Table of Contents:
1: We are going to cover a lot of things today
- Is Fragrance Hobby Really Expensive?
- Why Does Everyone Talk About Tom Ford Fragrances
- I heard that there are Harmful Substances in clone Fragrances
- Reformulations and how Brands use it to Gain more
2: Fragrance Application and Layering
- Tips for Dry Skin
- Tips for People with Eczema and Skin Issues
- Using Moisturizers
- How to Apply Moisturizer
- How much Moisturizer should I use?
- When to Apply Moisturizer?
- How do I use a Face Serum with a Moisturizer?
- What goes First? Sunscreen or Moisturizer?
- Apply only Before You Leave the House, NOT after Showering.
- 2B: Layering Guide for Advanced Fragrance Guys and Gals
- Choosing some perfumes for Step 1: Base Scent
- Choosing some perfumes for Step 2: Freshie or Interesting Note
- Choosing some perfumes for Step 3: Enhancers
- Some Good Layer Recipes are:
- PERFECT FOR WINTER: Cool Winter in a Cigar Room
- PERFECT FOR AUTUMN: Look Ma! I Made a Cocktail!
- PERFECT FOR SPRING: Open Field with Grass and Flowers
- ALL SEASONS: CHERRY & LEATHER
- Behind The Curtain (BTC) : The Restock Process
- Behind The Curtain (BTC) : How do we Come up with Ideas for New Perfumes?
- How New Fragrances are Conceptualized
- How New Fragrances are Created
- Outro
Is Fragrance Hobby Really Expensive?
If you want to buy expensive clothes, and money is not an issue, you can buy Gucci, Prada, and D&G, including custom designs that were built to suit your own style. However, if you only want to use it as a daily wear , there are options like H&M, Zara, and Converse and within these brands, many different clothes exist. The market is huge and diverse.
This is the same for perfume. The hobby can be really expensive if you want to spend a lot and buy Niche (Like the Louis Vuitton of Fragrances, and other brands) or alternatively, you can buy New Balance fragrances. Will they both work? Yes. Will the cheaper one last as long? It can! Some customers report that some of our fragrances last even longer than the original.
Clone houses work to bridge the gap between the really high-end fragrances by using less expensive readily available ingredients in their formulations. The untrained will be unable to tell the difference, but a person who is crazy laser-focused can notice a slight difference.
Why Does Everyone Talk About Tom Ford Fragrances?
“Tom Ford fragrances are just a perfect example of a decent product with absolutely AMAZING marketing… Kinda like Apple products…” – Curtis Harris, 2022 (Fragrance Room by Chez Pierre Telegram)
Just like many things in the world of Luxury, marketing is key. Tom Ford fragrances is very good at marketing using influencers, celebrities and so on.This gets many people involved and interested in their product.
The fragrance blends that they have created are very different from the normal fragrance ‘dogma’ that the current industry has established. This differentiated approach makes their fragrance special and desirable as they stick out very differently from the sea of other “Adventus-Like” fragrances in the world.
Ultimately, if you are interested in TF fragrances, you have most likely got hit by their marketing and then realized that their fragrances are very different from the established norm.
I heard that there are Harmful Substances in clone Fragrances!
IFRA or the INTERNATIONAL FRAGRANCE ASSOCIATION (https://ifrafragrance.org/) publishes a list of substances in their international standards guide. Any fragrance house that has their fragrances lab tested will be able to apply for a Certificate of Conformity after paying a membership fee and the lab test fees.
https://ifrafragrance.org/safe-use/standards-documentation you can read more here.
The goal of these standards and certification models is for the perfume houses to not include any harmful substances inside their products. As our perfume-oil-making partner is located in France and operates in the EU, they are compliant in this regard to the IFRA certifications.
When IFRA revises their certifications, all the houses that used previously unclassified as Prohibited or Restricted substances will have to reformulate their perfumes and this is one of the main reasons why the perfumes smell different as the years go by and as more and more batches are made.
