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Debunking 5 Biggest Myths About Fragrance Design

Fragrance is everywhere. It’s in fruits and flowers, the perfume you wore this morning and on the clothes you wear. But despite the fact that scented products are abundant wherever you go, there are still a lot of popular misconceptions regarding fragrance design that have been proliferating the world for several years now. Myths in fragrance design are so common that you might have heard one or two and actually think that they’re facts.

Today we will debunk the top 5 most popular fragrance design myths. Let’s begin:

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Myth #1: Fragrance Design is an Easy Process

You see it in movies, a perfumer with droppers and vials and flasks mixing fragrances without even measuring but still coming up with the best smelling perfume in the world (gasp)! What the media portrays as something second nature to anyone with a sensitive sense of smell, is actually a skill that’s honed through training and years of trial and error.

The art of fragrance design is a highly complex one and requires formal training and a careful approach, and that’s just making a superb mix. There are several other proficiencies necessary in fragrance design namely, customer insight, technical skills, regulatory knowledge as well as creative aptitude. Remember that designing a fragrance doesn’t end with making the perfect blend of scents. You have to provide your customers with a complete sensory experience whatever your product is.

What does this mean?

Fragrance design is one component of an overall product.  The fragrance within a soap, candle, hair product or body cream guides the customer through the overall experience of using the product. Fragrance design takes into account the complete product concept that is being created to ensure it is a good fit. You need to think of a fitting packaging, a pleasing colour, and a style that best matches the product branding. So, the next time you hear someone say fragrance design is easy, just point them towards this blog!

Myth #2: Fragrance Design Is A Solitary Endeavor

We can’t really say that this is entirely a myth. We’d like to believe that this belongs to a gray area in the fragrance world and here’s why – technically, you can start a fragrance design business on your own. However, fragrance design is an entwinned  craft and science that requires  very unique skills and aptitue before you can operate without guidance.

Fragrance design is a complex process and there’s really no way to learn it on your own. Knowing how to handle fragrance oils and which ingredient works well in what ratio, how it behaves when mixed with other ingredients and how it behaves in certain products etc. It takes practice and loads of experimentation. You’re not going to learn it overnight and you most definitely won’t learn it on your own. To a certain extent, you might be able to craft some fragrance yourself, but without proper training, you’re more than likely to hit a slump after a few successes.

Myth #3: The Best Way To Smell A Fragrance Is On A Card or Smell Strip

This myth is kind of true! Everything is a compromise. If the end product that were using the fragrance were made of paper, nylon, or whatever test cards are made of, then it would be ideal. However, here’s the thing, if you want to know how a fragrance blooms in a soap, a candle, in a body cream, then the most ideal way is to smell it in that application.  In reality however that is not always possible.  The best compromise is the use of a smell strip or test card as this allows dispersion of the fragrance.  Many people when purchasing/ smelling fragrance oils will open the sample bottle and smell directly from the bottle, this is one of the worst things you can do. The fragrance you smell will not be representative of the fragrance at all, and it’s all got to do with the headspace within the bottle and the volatility of the different ingredients within the fragrance oil. That’s a whole other story for another day.  In short, use a test strip if you can not put the fragrance oil in the final product, it is the best compromise we have!

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Myth #4: Fragrance Should Be Kept in a Bathroom

Bathrooms are popularly known as perfume graveyards and for a reason. Most people keep their bottles in the bathroom thinking that the cooler temperature would help protect them from going bad. True, fragrance oils in perfumes have a very delicate chemical balance, and they can easily be affected by heat. But more so than heat, one of the biggest contributors to a perfume’s spoilage is the drastic change in temperature, which bathrooms are notorious for.

If you think that you’re doing yourself a favor by placing your perfume on your vanity table, we’ve got bad news for you. Even your vanity isn’t the best place to store your well loved fragrances. If ultraviolet light can still enter the bottles, it can still destroy the structure of the liquid which will lead to a significant change in smell.

So where do you store fragrances?

The answer, anywhere that’s cool and dark. This is the best way to prolong the life of any fragrance you own. Some even store them in the fridge. You don’t have to do that, though. You can just keep them in a cool dark place and you should be able to enjoy your fragrance for a long time.

Myth #5: Essential Oils are Safer and Cause Fewer Allergic Reactions

To be able to debunk this myth, we first need to know the difference between fragrance oils and essential oils. Essential oils are organic oils naturally harvested from the source. On the other hand, fragrance oils are oils that are made in a lab, and they are often mixed with essential oils. With essential oils being more organic, many people believe that they’re safer and would therefore cause fewer allergic reactions. But we disagree.

Allergic reactions don’t occur in synthetic materials any more than they do naturally existing ones. The same way that a person can get an allergic reaction to something organic like peanuts or shellfish, a person can also not be allergic to something synthetic. So although some people think essential oils are safer, some people might still get an anaphylactic reaction to them which is rare, but very much possible.

There’s really no telling whether a person could be allergic to fragrance oil or essential oil. The best thing to do is perform a patch test to make sure that it’s perfectly safe to use.

Needing a Fragrance Designer?

If you’re looking for a supplier of wholesale fragrance oils in Australia, you came to the right place. Call us for more information or to place an order.

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