It is no secret that I love perfume. With my love for perfume, I have made it a goal for this year to go to perfumery workshops and courses. A great way to indulge in my passion for fragrances, while learning knowledge I can share. A common trend I noticed when researching different perfumery workshops was the pricing point. With many courses averaging at 3 digits, regular perfumery courses were not realistic. In my search for affordable perfumery workshops, I stumbled upon Yougi’s Natural Perfume & Scent Creation Workshop.
Yougi founded by Emily, was created with a passion to find an alternative to the synthetic and paraffin-based candles we see mass-produced in store. Making a conscious decision to invest in sustainable, cruelty-free, wildcrafted ingredients. She curated a line of natural candles and created in-person candle-making workshops sharing her knowledge of essential oils and fragrance families. Alongside her rated, ‘best classes in London’ workshop by Time Out London, she hosts Yougi’s Natural Perfume workshop. Here you can learn to blend unique fragrances using bespoke essential oils.
An Introduction to Scents
The beginning of the class was a detailed backstory to scent creation, perfume notes, and fragrance families. Followed by an introduction to essential oils and absolutes, ingredients that form the crux of Yougi’s products. There was a full list of the essential oils we were to experiment with. Ranging from fragrance staples like Vanilla to the more obscure, such as Ylang Ylang. Tasked with making two 15ml perfume blends, picking amongst the 30 essential oils listed was overwhelming. Until we were taught about scent stories.
Scent Stories
The basis of any fragrance before even choosing the notes, is the story. What narrative do you want to put across? This is a process that even the biggest perfumers start with. Scent stories are seen in perfume adverts. Imagine you see an advert of a woman confidently walking into a room, and everyone stops what they’re doing, all focused on her. A scene like that would evoke feelings of confidence, and power. The feeling that she can command a room, and subconsciously you would buy that fragrance and expect to feel similar.
I wouldn’t call myself the most feminine of women you would come across, but when I want to feel feminine, I gravitate towards fragrances like Perfect by Marc Jacobs. Why? When advertising the perfume, the scene of a woman in a flowing dress running through a field of flowers in bloom evoked feelings of feminity.
When smelling a fragrance the first thought is how it makes you feel. So before choosing the 5-6 essential oils, we wanted to combine them to make our bespoke fragrances. We wrote down our scent stories.
Home Comfort on a Warm Winter Day
When shopping for fragrances, I gravitate towards warm and inviting scents. Hence, vanilla-based fragrances are my preferred scent profile. In keeping with creating a scent story, I imagined the scene I wanted my fragrance to describe aromatically. What’s more inviting and screams comfort than being in a warm log cabin with a crackling fireplace on a cold winter’s day?
Scented Memories in a Bottle
Alongside vanilla fragrances is my passion for gourmand and rich scents. I have loved perfumes like Scandal by Jean Paul Gautier and La Vie est Belle by Lancome. After establishing a scent story, I narrowed down the fragrance families I wanted to include and the essential oils. From the scent story, I knew I wanted a vanilla, woody base with gourmand accents.
The first 15ml perfume bottle, ‘Baked Goods’ included the following essential oils:
- Vanilla: vanilla is a spice derived from orchids, and is one of the most popular perfume notes.
- Sweet Orange: used as a mood enhancer and relaxant. Sweet orange oils are known for their uplifting properties.
- Ylang Ylang: is a mood-enhancer and an aphrodisiac. It is also calming and relaxing and has an aromatic description of sweet, floral, and tropical.
- Nutmeg: nutmeg often used as a middle note in perfume, adds warmth and dimension to a scent profile.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is often ground into a fine powder or transformed into essential oil. Cinnamon is used to add a warm, spicy element to a scent profile. Cinnamon can be mixed with vanilla, patchouli, and sandalwood to create spicy fragrances.
- May Chang: offers a fresh and sweet aromatic experience. Some may describe it as ‘sherbet-like’. May Chang oil is commonly used for anxiety due to its uplifting and relaxing properties.
The second 15ml perfume bottle, ‘Spring is Here’ included the following different essential oils:
- Grapefruit: grapefruit essential oil has a citrusy, sweet, and refreshing scent. Popular in bath and body care products, but is also used in perfumery.
- Neroli: neroli has a sweet and floral scent. Neroli has both a floral and citrus scent profile.
- Lavender: an essential oil that has a balance of both fresh and floral. Lavender can help with anxiety and restlessness, calming the body and mind instantly.
Feminity and Flowers in Bloom
With my first bespoke scent being within my comfort zone of scent profiles, I decided to try something different for the second fragrance. The inspiration was flowers in bloom. I pictured a warm spring day, accompanied by a slight breeze walking through a field of flowers. I knew I still wanted the warmth and decadence of my initial fragrance, so essential oils such as Vanilla, May Chang, and Ylang Ylang stayed in. But I added grapefruit, neroli, and lavender in an attempt to add a fresh and floral dimension to the perfume.
The Perfect Gift
Safe to say that after 90 minutes, I was very happy with the two 15ml perfume blends I created. Priced at £55, the workshop was a great introduction to scent creation, perfume notes, and fragrance families. For a 90-minute workshop, looking back it was information filled with expert knowledge. Not only is the workshop an affordable way to broaden your knowledge on scent creation and essential oils, but can also double as a great present for a fellow perfume lover.
