This week on the Perfume Making Podcast, Karen gets into detail on how to train your nose. Most people think that this is a skill you either have or don’t have, but that’s simply not true. You can train your nose to smell scents and fragrances as well as any professional. Karen breaks down the steps you should take and shares some invaluable tips so that, with practice, your nose can become fine tuned to the world of perfume.  

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Most people believe that you need to have a ‘special nose’ or a special sense of smell to work in the perfume industry, but the truth is anyone can learn. 
• From an early age the majority of our learning is based on vision. It’s not that our sense of smell is any less powerful or useful, it’s just that we aren’t trained to use it as well as our sight. 
• Stop reading about odor descriptions online. Start smelling them and writing down your own thoughts in a notebook. This way you will create your own memories, perceptions and feelings to certain scents. 
• Don’t overload yourself with hundreds of scents early in the process. This will lead to you becoming immune to new smells and everything will smell the same.

 

BEST MOMENTS 

 

“The nose is nothing without the brain.” 

“Use a smelling strip, never smell from the bottle.”

“The smell of perfume changes over time. Go back to a smelling strip after a day or two and see what new scents you can smell.”

 

 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

 

Getting Started Guide: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/podcast-getting-started-guide

 

Artisan Perfumery Mastermind: https://karengilbert.info/artisan-perfumery-mastermind

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. 

Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances.

 

With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques.

Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing.

 

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