It's a beautiful day for perfume talk. I'll be gardening outside today, and thinking up new ways to extract scent from the lovely aromatic plants. What's your perfume question?
3 Comments
Felicia
on January 30, 2011 at 1:34 PM
Hi Anya,
My question has two parts:
1. Do you have any formal education in perfume (meaning, did you take ‘perfume classes’)?
2. For someone for whom formal studies aren’t really feasible, what would be the best way to direct one’s work so that one’s perfumes are, more and more, ‘fine french perfume’, and less and less ‘health food store’.
No, I am self-taught. I studied on my own since 1976, when I got my first perfumery books that laid out the basics. After that, I expanded my skills through artistic and scientific techniques that I eventually found out were those taught in the exclusive, somewhat secretive French perfumery schools. I am also self-taught in Middle Eastern and Indian perfumery.
As far as your second question, I could recommend following the path I did, which takes many years, or taking a course online or distance, working at your own pace. There does need to be structure, otherwise, it is extremently difficult to elevate to the fine French perfume level.
I noticed that after my brief hiatus from the blog, that readers are writing me privately with questions. They’re all new readers, and I’ve had to explain that the posts should be here. Their questions were answered, but please post them here, so that everyone can see what I’m posting as an answer.
Hi Anya,
My question has two parts:
1. Do you have any formal education in perfume (meaning, did you take ‘perfume classes’)?
2. For someone for whom formal studies aren’t really feasible, what would be the best way to direct one’s work so that one’s perfumes are, more and more, ‘fine french perfume’, and less and less ‘health food store’.
Thanks!
Hi Felicia
No, I am self-taught. I studied on my own since 1976, when I got my first perfumery books that laid out the basics. After that, I expanded my skills through artistic and scientific techniques that I eventually found out were those taught in the exclusive, somewhat secretive French perfumery schools. I am also self-taught in Middle Eastern and Indian perfumery.
As far as your second question, I could recommend following the path I did, which takes many years, or taking a course online or distance, working at your own pace. There does need to be structure, otherwise, it is extremently difficult to elevate to the fine French perfume level.
Hi Readers:
I noticed that after my brief hiatus from the blog, that readers are writing me privately with questions. They’re all new readers, and I’ve had to explain that the posts should be here. Their questions were answered, but please post them here, so that everyone can see what I’m posting as an answer.
Thanks,
Anya