Making perfume: THE MYTH OF THE NOTES PYRAMID

"Is says there's daisy in it. Have you got any daisies?"
Modern perfume formulas rarely resemble the published "notes lists" and people new to perfume-making are going to be disappointed if they try assembling a fragrance from the website description.
With modern materials, what the brand team calls a top note, the perfumer might call a base note.
Anyway, you don't have to put top notes in a fragrance, really you don't. It'll be fine.
All this and more at / scenthusiasm
If you'd like to follow the self-study online course with example formulas to make up, visit scenthusiasm.s....
Scenthusiasm®️ is a registered trademark.
If you'd like to explore the fragrances we make, visit www.4160tuesdays.com
The film was made my Arthur McBain, who has worked at 4160Tuesdays since 2014 between acting roles. You really want to look up his and Owen Jenkins' podcast, At Your Peril. That's Arthur I'm talking to in all these recent films.
That scarf is a vintage Pucci, bought from Bowler & Betty in York.
That book is Perfumes of Yesterday by David Williams £34 available from the publishers www.micellepre...
Among the materials I talked about were Romandolide - a musk that's a top, mid and base note - Hedione and Hedione High Cis, Clearwood, Norlimbanol, Framboise - which smells like Pez, not pears.

[@mochacola72]

Thank you Ms Sarah

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

I'm glad it'd useful.

[@christieo1761]

"Pez" "Pears" LOL! Thanks for the lesson and the giggle. :) Congratulations on your 10th year!!!

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

I know! 🤦‍♀️😸 It's definitely raspberries.

[@originalsupermommy]

My Peonies started bloomimg after I had started nose training my materials, I went out to get the first smells of the fresh Peonies and my nose immediately picked out that it was high in Linalool. 😄

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

It does make smelling flowers so much more interesting although perhaps less romantic.

[@rickscars7395]

What a great explanation of material use. When I started working with aroma chemicals I literally thought because of the pyramid that your top notes work then they’re gone, then mid notes activate work, then those are gone etc.. after working and learning my material I soon realized as you stated they all tend for the most part to be present but it’s just that the dominant ones steal the show😁 I like your artistic way of visualizing your fragrance. Thank you Sarah

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you. The best way is to blend a couple of things and see what happens, then we begin to understand. Thinks like Hedione which don't seem to smell much, they are the trickiest to understand, especially when they entirely change the nature of an accord, but new perfumers miss them out because they don't smell much. I feel another film coming along.

[@rickscars7395]

@@SarahMcCartney4160 yes please 😁

[@laurasisson9175]

You absolutely shook me at 14:06 when you breathed that peach lactose.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

The peach lactone? Retronasal olfaction. 😃 You don't let it touch your mouth, but it's interesting.

[@originalsupermommy]

I loved this whole discussion. It is very encouraging to know I don't have to color in the lines. Thank you!

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Erase the lines entirely.

[@originalsupermommy]

@@SarahMcCartney4160 WILL DO! Adios lines... 😎

[@anjaliperfumes]

Best perfumery KZbin TV channel. 📺🏆❤️

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you. 😗

[@pixienyx]

This was fantastic! Thank you!

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you, I'm glad it was useful.

[@originalsupermommy]

Night Blooming Cirrus is a succulent [looks like cactus but it's not] and it blooms for one night a year, usually during a Full Moon in July in Florida. It's a gorgeous white flower with a pretty scent similar to other white floral notes. The bloom only lasts for a few hours.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

I need to look it up.

[@sallyrobinson7138]

So Cashmeran Velvet is mystical! Love the sound of it even more. Love the debunking of perfume descriptions. I'm very much a "Do I like the smell of it?... Yes" person. Happy birthday 4160 Tuesdays 🤗 🎂 🎈 🎆 🎉 🎉 x

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you. Yes, I think I'll look up the other mystical molecules and let you know.

[@Uofaguy0507]

I so look forward to these wonderful informative videos you put out. A joy to watch as always! PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!🎉 🥳

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you very much. I do love to talk about perfumery and I'll keep going as long as there are topics to cover.

[@muffininorbit]

I find comparing the notes list to a wine description to be helpful in explaining it to customers or others. I recently saw one of these perfume connoisseurs on KZbin, with a huge following, talking about how he's against IFRA restrictions because "if one is sensitive to an ingredient one can just not buy perfume with that in it." I thought about trying to explain what's wrong with that to him but decided it wasn't worth it.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Sorry I missed this! Sometimes there's very little point explaining things to people who haven't understood, and at other times they listen. We continue to spread facts hoping some will stick!

[@franklinfuertes]

There are certain things that are for sure to be cautious about and is good that there is some third party organizations to keep the consumer safe. Huge example is Bergamot with bergatene in it and the max use in a perfume should 0.4%… but in the case of Oakmoss, treemoss, fig absolute etc and other certain raw materials I find it quite hypocritical. How is alcohol not limited with very much evidence that is a skin irritant, neuro toxin and many more side effects. That’s my point. We should all be careful with the things we as consumer consume. Also on this case as a perfumer we should advise our customer and teach and or show to be cautious about cosmetics.

[@dailyalien]

what an amazing way to explain things… so authentic and genuine it’s addictive watching you and your chillback approach and passion. we love you sarah

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you very much, Daily Alien. It's a pleasure to hear from you.

[@originalsupermommy]

I like the Firmenich Framboise, it lasts a long time too!

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

It's gorgeous.

[@laurenbray8314]

It better for the price!

