Three ways to have your own perfume made
1. A workshop. You blend yourself under guidance. It is mostly an experience: fun and educational, but the composition is limited to the materials and choices of the workshop.
2. Bespoke perfume. A perfumer develops a new composition for you after a personal intake. The result is a fragrance that is not based on an existing perfume. That is what we do with bespoke perfume.
3. A brand fragrance. You develop a fragrance for your own brand, to sell. That is called private label or, with an existing fragrance, white label.
The steps with bespoke perfume
- Intake: what are you looking for, which scents do you love, for which occasion?
- Scent path: you choose your base feeling, your expression and your depth.
- Composition: the perfumer builds the formula and checks it against the safety standards.
- Refinement: depending on the programme a correction round follows.
- Finishing: bottle, name and a personal card. The perfume then matures.
How long does it take?
A careful perfume takes time: the composition, a possible refinement round and the maturation of the perfume. Allow a few weeks. A brand fragrance takes months, because more iterations, documentation and production are involved.
What do the costs depend on?
The cost depends on the complexity of the composition, the size, the finish and, for a brand fragrance, also on the number of iterations, the raw materials and the ownership agreements. Always ask for a proposal with clear agreements in advance.
What to look for when choosing a perfume house
- Does the house work with a personal intake and a real perfumer?
- Is the composition built from scratch or is it a mix of existing scents?
- Are the safety standards (IFRA) and European regulation clear?
- Are ownership and exclusivity arranged in writing?
- Are costs, timing and delivery clear in advance?