Level 1: Introduction to Perfumery

Perfumery is the craft of composing scents from aromatic materials. Learn what perfumers really do, what a formula is, and what you need in order to begin.

15 min · Exercise: Take one perfume apart in words

A maker's timeline of perfumery: how distillation, alcohol, synthetic molecules and modern aroma chemicals each changed what a perfumer could compose.

15 min · Exercise: Smell one material from each era

What a working perfumer's process looks like: briefs, trials, evaluation and regulation, and how fragrance-house and independent routes really differ.

15 min · Exercise: Write your own one-page brief

Why does a fragrance change over time? Learn how volatility drives top, heart and base notes, then test it yourself by timing three materials on paper strips.

20 min · Exercise: Time three materials on strips

Learn the main fragrance families through your nose, not a chart. A smelling exercise that sorts fragrances by family and shows where the labels stop helping.

15 min · Exercise: Sort ten smells by family

Eau de parfum and eau de toilette are conventions, not standards. Learn what these terms mean for a maker, what they omit, and how to reason about strength.

15 min · Exercise: Work out what is in the bottle

Compare natural and synthetic perfume materials with your own nose. A guided side-by-side smelling exercise that replaces slogans with what you can observe.

15 min · Exercise: Compare a natural and a single molecule

Set up a smelling journal and a realistic perfumery learning plan: what to record, how often to practice, and how to tell whether your nose is really improving.

15 min · Exercise: Level 1 project: set up your journal and write your plan