The Construction of a Perfume

The construction of a perfume rests on a structure called the olfactory pyramid. Whatever technique is used, the making of a fragrance is governed by this pyramid. The perfume evolves in several stages according to its composition. How is a perfume conceived? What are the tools the perfumer has to carry out the construction of the perfume?

The Raw Materials of a Perfume

The composer-perfumer will first reflect on the olfactory structure of their creation. This time of reflection makes it possible to write an ordered, coherent formula, with raw materials chosen according to their chemical specificity, which will have to harmonise together to arrive at the desired result.

The selection of raw materials is a decisive step. The selected ingredients generally come from all over the world. Perfumers build their collection by choosing from a large number of raw materials from the plant world, as well as synthetic materials.

For natural raw materials, they call on sourcers, those smell-hunters who travel the world to find the best producers and unearth new materials that can enrich the perfumer’s collection.

In the case of synthetic materials, it is perfumer-chemists who offer them synthetic compositions that will bring new nuances to their palette. The knowledge and know-how of these perfumer-chemists make it possible to create new, unprecedented and original notes, sought after by perfumers.

On average, the composer-perfumer has at their disposal about 500 natural materials (flowers, leaves, barks or resins, spices, zest…) and 2,500 synthetic materials, some of which can be very costly.

The whole of the perfumer’s collection of raw materials is called their perfume organ, because they generally arrange the vials on the shelves of a desk-cabinet, in a semicircle, recalling this musical instrument.

The Olfactory Pyramid

The formulation of a perfume is organised according to the volatility of its ingredients, following the pyramid scheme. It was Jean Carles, a talented perfumer and great teacher who created the perfumery school at Roure in the 1940s, who developed the concept of the olfactory pyramid, illustrating the development of the perfume in 3 stages: the top, the heart, and the base.

His empirical method has since been used by perfumers to organise the creation of the perfume.

Top notes, heart notes and base notes together form the olfactory pyramid.

While the 3 notes are present when a perfume is sprayed, the top notes correspond to the smells we perceive first. They are lighter and evaporate after a few minutes to give way to the heart notes, which give the perfume its texture.

The base notes are the foundation on which the fragrance will evolve.

Just as the painter will use lighter colours to give light, and darker ones to bring shadow and depth, the perfumer will use the different intensities and the persistence of these materials to give relief to their perfumes.

Top Notes

It is the top that gives the first impression of the perfume.

The top notes are the most volatile and the lightest, which does not mean they cannot be intense! They diffuse from the moment the perfume is sprayed, thanks to the alcohol that allows the diffusion of the perfume, and they fade after five to fifteen minutes.

The top is often made up of fresh, tonic notes such as citrus essences, lavender and aromatic herbs, or more modern notes such as tea, or aquatic notes.

Heart Notes

We perceive these facets from the very first moments and for up to 3 to 5 hours or more depending on the materials used. These are the notes that constitute the body of the perfume, its signature, and structure the sillage of the perfume. They also determine the olfactory family of perfumes: woody, floral, ambery, etc.

The heart note gives the style of the perfume and determines its character. Here we find white, rosy, powdery flowers, fruity, spicy notes, and sometimes certain woody notes.

Base Notes

These are the most persistent and the warmest of the pyramid. They intensify and fix the heart note, allowing the perfume to last over time. Some base notes can last a whole day on the skin, and days or even weeks on clothes.

Deep and intense, they represent the base of the perfume on which the whole structure rests. With the heart notes, they form the very essence of the olfactory signature. Here we find woody notes, gourmand notes (such as the mocha note), ambery, balsamic (resins), powdery musky notes, and still sometimes animalic notes.

The Construction of the Perfume

Ultimately, we do not determine the olfactory position of the raw materials in the olfactory pyramid; it is the properties and the weight of the olfactory molecules of these materials that determine the speed at which they evaporate.

When the top notes are prominent, the perfume will be fresher and more ephemeral, which is the case with eaux de Cologne. Conversely, if the perfumer decides to emphasise the heart and base notes, the perfume will be deeper, more opulent and more persistent.

The composition of a perfume rests on the harmony that the perfumer manages to create, thanks to a meticulous know-how, by finding the balance between all these molecules.

Becoming a perfumer cannot be improvised, and ideas are not enough to create a good perfume. It takes genius and talent to create an olfactory masterpiece that will touch the hearts of those who choose it.

To learn more, and above all to immerse yourself in the world of perfume, the Master Parfums game combines playful learning and olfactory discoveries to notably better understand how a perfume is constructed and created.

Collaborative article written by Elfa Jouini & Anne-Laure Hennequin