Perfume, read as something a person designed.
Scentmaker is a record of learning to evaluate fragrance properly — one composition at a time, on a blotter, followed at thirty-minute intervals and written down as it happens.
The reviews here describe structure: which material carries the idea, which one holds two halves together, which one is still on the paper at the end. Not the mood a bottle is supposed to give you.
The first series
Twelve fragrances from the Frédéric Malle discovery set, one at a time. Malle prints the perfumer’s name on every bottle, which makes the collection unusually good material for learning what an individual perfumer’s signature actually consists of.
How the reviews are made
Every fragrance is assessed on a blotter and logged at fixed intervals through the dry-down. Notes are taken from the brand’s own materials, never a third-party database. Samples are bought. The full procedure — including what a blotter cannot tell you — is on the Method page.
Written by Jae, a chemistry graduate preparing to apply to ISIPCA. More on the About page.
Latest
The first review is being written now: CK One, Calvin Klein, 1994. Delete this paragraph once it is published.
- Goutal Eau d’Hadrien (1981): Smelling the Version That Is LeavingGoutal’s first fragrance, on paper, in the months before the Annick Goutal relaunch replaces the formula. Published at session zero: the house’s sheet, the questions, and an empty clock.
- Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 (2015): The Lemon Nobody MentionsBaccarat Rouge 540 was composed in 2015 for Baccarat’s 250th anniversary, and has since become one of the most imitated fragrances of the last decade. That reputation is a problem… Read more: Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 (2015): The Lemon Nobody Mentions
- Goutal Petite Chérie (1998): A Peach That Turns to PowderTwo blotter sessions with Goutal’s 1998 fruity floral, read on the clock: a peach that loses its juice and goes to powder by the fifty-minute mark.