One country that does not participate in IFRA is China. Therefore, the producers of perfumes there are free to add any and or many ‘banned’ ingredients in their perfume concentrate. This is why you should only buy from trusted Chinese brands as random off-the-shelf perfumes are created with compounds that might or might not pose an issue to you and your environment.
Reformulations and how Brands use it to Gain More Money
Usually, when a perfumer formulates the original blend, there is a certain budget that the company allocated for the research and development of the product. In most cases, the perfumer (person who makes perfumes) will attempt to maximize the budget and there will be some very expensive ingredients added into it. Some expensive ingredients might include oils of natural origin instead of synthetic olls and certain chemical compounds of higher purity e.g. Ambroxide.
After the perfume launches, there is a market base for it formed, i.e. there are now paying customers for the product. The company usually sends it back to the R&D lab to swap out these expensive ingredients for cheaper ones to increase the profit margins on the product. The perfume industry is not the only one that does this, this is also a common occurrence for packaged foods.
This process of ‘sending it back into the R&D lab while keeping the scent as close as possible to the original’ is called a ‘reformulation’… whereby the perfume is re-formulated with new compounds and is no longer the ‘same recipe’ when compared to the previous batches.
Companies mainly do this for profits or to comply with an updated IFRA standard as the reformulation itself also costs money to research.
Another contributing factor that reformulations might happen is because the perfume house was sold to a larger Private Equity Firm (E.g. BlackRock Private Equity bought CREED) or a Large Cosmetic Producer Company (E.g. LVMH Group, Estee Lauder, etc) usually when that happens, the owners of the company jettison out with tads of money and the ‘elite management’ takes over with the sole purpose of maximizing profits which will then lead to a reformulation campaign to get more $$.
2: Fragrance Application and Layering
Tips for Dry Skin
As you age, your skin becomes naturally drier in condition because your skin retains less collagen.
For people with dry skin. It is recommended that you ‘seal’ your skin with an unscented moisturizer or Vaseline so that the perfume sticks better to your skin. This is because the perfume does not last very long on dry skin and therefore the smell will not last.
When we say “perfume sticking to your skin” it is about creating an ideal environment for the perfume oil to stay on your skin for a long time. The perfume oil is the one that makes the perfume’s scent, the alcohol is merely a carrier.
Tips for People with Eczema and Skin Issues
Using Moisturizers
A moisturizer, or emollient, is a cosmetic preparation used for protecting, moisturizing, and lubricating the skin. These functions are normally performed by sebum produced by healthy skin.
– Wikipedia
Face cream works to moisturize the epidermis, creating a protective moisture barrier to shield skin from environmental stressors and lock in essential hydration. Knowing when and how to apply moisturizer correctly will help to keep skin hydrated and protected throughout the day.
How to Apply Moisturizer
A heavy-handed application can cause damage to the skin and premature aging. Applying moisturizer isn’t simply rubbing it into your skin! Follow these steps to be sure to correctly apply the moisturizer on your skin and sensitive parts:
- Dispense the moisturizer onto the tips of your fingers, then gently rub your hands together to warm up the product and allow for an easy application.
- Gently smooth the moisturizer over your cheeks, sweeping from the nose outwards.
- Apply onto the forehead, working from the top of the brows towards the temples.
- Sweep along the jawline working from the chin to the ears.
- Use gentle circular and patting motions to absorb into the skin.
- Apply to the neck in upward strokes, working from the decolletage to the chin. Again, do this gently to avoid pulling or tugging on the skin.
How much Moisturizer should I use?
Applying the right amount of moisturizer is key to maintaining healthy skin. Using too much could clog the pores and cause congestion, while using too little can leave skin feeling dry and tight. A pea-sized amount should be enough to cover the face and neck.
If the skin still feels dry consider applying a hyaluronic acid serum first.
When to Apply Moisturizer?
