A New Approach to Fragrance: An Oil Blending Journey with Perfino

Blending scents is a conceptual delivery of ingredients to capture the smells around us in an evocative way. What the fragrance industry can innovate is new approaches to this delivery. How to capture the nuances of ingredients working with the consumer in mind through the entire step is Perfino’s latest approach to an oil blending endeavour. Perfino’s founder Kim, discusses the exploration of scents and future blends.

Fragrances come in many different forms; how do you explore how we can use fragrance to scent ourselves?

Fragrance is everywhere - in nature, in food, in the air. Mankind has evolved some very sophisticated techniques to capture the most enticing of these fragrances and use them to enhance how we would like to smell to others, or simply what we would like to smell in our environment as part of our daily lives.

I have been working for many years to find a solution to the problem that some people have in terms of allergies and intolerances to fragrances applied directly onto the skin. Just because you are allergic to a fragrance, as up to 9% of people are, it doesn't mean you don't still want to smell good. But the solutions so far have been to spray perfumes onto your hair or clothes, neither of which is advisable. So now we have a new option a perfume which is wearable in the form of jewellery, reinventing the pomander of old, but with so much more possible in terms of what fragrance we can wear in the jewellery, not just as a result of the globalisation of ingredients sourcing, but the wealth of experience we now have in the world of fragrance.

I am particularly interested in evolving essential oil combinations from their typical association with spa-like fragrances to something more akin to perfume. So at Perfino, we are working on crowd-sourcing the very best blends from aromatherapists and experts around the world, who use blends daily but have never made these blends available to a wider public, and also with perfume Noses, experts in the industry whom we are challenging to use limited ingredients to elevate an essential oil blend to be "good enough to wear" as a personal scent.

It’s important to recognise the impact of ingredients, how does the mission of Perfino provide safe alternatives in the world of scent?

At Perfino we are very careful where we source all our ingredients, that everything is sustainably sourced from known and trusted suppliers, supported with the necessary safety data sheets and fully CITES compliant. We work exclusively with pure essential oil blends which are currently house-blended so we have complete control over what we put into our blends.

Like all good perfumers, we observe all requirements in terms of safety data and labelling, but as our fragrances are worn off the skin we are able to offer a service not just to fragrance lovers who would like to try out new blends which they can change on a whim based on how they want to feel, but in particular to those currently excluded from wearing conventionally applied fragrances.

Our product is known in the industry as an "alternative scent delivery mechanism" as it is worn off the skin, safe for everyone who has any form of skin allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity.

Does the history of fragrances inspire your work in any way to innovate functional fragrances?

Fragrances have always had an impact on one's mood and thereby one's wellbeing, but the focus on perfumes has historically been on the power they have to attract, sensualise, and on the promotion of image.

At Perfino we want our blends to smell great, but we are nudging into the traditional territory of aromatherapy, by using oil blends which cluster around mood enhancement, be it to energise (citrus, peppermint), to calm (chamomile, clary sage) or to dream (many of the florals and resins).

We do not make any medical assertions as scientific evidence is slim, despite considerable empirical evidence and a history of usage of certain oils for certain functions which span many cultures around the world over millennia.

There are some good essential oil blends out there, typically used for room fragrance.
Our objective is to up the ante with incredible blends which rival perfumes, led by their mood-enhancing benefits, and which are available to the world via small batch, local production.

A new endeavour for you at Perfino is exploring oil blend recipes, can you expand on how this may differ from perfumes and other forms of developing scents?

The conventional approach to commissioning a fragrance is to give a brief to a fragrance house who then use their considerable expertise to formulate a fragrance which satisfies the brief. The brand or artisan has creative control of all packaging and marketing, but the juice is controlled, and usually owned, by the fragrance house.

As transparency and simplicity are core Perfino values we want to know exactly what our blends contain and blend them ourselves.

So far we own all our formulations but in working with artisans and aromatherapists we think it right that they own their formulations, and that we do everything else and give them commission on sales.

We blend based on demand, and therefore need the freedom for small batch production which the fragrance houses do not usually accommodate, as it makes little commercial sense for them to do so.

What ingredient developments do you look out for along with the nose you are collaborating with when developing the oil blend recipes?

We constantly review market trends and tastes and have a completely open mind to what we can blend with based on what is currently available and how it works alongside other ingredients.

Unlike a traditional perfume, our small batch creations may subtly change over time based on local conditions and the harvest.

We embrace this difference and look forward to monthly limited-edition blends working with our affiliates.

Do you see aromatherapy and fragrances working hand in hand? If so, how?

I believe that aromatherapy is a very specialised art based on centuries of tradition and know-how. It is this focus on wellbeing and medical benefits which sets it apart from perfume.

So, in short, I do not see the two art forms working together, but I do believe there is scope to take elements from each to create a new genre of fragrance where the effect of mood, as well as the joy of scent, combine.

Can you walk us through your upcoming project of sourcing oil- based recipes for fragrances and how the industry can support it?

The project is in the early stages of development so we are throwing out the challenge to everyone/anyone who believes they have a killer blend so that we can help them tell their story, generate some income from their talent, and importantly let more people enjoy the fruits of their brilliance.

In a sense, we aim to democratise fragrance formulation by simplifying the ingredients and processes required while taking on the responsibilities relating to making the blends commercially available. We do not anticipate rivalling the great perfumes out there, but we are going to give it our best shot.

We intend to select a blend every month for pre-order from our followers, blend to order, and then move on. Over time we feel sure that we will have some audience favourites so we can create a core offering of these on an "always available" basis.

What we don't have as a small brand is significant reach. So we would love to talk to any of the big brands out there to see if we could collaborate to bring innovation, a new audience, and a fresh approach to fragrance with their support.

What innovations are advancing the development of functional fragrances?

There seems to be a lot of talk about wellbeing out there.
It centres largely around room fragrances, but perfumes are now beginning to see the effect that their fragrances can have on mood, using data trees to gamify the selection processes and layering to combine mood and smell.

Our differentiator is that we are an inclusive brand which seeks to help out people who want to "wear" fragrances but are allergic/ intolerant to on-skin applications. This off-skin delivery gives you the ability to change what you are wearing in a second, and therefore the freedom to try out new blends with minimum financial investment. In addition to this, you get to know the authentic stories of the creators, the provenance of the ingredients, and feel part of the process. It's fun!

Much like we experiment with food, I would like to bring a community of fragrance lovers together in this way so they can delve deeper into the origins and possibilities of fragrances, and enjoy it.

What excites you about the fragrance industry?

I love the people in this industry. We are united in our love of fragrance, and the creativity is off the scale.
I am excited to make a small contribution to this industry with Perfino, to include a portion of the market that is currently excluded, to develop new ways of small batch production which is commercially viable and has an audience, and just to keep learning.