Interest in the subject grew greatly after Aftel’s
book was published in 2001, and “dryout”, top, middle and base notes,
tincturing and blending descriptions piqued interest in the art. The history of
the perfumes, the romance of the bottles, their liquid contents a source of
pleasure and intrigue, helped fuel the Modern Natural Perfumer in going forward
to refine their craft.
Some teachers began to advertise their courses in Natural Perfumery, and more
and more, the study of the art and the craft of formulating blends grew. It is
an exacting, demanding world. Exact measurements of weights and volumes must be
kept. Notes must be meticulous. Disappointment is high, due to inharmonious
blends that may be left to sit for months, to see if they improve, or discarded.
Costs are high, much higher than in aromatherapy; some absolutes and attars make
rose otto’s price seem paltry in comparison. There is the rigorous demand that
perfumers must spend part of every day just sniffing and studying the raw
ingredients, constantly testing themselves.
In some parts of the world, undenatured alcohol is very hard, if not impossible
to obtain, due to government rules. A perfumer restricted in that way may have
to consider only making oil-based perfumes, which results in a much different
product. Not a bad product, just different, as alcohol allows many ingredients
to take on a much more ethereal, diffusive nature.
In the Yahoo group, members share tips and offer guidelines on all aspects of
Natural Perfumery. Some members are generous with their hard-earned knowledge
and offer formulae on how to blend a lilac accord, an amber accord, or how to
properly work with a difficult substance, like guiacwood. Much of the
information shared there cannot be easily found, if at all, in books.
There is a lot of trial and error for the self-trained Natural Perfumer, and
this community is probably the only one of its sort in the world for them. Here
no question is insignificant. The archives of the group hold Files bursting with
knowledge on hydrosols, INCI names, FDA regulations, IFRA guidelines, online
sources of classic perfumery books, and, of course, blending tips.
A separate section contains links to suppliers, sources of everything from
bottles and pipettes to rare and beautiful attars and absolutes. Safety is as
big an issue in Natural Perfumery as it is in aromatherapy, and the latest
government guidelines, or author’s findings on the subject can be found in the
Files or Links section.
The list of schools teaching the subject is slowly growing, and it is too early
to evaluate the quality of breadth and depth of that learning resource. Some
Natural Perfumers travel to France, Grasse, in particular, to learn from the
mainstream perfumers, and just leave out the synthetics, taking in the
information and hands-on experience with the natural ingredients back to their
workshops. This hybrid learning experience is rare, and of the 500 members on
the group, perhaps less than a dozen have been able to study in Grasse. The rest
are self-taught.
Discussion of subjects that impact the Natural Perfumer can be far ranging. Many
have stopped using sandalwood, rosewood, spikenard and several other endangered
raw materials. The recognition that perfume formulae have to be in compliance
with EU and IFRA standards to be sold in Europe is changing the way they
conceive and formulate a blend. Many did not realize that use of certain oils,
from rose to the citruses, can push a blend into “unsafe” territory
regarding either chemical load on the body, or government regulations that
oversee such things.