A moisturizer should be applied as part of your daily skincare routine after cleansing, toning and using serum, but before SPF and makeup. The correct order in which to apply skincare should be:
- Cleanser
- Toner
- Serum
- Eye cream
- Moisturizer
- SPF
How do I use a Face Serum with a Moisturizer?
While a good skincare routine should include both a face serum and cream, serum should always be applied before moisturizer.
A serum is designed to penetrate the skin’s surface layer and target the appearance of damage. Applying serum after moisturizer would prevent the ingredients in the serum from penetrating into the skin’s surface, as moisturizer creates a barrier over the skin. However, applying moisturizer on top of the serum helps to lock in its key ingredients.
What goes First? Sunscreen or Moisturizer?
Sunscreen should always be applied after moisturizer, allowing your face cream to draw moisture into the skin and the sunscreen to best protect the skin from UV damage. Applying these skincare essentials the other way would severely diminish their effectiveness.
Apply only Before You Leave the House, NOT after Showering
After you shower, your body temperature tends to be quite high. This is actually quite bad for perfume application, as if the heat is high, the oils will ‘oxidize’ faster and burn through their life cycle quickly. Therefore, because the perfume decays the moment you spray it, you should only aim to spray right before you go out of your house. This will ensure that you maximize the longevity of the perfume and not ‘waste’ it as you are doing your prep work before leaving the house.
Ideally, you should seal off any dry skin with an unscented moisturizer or Vaseline, and leave it to sit for about 1.5 minutes before applying your Fragrance Layers. This will ensure that your perfume has the longest longevity and enable you to stretch your dollar to its maximum with little to no resprays.
2: Layering Guide for Advanced Fragrance Guys and Gals
When you have mastered your technique for spraying and are confident that you now understand which perfumes you like and the nature of the perfumes on your skin, you can embark on the brave journey of creating and layering your signature scent.
There is no end goal in this process of mixing and discovery, much like cocktails, perfumes can also be mixed and layered to bring out the best of each different perfume.
A simple guide would be:
- Choosing a Base Scent
- Adding a Freshie or an Interesting Note
- Adding an Enhancer
Choosing some perfumes for Step 1: Base Scent
Some good base layers are:
- Replica: Jazz Club / Chez Name: Smooth Jazz (Sharp Whiskey, Strong Tobacco)
- Prada L’Homme / Chez Name: Holiday (Powdery and Iris, Strong projection)
- Ombre Leather / Chez Name: Existation (Tobacco— Strong, Leather)
- Armani Code / Chez Name: Victory (Light Tobacco, Semi Strong Vanilla)
Choosing some perfumes for Step 2: Freshie or Interesting Note
Some good top layers are:
- Explorer / Chez Name: Traveller (Basically Aventus but More Citrusy)
- Aqua Di Gio / Chez Name: Aquaman (Light woods, Aqua and Citrus)
- L’immensite / Chez Name: Serenity (Grapefruit and Sweet)
- Baccarat Rouge 540 / Chez Name: Bakar (Amber and Sweet Saffron)
Choosing some perfumes for Step 3: Enhancers
Some good enhancing layers are:
- ISO-E Super / Molecule 01 / Chez Name: Galaxy (More Sillage)
- Ambroxan / Molecule 02 / Chez Name: TBA
Some Good Layer Recipes are:
All 1:2 Unless stated otherwise. If you want to layer**, please use all the same concentrations.**
PERFECT FOR WINTER: Cool Winter in a Cigar Room
[ BASE ] + [ INTERESTING NOTE ] + [ ENHANCER ]
- Base – 2x SPRAYS Ombre Leather / Chez Name: Existation (Tobacco— Strong, Leather)
- Top – 4x SPRAYS L’immensite / Chez Name: Serenity (Grapefruit and Sweet)
- Enh – 1x Spray Molecule 01 / Chez Name: Galaxy
Rest 20 seconds between each layer**.**
It’s a very rich leathery tobacco fragrance but toned down with sweetness from the top note. Lasts very long because Ombre Leather lasts super long on the skin.
