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Ainslie Walker
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Hello APJ gang! Happy New Year!! Doesn’t it already feel like 2017 is galloping along at an incredible pace?!
Sylvaine Delacourte Workshop In Sydney
Sylvaine Delacourte ‘Queen Bee’ and Creative Director of Fragrance for Guerlain visited Australia last year, whilst in town she taught perfume creation classes in David Jones’ Grand Hall on level 6!
As I entered the hall from the lift I saw rows of aluminium bottles containing exciting raw materials on a table with pipettes protruding from them! GASP.
Sylvaine, looking glamorous, first led us through the history of Guerlain.
– Modern perfumery began with Jicky which featured 3 synthetics- vanillin, coumarin and linalool.
– Guerlinade, Guerlain’s identity – the heart of all their fragrances, contains bergamot, rose, iris, tonka and vanilla.
– Guerlain still controls their whole ‘A-Z’ of fragrance, only 4 other companies in the world also do this; Chanel, Dior, Hermes. They buy their own raw materials, sourcing everything, having them sent direct to their labs, making a unique difference.
– Guerlain has 1000 natural ingredients, 3000 synthetics and discover more each year.
Creation time! As Sylvaine pointed out ‘today you will be making, not just a perfume but a Guerlain perfume!’ SQUEALS AND SHIVERS!!
A few definitions!
– A note: of patchouli or any singular ingredient
– A facet: an aspect of an ingredient, eg fruit aspect of rose. Perfumers use this to join for example 3 ingredients all with fruit aspects.
– An harmony/accord: no longer the parts that make it up but a new combination, a synergy. E.g Bergamot, violet and hedione is tea note created by JC Ellena, Raspberry and almond become cherry.
Sylvaine explained, many flowers cannot be extracted and have to be reconstituted eg lilac, lily of the valley…..then we all got to make a lily of the valley!!
So here is what I made:
Floral N74 48 drops
Jasmonal H 20 drops
Rose Bulgare 5 drops (this ingredient is one of Thierry Wasser’s favourites and has a lychee and almond facet)
Citronellol 10
PEA 15
Jasmine Grandiflorum 1
Indol 1
We learnt about all the different floral aspects: fresh, powdery, aldehydic, sensual, animalic, rose, oriental, white or as Sylvaine says ‘sunny,’ and fruity flower
Then we chose to make either a white floral or a fresh floral and give it facets of either oriental, chypre or hisperdic. I made a fresh floral with oriental and rose facets and a touch of hisperdic! I had 3 tries and Sylvaine and I agreed my second try was the best.
What an amazing experience to learn from one of the best female perfumers in the industry!!
If you could make a perfume at such a workshop, what would it be??
Until next time, Ainslie XX
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Hey Ainslie,
This looks like it was a LOT of fun. Did you learn stuff too?
Portia xx
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Yes Inkearnt loads of course!! She has so much experience to share and has had amazing access to a world I can only dream of!! But yes definitely I will think if that afternoon for a long time x
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I am so jealous! I had a chance to hear Ms Delacourte talk about perfumes once and loved the experience.
This seems so much better! 🙂
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Oh where did you hear her speak? She has a lovely character which rubs of on everyone, holding their attention captivated, don’t you think?
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I know, it might sound strange coming from somebody who likes perfumes her whole life, but I don’t think I’d want to create my own perfume. I would rather try different raw materials and smell some famous perfume “deconstructed” and in the process of combining. But, in general, it sounds like a great experience.
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No not strange at all! I think Portia has felt similar about creation. Yes having a deconstruction is fascinating!! To learn about a fragrance and what makes it up. Thankyou x
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So fascinating and especially from such a great perfumer and company!
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Yes such a lucky group we were!! X
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