How we make a perfume
The maceration process
Why your perfume rests in our cellar before we send it, and why it keeps getting better after it arrives.
What maceration is
A perfume is a concentrate of aromatic materials dissolved in fine alcohol. On the day it is blended, those materials are simply sitting side by side. The citrus is too loud, the alcohol stings, and the base notes have not yet found the flowers they are meant to hold up.
Maceration is the time the blend spends resting in the dark while that changes. The materials dissolve fully and settle into balance, some react gently with one another and with the alcohol, and the rough edges round off. The perfume that comes out is smoother, deeper and more coherent than the one that went in. It is the same reason a stew is better the next day, and the reason a good perfume cannot be made in an afternoon.
From formula to bottle
Six steps, and most of the time is waiting
Why it takes the time it takes
Most custom perfumes leave us three to four weeks after you order: a few days to compose and blend, three weeks of maceration, and two days to chill, filter and fill. A blend with oud or a heavy resinous base takes up to six weeks, and the configurator tells you so before you order. Samples go through the same process in a smaller vessel, so the vial you wear is the perfume the bottle will be.
- Most blends
About three weeks in the cellar
- Oud and resins
Up to six weeks
- After filtering
Two days before it is filled
Your bottle in its first weeks
When your perfume arrives, the first spray may smell a little sharp of alcohol. That is normal and it passes within the first minute on skin. Over the following weeks the opening softens and the heart and base grow fuller. Many of our clients tell us their perfume is at its best in its second month.
Keep the bottle upright, away from sunlight and heat, and not in the bathroom, where warmth and damp work against it. Stored like that, a perfume keeps its character for years. If you would rather wait for it to settle before wearing it, put it in a drawer for two weeks and forget about it.
Compose a perfume worth waiting for
Choose your notes, and we will blend, rest and bottle it for you.
Compose yours