Producing a new perfume:
footnotes to a video
The video shows the assembly first, of 135 ml of fragrance oil from my formula and then, of 900 ml of finished perfume by the blending of alcohol and water with the fragrance oil.
The purpose of the video is to give a visual representation of the perfume creation process. The fragrance being created here was developed for demonstration purposes rather than for marketing. Because of the focus on making the video, some errors were made in production—and edited out of the final video so you wouldn't see them. If this fragrance had been made for marketing (and, after some smell tests with what was made here, I might make another batch for marketing) I would have taken greater care with the measurements, starting from the formula itself.
There were some time constraints for this project as it had to be fit in between several other very demanding projects which could not be set aside. But here are some of my comments on the video as it stands.
The formula
The formula shown is the exact formula of this fragrance. What is not shown is the specific identities of the materials used. The letters stand for particular fragrance bases. The naturals are from specific sources and "cut" with an undisclosed amount of an undisclosed diluent. Patchwood (CAS# 77923-74-1) and Iso Butyl Quinoline (CAS# 65442-31-1) are powerful synthetics. Hedione (CAS# 24851-98-7) is a light, jasmanic, long lasting synthetic.
Producing from the formula
Ordinarily when I am creating a new fragrance, I'll weigh out several small sample batches and compare the weights between them. If, each time I measure the weight of the drops used when developing the formula, the weights in grams are very similar, I can trust those weights and perhaps average them out for the final formula. If, when weighing out one test batch, the weight of one or more ingredients is significantly off the mark from the previous batch, I'll create a third trial batch. When scaling, up from drops to grams and then to liters, I want to insure that I'm working with a valid formula.
For the production shown in the video, I just went with the first drops to grams formula as the project was for a visual demonstration, not a smelling.
The photography
The photography could have been better. When weighing out the formula, two camera were being used, one filming the readout of the electronic balance, showing the weight changing as materials were added to the beaker, and the other camera filming my hand as I added the ingredients to the beaker. Keeping the readout visible while keeping the scene well lit was awkward. There were also some problems with focus and white balance. These are technical issues in video production.
There was another problem which was not originally an error. When shooting the first scenes, the camera was set for a frame rate of 24, a "film" frame rate. When I started using the second camera too, it only shot at 30 frames per second, a "video" frame rate. For subsequent scenes the first camera was reset to 30 fps which also resulted in a quality adjustment. The video production software was not happy with these mismatches.
The sound track
Although both cameras record sound, and although I commented to these cameras while the scenes were being shot, the final audio was recorded separately to provide the information I believed was important for the video when being viewed by someone who wished to do what I was doing. Some of that dialogue was, no doubt, boring to the viewer seeking only entertainment.
Big blooper
YouTube viewers delight in "fails" of ever description. Here the two fails were cut from the final presentation but I'll describe them to you. The first, a small fail that I could have kicked myself over, was for the first ingredient I was weighing... and went over by 0.9 grams. The video on the readout showed this. That shot from the camera focused on the readout was cut. That was the only major weighing error.
Actual weights recorded at far right next to column showing formula weights.
The other error was inexcusable and I have only myself to blame. The video talks about producing 900 ml of perfume. This would fit in a 32-ounce bottle and I had one on hand. But when moving the props from the laboratory to the studio, I grabbed a 16-ounce bottle instead and never noticed the difference until I tried to pour 900 ml of perfume into it. For your entertainment, I've posted the "fail" video here. That scene too was cut from this project but close eyed viewers will notice that the bottle being filled is too small.
Hitting the mark
My formula shows the weight I need of each ingredient, to be measured to the thousandth of a gram. These weights were calculated using an electronic balance that measured to the thousandth of a gram. However, the ranged of that electronic balance was limited and not capable of weighing the beaker plus the oil I was producing so, for this step in the project, I had to use a different electronic balance.
The balance used here weighs only to the tenth of a gram so some precision is lost. (Obtaining a more precise balance would be quite expensive!) Additionally, the balance used here has the quirk of not immediately registering the weight of small additions to the beaker.
Thus, unless material is added slowly and the beaker rocked after each drop or pour is added, the balance will under weigh the beaker and contents until, at a certain point, the readout will jump—sometimes beyond your target weight.
It pays to spend some time working with such a balance before undertaking critical weighing.
As to the method of adding ingredients to the beaker, the material can be poured from a container until coming close—perhaps a gram or half gram—from the required amount. Then, using dropper bottles, the last fractions of a gram can be added with greater precision.
Finally, we wait
After producing the juice, I'll let it age for at least 30 days before I start bottling. This gives all the elements time to blend nicely. In the first few days I'll shake the bottle several times a day. At the end of the aging process, if I had been using certain natural materials, I would chill the mixture overnight and then filter it to get out any foreign materials (from the natural ingredients). With the materials I'm using, this will not be necessary.
