Custom-blending is gaining popularity for the likes of foundation and skincare, but what about perfume? Bella gets scentual and dissects the art of bespoke scents.

You only have to take a brisk walk around the ground floor of David Jones to know perfumes are serious business when it comes to making a statement. An invisible veil used to lift your mood or create a particular impression, the various applications for perfume have long been a staple in a woman's beauty routine.

But the allure of a beautiful scent has taken our affair with fragrance even further. Enter the phenomenon of fragrance monogamy. Our desire to wear a ‘signature' scent that speaks volumes about our individuality with one quick spritz is at the heart of many a fragrance campaign in today's thriving cosmetics industry, and the quest dates back to the early 1900s.

While haute European perfumeries still practice the ageold trade, today's beauty fiend can still find an individual scent without having to add ‘personal perfumer' to her list of monthly beauty professionals.

Less is more

Creating a custom perfume involves layering different scents in the form of a base, heart and top note. Perfumers often point out that mixing too many scents together results in a fragrance that's too cluttered and confusing, which usually falls flat in the nose.

Just like a musical chord, there are purposes to different scents in terms of creating depth and harmony, which makes them compatible with certain combinations.

The process of creating a custom fragrance is similar to a commercial fragrance, but with much more time dedicated to establishing the tastes of the individual. ‘Fragrance creation itself is a complex process - creating one to meet the specific preferences of an individual is an enormous undertaking,' says fragrance evaluator Erica Moore.

To help with this process, a widely known catagorisation system created by leading fragrance expert Michael Edwards is often used. This Fragrance Wheel separates scents into ‘fragrance families' that cover citrus, green, water, floral, soft floral, floral oriental, soft oriental, oriental, woody oriental, woods, mossy woods, dry woods and aromatic fougere. Chances are your favourite scents lie within the same family, so if you're looking for a change it's recommended to explore the adjacent family for a different but complementary new scent.

Chemistry

When it comes to how a scent translates itself on the skin, a person's individual body chemistry has a lot to answer for. Edwards says factors such as acidity, medicine, a low-fat diet and dry skin can all affect the behaviour of perfume on the skin.

‘If you lick your wrist and it has a sharp, lemony taste to it then your skin is most likely high in acid - the more acidic your skin is, the faster it will throw off perfume,' Edwards explains.

If you find your perfume lasts little more than an hour after application, try infusing the same fragrance into your bathroom routine in your soap, body lotion or moisturiser to add extra oomph to your signature scent.

Natural selection

While the stigma attached to the term ‘synthetic' is enough to make the well-educated beauty devotee turn her nose up, there are certain scents in perfumery that wouldn't exist in your fragrance faves without a little help from the lab. ‘Raw material producers can develop synthetic materials with such sophistication that they can now replicate many scents we smell in nature,' says Moore.

‘A good example is the raw material Calone, which gives the ozonic or watery note found in fragrances like L'eau D'Issey by Issey Miyake and Escape by Calvin Klein,' she continues. ‘Obviously, extracting the smell of fresh sea air from nature is impossible, but with the use of Calone this can be expressed in a fragrance. In most synthetic raw materials, nature provides the inspiration and chemistry provides the product.'

As a self-confessed synthetics sympathiser, Moore explains the need for synthetic raw materials in perfume extends beyond their olfactory role. ‘If a safe, effective, synthetic sandalwood raw material is negating the need to harvest the actual timber, it should be utilised in perfumery from a sustainability perspective, if nothing else,' she says. Bespoke perfumeries will often use a combination both natural and synthetic raw materials according to the feel of the scent, as described by the client. More often than not, this process is trial and error, sometimes taking 12 months to pin down the desired scent.

‘From a technical viewpoint, natural raw materials and synthetics also complement each other. The intensity of natural rose and jasmine oils can be enhanced or modified by synthetics such aldehydes to give a smooth, creamy softfloral effect.'

Music to your nose

It's no coincidence that experts in perfumery use music as a metaphor to explain how scents work together - a three layered system is at the core of creating harmony and dynamics in perfume. The function of each layer is to unfold, one after the other, slowly creating depth and shape. Perfumeries achieve this by combining scents based on their rate of evaporation.

• Top note: This layer is obvious immediately and is made up of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. They are responsible for the initial impression of a perfume and are known to be influential in over-thecounter sales.

• Heart note: The heart note emerges just before the top note disappears. It acts as a bridge between the base and top notes, which may seem uncomplementary otherwise.

• Base notes: The base and heart notes are the culprits of the overall scent of a perfume. Base notes are usually rich and warm, anchoring the scent with depth and solidity. Interestingly, they aren't usually recognisable until 30 minutes after application.

Finding your niche

Today's niche fragrances echo the ancient tradition of mixing scents and are a great way to personalise your pores if high-end French perfumeries are a little out of your price range. ‘Niche brands are generally smaller operators, who create for artistic purposes as opposed to commercial,' says Moore. ‘Boutique perfumeries such as Libertine Parfumerie in Brisbane and Peony or Klein's in Melbourne carry niche brands and provide consumers with the opportunity to experience fragrances that have been carefully sourced.'

Stores like these are great for developing your sense of smell and will allow you to better understand which scents you are drawn to - even if you're nasally challenged. bella