[@SeedKreations]

@@SarahMcCartney4160 have u tried the robertet natural rasberry or strawberry?

[@marcialsblendsfragrance2972]

I smell base notes in the opening. Lol. So I feel what you mean.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

You're right. They are always there. People have started to believe that they are unveiled in layers, but they're all mixed up together.

[@alex_pearl]

"Smells better in French." 😆 Hahaha!

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

The Truth. 💙

[@pami333]

Okay, I now know what ruined some perfumes for me, where peach or apricot are listed as top notes but on my skin/to my nose were dominating the compostion up until the late heart or base note. :-D It's funny, how we pick up the notes, we don't like, much easier. Must be an evolutionary thing to warn us. And it's also funny that those notes stand out even more today, when the age of complexity in perfumery more or less came to an end. I can as a man easily wear some older Chypres marketed towards women with a listed (and perceptible) peach note, without being bothered while modern unisex scents I can not stand. Beside this, a an untrained hobbyist I always neclegted top notes a bit because a) I'm not a fan of most and b) didn't see why I should pay too much attention, money and time on something that is gone in the blink of an eye and which I do not care about anyway. :-D

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

I agree totally. Sorry, I just spotted this. Notes are a very fluid thing, and a "top note" when describing a perfume is just something you smell at the beginning. You don't have to put in things which are fleeting if you don't want to. That always comes as a surprise to the people brought up in the tradition of three top/three mid/three base, but that's a starting point, not the law.

[@kausharalam5880]

She is great teacher ❤

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. 🙏🏻

[@catface101]

It's not even a pyramid, it's a triangle.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

😆

[@chinuzg]

Hey Sarah. Thank you so much for all the wisdom that you share. Very grateful. Can you please let me know more about the concept of clouds. It does make sense to me what you are trying to explain but I am getting confused with them being less impact materials. I am just learning ingredients at this stage. When I sniff 10% solutions of Iso e super, Musk T, Hedione, and Amrbox, only iso e super acts as something close to cloud conceptually because of low impact. I find hedione, musk T and ambrox (specially this one) have substantial impact and I am not able to relate the clouds to them. They act more as main ingredients in the blend and not as background clouds for me. Am i looking at something in a wrong way? Please do help me out.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

They are materials with a low slope of psychophysical function. In that any amount will have an olfactory impact, but if you multiply the amount by 10 it will only increase the olfactory impact by a much smaller amount. However it will affect the feel and behaviour of the perfume.

[@LightOfJoy1]

What's the difference between Clear Wood and Akigala Wood? I've heard Akigala Wood described similarly, and the compositions I've sampled with it, I've enjoyed. Thank you for another compelling video!

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

For me the difference is that Akigala Wood is a captive so I don't get to smell it at all; it can only be used by the company which manufactures it.

[@Spiralnebel_GB]

Even thinking in accords what makes it really difficult for beginners is how to chose the materials without having access to all of them to know how they smell and act blended with others. Lets say i want a sweet powdery amber with cinnamon, plum and woods. Hoe many different cinnamons exist on the market? Do all of them smell the same? Maybe there are other materials that aren‘t cinnamon but smell like it so how to know of them? And maybe two or more materials combined smell like cinnamon as well!!? Or maybe there is a great cinnamon but it hints in lets say the spicy aspect of it so what to add then? And now we just got someday a cinnamon accord we like but how about the amber, plum and so on!? Its mind blowing how complex the whole process is and thinking about it keeps me away from getting started. So how is the process in your mind? Where do you start and how do you start experimenting? Do you start with an idea of a picture you went to paint or do you chose a single color you already own m, start painting with and add more colors to the picture? Have you find your initial color by buying all kinds of them to find the right one or just anyone and focus more on the process of painting? Are there any rules that tell us in perfumery whats the perfect like for example? So how dies a perfect cinnamon smells? Capture absolutes always all aspects or maybe synthetics because they do not change if mixed with others? There are sooo many questions and it would be nice to get an idea how a perfumer starts a project from the stretch broken down into all thoughts that go into this process.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

That probably needs another film, but I think I covered a little of it in the first film of this series. Imagining that one needs *all* the materials before it's possible to make a perfume is the best way to stop oneself ever getting started. Take what you have, make blends, see what happens, make notes, learn, repeat daily.

[@laurenbray8314]

If I'm not mistaken Orchids have no significant odor at all in them that can be extracted anyway. Pretty sure its a fantasy note in perfumes lol.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Yup, that's the exact point I was making. There are a couple of aromatic orchids, but they are not grown commercially to make a perfumery material.

[@loveamber7285]

Hello,you talked about four ingredients that make up a perfume in the 19th century that have been a bestseller: bergamot, e-super, and vanillin. What is the fourth ingredient, please tell me

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Did I? Iso E Super came our mid 20th Century. Was I talking about the Guerlinade? Coumarin, heliotropin, vanillin, bergamot.

[@Curdle7]

I’m looking for a good orange blossom or neroli perfume. I already found a great iris which I was looking for.

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

If you'd like to try one of ours, I'd recommend The Orange Tree. 🍊🌳

[@Curdle7]

@@SarahMcCartney4160 oh awesome I will I hadn’t seen that one yet thank you

[@Curdle7]

First comment

[@SarahMcCartney4160]

Yes it is. 🥇

[@anjaliperfumes]

@@SarahMcCartney4160 Dang it. I will try to beat this next time. Subscribed with the bell icon thingy. Now waiting to hear the bell.