfume you don't wanna
just chuck it in there because you're
gonna have no idea what's gonna happen
you want to understand it really really
in-depth exactly what how it's gonna
evaporate in general over time that's
gonna give you the best chance of making
it actually work in above you okay and
finally the last point is contamination
so I talked about how you contaminate
your nose but you've gotta notice some
other sources potentially that could
kind of mess with your perception so one
is if you've just eaten a meal full of
foods that smell quite strongly so say
you've had like garlic or something like
that
also you brush your teeth and you've got
that minty notes in your mouth or maybe
you had a coffee all of that kind of
smell that can actually interfere with
what you're selling on the strip so it's
important to bear that in mind and try
to avoid it and the other thing is when
you've got your scent strips you want to
be careful not to put them so I've got a
few here you don't want to put them like
too close together
because if you have a
of them and they're all kind of wet with
ethanol and the chemical they can
actually cross contaminate through the
air slightly I've noticed this as happen
before so if you take two different
samples and you dip them and then you
leave the SEM strips next to each other
because the ethanol evaporates it's got
it's got such a high vapor pressure and
it pulls all of the like the perfume
material with it what happens is that
ethanol can rise up off one scent strip
and then it can kind of hit the next
scent strip and deposit the material
onto it
so if you've got a material that's quite
strong then that can actually that
second strip even though they're not
touching they can start to the second
one can start to smell of the first or
vice versa
yeah so ideally when your strips are wet
and you've just dipped them you want to
keep them quite far apart and then later
on maybe it's after a day or so depends
on what the material is but once the
smell has got very faint and weak what
that means effectively in most cases is
the vapor pressure has become very low
so the risk of contamination by leaving
this strips next to each other isn't so
much so yeah after maybe a day or
something all the strip's you can leave
them right next to each other but
straight away in first at least 15
minutes or a few hours you want to kind
of keep them maybe separated but I would
say like 10 centimeters at least or
something like that yeah anyway that's
all there is to it pretty much but it is
as I say it's an important skill and
just a few little things like that
making sure you smell the right way it
can have such a big impact and it will
definitely improve your ability to get a
really clear idea of how things smell
and that's really really important I
mean if you you know if you want to do
perfumery anyway so that's enough of
that I think next video I might do some
more maybe on exactly how I plan you
know smelling things right because
you've got to take into account things
at different concentrations and
different times
you know and how you get to know
materials properly that kind of thing so
I might talk a bit about you know like
what kind of exercises what kind of
techniques you want to use for really
drilling down into a material and
getting to know it properly because that
is one of the kind of pillars of
perfumery and like if you can master
that that is you will be well on your
way to understanding how to make a full
perfume yeah so if you liked this video
give it a like give it a subscribe give
it a comment whatever
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