Other videos in this series:
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Homemade perfumes generally lack commercial value, regardless of how wonderful they may be, because their creators fail to record how their perfumes were made. To profit from a perfume, to sell it, to sell the rights to it, or have somebody sell it for you, you must be able to make more of it. To make more you need the formula, the record of how the perfume was made: what materials were used and how much of each material was used. While the formula is nothing more than a recipe, a simple piece of paper, it is the key to unlocking your perfume's commercial potential. With the formula in your hand you have the ability to make a few dozen bottles more or, like the celebrities, tens of thousands of bottles. How to create an international production formula for your homemade perfume is a guide to getting you started on the right foot, correctly documenting everything you do as you are doing it, and then using these notes with some basic mathematics to write a simple, accurate, universal formula for your perfume. Writing formulas for your perfumes can change the way you think about them. With your formulas in hand your creations are no longer "here today, gone tomorrow." Now, thanks to your library of formulas, your perfumes become immortal!
While much is written about perfume – the beautiful fragrances... the beautiful bottles – little is available on the "mechanics" of perfume production – the steps that take place on the "factory floor" where a beautiful vision is turned into a finished product, a "ready to sell" perfume. Now you can experience all of these steps, hands on, by making just one quart of your own perfume. If you follow each chapter and do what you are instructed to do, you will end up with from 8 to 64 bottles of your own perfume, depending on the capacity of the bottles you select. Along this "insiders journey," each step is profusely illustrated with professional color photographs and you'll learn — • Exactly what alcohol you'll need and where to get it • Why you'll want (just a little!) water in your perfume • What type bottles you'll need and why you cannot use others • Why you will use a spray and not a cap • How to fill and seal your bottles • How to label your bottles with the correct information so they will be legal for sale • How to select a name for your perfume that will allow you to acquire powerful trademark rights free. If you are a developer of scents you are encouraged to use one of your own for this project. If you are not a scent creator yourself you'll learn how to get a fragrance oil that is exactly right for this project. Online sources are given for all required supplies and materials. Nothing can hold you back from starting your project immediately!
Perfume is famous for the markup it can achieve, even for a middle market fragrance. While "everybody knows" that perfume costs next to nothing to make (not completely true) the making of it is often considered an esoteric secret. "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" details how a 3-person company with no experience created their own fragrance in response to a marketing opportunity that was too good to pass up. The book explains exactly what was done to create a fragrance for that opportunity but it is far more than a history of the author's project. "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" lays out every step in the process of creating your own perfume, either as a do-it-yourself project – and without the benefit of automated equipment some compromises and workarounds are required – or full bore professional production under your supervision. Either way you will be producing a quality fragrance at a remarkably low cost. Do you have a marketing opportunity that would be wildly profitable if only you could obtain your fragrance at a ridiculously low cost? "Creating Your Own Perfume With A 1700 Percent Markup!" is the guide you need to do it.
Now when you make your own perfume you can make it fully "commercial" meaning you will be creating a product ready for regular, continuous sales to friends, relatives, and the public! If the fragrance you've made has already won praise, why not share it with others? Some might pay you for it and want it for their web stores or retail boutiques! Creating your own perfume from dropper bottles: Methods, mechanics, and mathematics guides you through steps that can turn your hobby project into a perfume business. Discover how close you are now and how little more you must do to take what you made with essential oils and dropper bottles into a business of your own! For an introduction to this book, watch this video.
You can build a perfume business of your own using this business plan as a guide. By following its detailed strategy you learn to identify motivated groups of potential perfume buyers. Members of these groups are near the tipping point of desire for a new perfume. You don't know these people and they don't know you but you know a marketer they trust, one who does not currently sell perfume and might never think of selling perfume were it not for your approach. Here is where you step in with a professional plan, promotion, and perfume to take advantage of this ripe opportunity for mutual profit. Before your first promotion has peaked, you will already be developing a relationship with your next marketing partner. Following this plan, you will gain more and more profit with each new marketing partnership.
A really great name, a special name that is just right for a particular perfume or perfume marketer (or entrepreneur with money to invest!) can be worth a ton of money. But few individuals with great ideas ever manage to cash in on those brilliant ideas. Instead they wait while others "discover" their idea, acquire legal rights to it and make all the money while they are left out in the cold without a penny having been earned for what was once THEIR idea.
If you are struggling to name your perfume and are looking for a name that will have real value, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" will help you weed out low value names and point you to names that have better marketing value plus the potential to become valuable assets in themselves.
If you have a great name you want to protect but no fragrance, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" will guide you through the simple steps you must take to acquire a legal right to that name before someone else grabs it! Best of all, "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" shows you how to gain strong legal protection for your name without a lawyer and without spending more than pocket change.
Never had an idea for a product name? Never thought much about perfume? "Naming Your Perfume And Protecting Your Name" may stimulate your interest in a whole new game that, when played well, can make you lots of money without your having to leave the comfort of your home office.
When you name a perfume you create a valuable asset – the name itself. To sell your perfume you want the most effective name possible. But a good name can have value beyond the edge it gives your sales. In naming your fragrance you are creating a trademark and a trademark can have value independent of the product. The value of that trademark can vary. Much depends on how well, in naming your perfume, you follow the trademark "rules." How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume first helps you develop a name that will be effective in selling your perfume. It then prods you to make use of certain techniques that can turn a good name into a great trademark, strong and valuable. If you have questions about how to protect a name, How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume will answer many such as:
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How To Create A More Valuable Name For Your Perfume covers both state, federal, and international protection.
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Philip Goutell
Lightyears, Inc.
