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“En effet, le “test de consommateurs” est parfait pour déterminer la couleur ou la structure idéales d’un produit à usage cosmétique ou d’un détergent. Mais pourquoi demander à un groupe de femmes familiarisées avec des produits lancés il y a dix ans d’aider au choix du “parfum de demain” ? ” Guy Robert, in Les Sens du Parfum, ISBN- 2-7464-0187-8

There was quote from Guy Robert’s Les Sens du Parfums published yesterday on PerfumeOfLife, and it made me reach out for my worn down copy of this book, that -like Roudnitska’s little booklet “Le Parfum”- always reminds me how fast perfumery is changing these days. The above quote is perfect. On  a couple of levels. One level that I find interesting: The familiarization aspect. You might call it conditioning, too. Like it or not: We are conditioned by our sensorial experiences of the past. These days, the conditioning by scents is very prominent as we live in an highly, if not even perfumed environment (from public space, shops, private space to laundry products), whereby this perfuming happens with super cheap molecules, mostly.

Here’s the challenge: Coming up with a fragrance that does not comply with these familiar aspects you are in for troubles. Troubles now come from what consumers have inhaled earlier, so to say.

And still, we all long for new sensations. You see: Difficult. As a creator, you have the privilege to propose new sensations, expanding the event horizon, and as creator you have the burden of bridging  a gap.

In this context: I haven’t talked about my fragrant explorations lately. The gap is what is worrying me there and I do not want to nourish expectations that I cannot fulfill later. Let’s say: I want to play it safe there. Maybe that’s wrong. These days, I am playing and wearing an explorative perfume, not an eau, not an extrait either, more an oil actually, without the oil, a “Swiss” abstraction of an ittar, if you wish, that I created in a form that (logically) demands dabbing. I mixed it a while ago and it grows over the weeks, getting better and better. It must be the sandalwood and the iris and the rose.

So, there you go: a lot of conditioning that needs to be addressed. Application (dabbing, not spraying), size ( like 7.5 ml, not 50 ml), scent (different compared to what I have done so far, gentle, little silage, but like a silk garment on the skin), price (I can already say this: expensive). For me, it is like a getting into a rocket and flying towards the event horizon. A little project on the side, for whenever, while I am getting my Sotto la Luna baby ready for September. It will be fun talking about this perfume oil ittar thing: There is so much that comes together there, from a creative point of view, marketing (4Ps) and cultural differences.

I am still testing, though. Testing means: Giving yourself the option to through an idea out of the window. I guess, in the end, as a creator, you cannot stop, really. That’s another challenge. And I guess I will come back to this topic, one way or the other.

Picture: My event horizon, a sunset in Joshua Tree.