Short answer
If perfume formulas are lost and there is no working backup, stop changing anything on the affected device, check every place a copy might exist — automatic cloud copies, old exports, email attachments, messages, printouts, notebooks, a manufacturer's or supplier's records — and gather the fragments in one place before reconstructing. Reconstruct production formulas first, from batch records with actual weights if you have them, and confirm each reconstruction by making a small trial and comparing it with a retained sample. Then set up backups that would have prevented the loss.
First: stop the damage
- Stop using the device or file for anything new. Deleted data is sometimes recoverable until it is overwritten.
- Do not reinstall or reset the app or device yet; some recovery options depend on what is still there.
- Write down what happened — what was lost, when it was last seen, what you did. It helps any recovery and your next backup plan.
Where copies hide
| Source | What it may hold |
|---|---|
| The app's own backups | Local or cloud backups made by the app, including automatic or scheduled ones |
| Cloud storage and device backups | Earlier copies of files, version history of spreadsheets |
| Exports | PDFs, spreadsheets or CSVs made for someone else |
| Email and messages | Formulas or exports sent to a manufacturer, a collaborator or yourself |
| Paper | Printed formula sheets, batch sheets, lab notebooks |
| Your manufacturer | The production formula and batch records |
| Your safety assessor | The formula or full composition supplied for assessment |
| Supplier orders | Which materials you bought, in what quantities and when — a clue to what a formula contained |
The reason these copies exist is that formulas leave the lab during normal work; how to protect confidential perfume formulas discusses keeping track of where they go, which also tells you where to look.
Reconstructing a formula
- Collect every fragment for the formula: versions, batch sheets, notes, sample labels.
- Prefer batch records with actual weights over draft formulas; they show what was really made.
- Rebuild in your template, one material per row, with dilutions explicit, and convert to percentages; how to read a perfume formula helps with old notation.
- Mark every uncertain value — a guessed dilution, an unreadable digit — rather than silently filling it in.
- Make a small trial and compare it with a retained sample of the product, side by side, at several time points. A triangle test shows whether a difference is perceptible.
- Adjust and record each change as a new version until the trial matches.
- Re-approve the reconstructed formula, including restriction checks and documents, before using it for production.
If retained samples exist but no formula does, analysis can help identify components; see GC-MS for perfumers. Expect reconstruction from analysis alone to take many trials.
When a reconstruction will not match
Sometimes a trial gets close and then stops improving. The usual reasons, in rough order of likelihood:
- A material has changed. The lot, grade or supplier you now use differs from the one in the original; compare against retained material samples if you have them.
- A dilution was misread. A row recorded as solution weight read as pure material, or the reverse, shifts a powerful material tenfold.
- The retained sample has aged. A product that has sat for years has changed too; compare with a recent bottle if one exists.
- A premix or base is missing from the fragments, or its own composition has changed.
Record each hypothesis and the trial that tested it. When the match is close enough that a triangle test shows no perceptible difference, approve the reconstruction as a new version, noting that it was rebuilt and from what.
Priorities when much is lost
- Products in production or on sale.
- Formulas promised to clients.
- Approved formulas not yet launched.
- Development work — often easier to redo than to reconstruct.
Afterwards: prevent the next one
- Set up backups with at least one copy off the device, and test a restore; see how to back up perfume formulas.
- Export production formulas in open formats as well.
- Keep a continuity pack someone else could use; see formula continuity planning.
- Review the plan whenever you change device or software.
The whole approach to keeping a library safe is set out in the formula data management guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can deleted data be recovered from a phone?
Sometimes, but app data on modern phones is usually encrypted and stored privately, and recovery is unreliable and can risk privacy. Professional recovery services exist; weigh the cost against reconstruction from other copies.
Should I ask my manufacturer for my formula back?
If they hold it, yes — and check your agreement for what they must provide. Production formulas held by a manufacturer are often the most complete surviving copy.
Written and reviewed by the RUŌOD Lab team. This article is general education about perfume formulation and record-keeping; it is not legal, regulatory or safety advice, and the examples are illustrations, not validated commercial formulas. How we write and check these guides.