Very good winter fragrance. It will remind you of you being in a cigar room, sitting on a posh leather chair, while sipping on a bitter grapefruit + sweet lemon cocktail. The ambroxan in L’immensite will help in the projection of both the base and top notes.
When people hug you in the winter, they want more of it because it smells different from anything off the shelf!
PERFECT FOR AUTUMN: Look Ma! I Made a Cocktail!
[ BASE ] + [ INTERESTING NOTE ] + [ ENHANCER ]
- Base – 1x SPRAYS Replica: Jazz Club / Chez Name: Smooth Jazz (Sharp Whiskey, Strong tobacco)
- Top – 2x SPRAYS Baccarat Rouge 540 / Chez Name: Bakar (Amber and Sweet saffron)
- Enh – 1x SPRAY Molecule 01 / Chez Name: Galaxy
Rest 10 seconds between ‘Top’ and ‘Enh’ Layer.
Holy crap, if you know what a saffron gin & tonic smells like, this smells exactly like it.
The amber and the saffron of Baccarat Rouge 540, cut away the spiciness of the whiskey note in Jazz Club. What remains is an extremely pleasant mildly alcoholic-tobacco note and an extremely nice amber and cotton candy smell. This combination elevates Baccarat Rouge 540 to the next level.
Perfect for autumn.
PERFECT FOR SPRING: Open Field with Grass and Flowers
[ BASE ] + [ INTERESTING NOTE ] + [ ENHANCER ]
- Base – 4x SPRAYS Chloe Eau de Parfum / Chez Name: Flower Dream (Sweet, Flowery, Fragrant, Lady Like)
- Top – 2x SPRAYS Green Irish Tweed / Chez Name: Irishman Power (Ozonic, Green, Grassy, Bitter)
- Enh – 1x SPRAY Molecule 01 / Chez Name: Galaxy
Rest 10 seconds between ‘Top’ and ‘Enh’ Layer.
What do you imagine you will smell when you see an entire field of grass and white florals, with the wind blowing through the entire field, bringing that scent towards you?
Creed’s Green Irish Tweed (Chez Name: Irishman Power) is a very green fragrance and it really smells like a grass field with an ozonic bitterish smell in the base notes. Many people call it the “old rich man’s scent” and it is a very ‘Green’ fragrance.
Using Green Irish Tweed (Chez Name: Irishman Power) on its own when you are in your 20s or 30s might be too much, and makes you smell too mature. However, pairing it with a ladies’ white flora perfume, it creates a very complex, more youthful fragrance and is extremely delightful smelling with the florals lingering in the background – perfect for spring or early summer!
*I find that this is better if you rub the 2 layers of oils into a single layer after you spray it on your skin.
You can change up the ‘BASE’ layer with any sweet smelling ladies’ perfume and the smell immediately transforms, a very interesting combination. If you want something that’s not citrus based or smells like Dior Sauvage or Versace Eros go ahead and try it!
Do let us know the results in the Telegram Group!
Some other Perfumes that are good as the base are:
Coco Mademoiselle / Chez Name: Madam Feather
Gabrielle / Chez Name: Flower Box
ALL SEASONS: CHERRY & LEATHER // Contributed by Curtis Harris – our telegram member
[ BASE ] + [ INTERESTING NOTE ] + [ ENHANCER ]
- Base – 2x SPRAYS Tom Ford Tuscan Leather / Chez Name: Leathery Path (Sharp Primal Leather, Hints of Raspberry, Amber wood, Jasmine, and Spice)
- Top – 1x SPRAYS Tom Ford Lost Cherry / Chez Name: Fiction (Black Cherry Liqueur, Bitter Almond, Hints of Sandalwood, Vetiver and Cedar)
Now obviously Tuscan Leather is one of the jewels in Tom Ford’s private blend. The top Raspberry note is absolutely gorgeous and unique for a Leather fragrance and the fact that it’s not too overdone to the point where it’s overwhelming is great from an olfactory perspective.
But one thing I’ve noticed about it is that in the dry down (maybe it’s just my skin) it tends to develop into a nondescript berry mess which can at times come off as a tad artificial.
I think adding the Lost Cherry gives the overall fragrance journey a bit more complexity. Because of the almond and tonka bean notes in the Lost Cherry, the dry down has a much more creamy smell to it and I think the booziness of the Lost Cherry compliments the leathery smokiness of Tuscan Leather very well.
Tuscan Leather is obviously more geared toward your winter or fall seasons but by adding Lost Cherry I think it gives it a certain playfulness and depth which would work well in any season.
Just bear in mind though that Tuscan Leather is naturally overpowering, so if you choose to use this in a warmer season I would recommend going a bit lighter with the Tuscan Leather and heavier with the Lost Cherry.
And obviously, I don’t think it needs to be said but this isn’t really a combination to wear to the gym or to a club. The perfect combination for a date or for the office though.
PERFECT FOR SUMMER: BLUE TRAVELLER 550
[ BASE ] + [ INTERESTING NOTE ] (MIXING)
- 50% Bleu de Chanel / Chez Name: Blue Chance 1:2
- 50% Mont Blanc Explorer / Chez Name: Traveller 1:2
*This requires MIXING!
The results are actually pretty amazing!
If you don’t know, Mont Blanc Explorer is actually a clone of Creed’s Aventus. Just with some notes more pronounced than the other notes.
Somehow I can’t get Traveller to stick to my skin and because of that, it lasts for only about 3 hours. But after mixing it sticks to me for over 7 hours!
The smell base is very Blue and the Pineapple + Apple in Traveller (Mont Blanc Explorer) forms the middle and top notes. Very pleasant fragrance and I won’t get burnt at the stake for wearing it.
Behind The Curtain (BTC) : The Restock Process
Our partner in France which we dub ‘the factory’ is a company that produces and develops custom fragrances based on customer requirements. All the fragrance base oils they create are IFRA or INTERNATIONAL FRAGRANCE ASSOCIATION certified.
This company hires many perfumers (Ghost Perfumers) and they take on projects from various organizations that require fragrance oils. Some of these organizations that you might never think of are private banks, shopping malls, and hotels as they use these oils in their air conditioning duct systems so as to project a certain scent as you walk through the door. Other companies are those that produce cosmetics, soaps, air freshener aerosol sprays, and even laundry detergents!
Because the oil base we use which forms the scent is IFRA certified, our perfumes that use this oil base contain only IFRA-certified ingredients.
We order their minimum order quantity (MOQ) of base perfume oils from ‘the factory’ and after they are prepared in France, they will be shipped to us in Serbia in large industrial-sized containers.
After inspecting the quality of the batch and physically inspecting all the oils, we use our special formula to make the final product and leave it to mature in special conditions. Every scent has a different maturation time and that is why we say that you do not need to maturate our perfumes if you think the scent is to your liking.
When the fragrance are maturated, we update the website in order to take in orders again. The final products you order have their ingredient bases from France and are handmade and bottled with love by us in Serbia.
Behind The Curtain (BTC) : How do we Come up with Ideas for New Perfumes?
How New Fragrances are Conceptualized
We have a few ways to decide which Fragrances we want to add to our list next.
The first method is from our Community – YOU GUYS!
One of our fabulous members (Credit: TerpeneFarmer) came up with a very productive way to do it:
https://poll.ly/3swUnaah8Ep9L6OH5IZv
How New Fragrances are Created
After we have conceptualized the Fragrance/s, we will create a development project with our partner in France. In a few weeks or a few months after the project is created, they will provide us with a small batch sample which we mix in our Lab in Serbia.
Our internal development team will check the quality and come up with the ratio needed to make the final product. The final prototype products are firstly given out to our internal staff members and then are either given out in our current orders or to customers that have ordered with us before. After letting them exist with their users for about a month so that they can use it, we will gather feedback and continue the development of the final-final product.
Written by Chez Pierre from https://shop.chezpierre.rs/
