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The WSD10 Perfume
‘And so he would now study perfumes, and the secrets of their manufacture,……… distilling heavily-scented oils,…... He set himself to discover their true relations, wondering what there was in frankincense that made onemystical, and in ambergris that stirred one’s passions, and in violets that woke the memory of dead romances..… and seeking often to elaborate a real psychology of perfumes, and to estimate the several influences of sweet-smelling roots, and scented pollen-laden flower, of aromatic balms, and of dark and fragrant woods.'
(Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray)
I am one of the few perfumers who is also an aroma-scientist (or vice versa) and in the early 1980’s I conceived of the world’s 1st conferences on the psychology of perfume; and Steve Van Toller and I organized two such successful meetings which stimulated much work on this topic – and plans for the 3rd such conference, at Warwick; are under way.
So I approach the WSD10 Perfume with the heart and feelings of a perfumer; along with the head and intellect of a smell scientist. These are incredibly stressful times for many people and so I elected to create a modern abstract floral-lightly-oriental fragrance with a definite feel-good-factor – reactions to an aroma are highly individual – so we cannot guarantee that everyone will feel an uplifting of their spirit with this special perfume – but we already know that many people have this reaction - since we have been trialling the perfume.
My job as a perfumer is to follow in the aromatic footsteps of Dorian Gray and to ..’elaborate a real psychology of perfumes’. I decided to create the perfume for women and the fragrance for men – using the same set of natural scent oils and synthetic scent molecules – but with marked differences in the ratio of the aromas in each case.
The task starts with three key decisions – (a) the perfume will be a rich-in-naturals design; and (b) it will feature a less-known natural scent oil – Basmati; and (c) it will be a classical French design with distinct top (opening) notes; middle (heart) notes; and base (plinth) notes. The perfume, and the fragrance for men, have the paradoxical property of ‘lightness and freshness’ integrated with a profound meditative aspect. This is an original perfume.
The optimistic and feel-good-factor bursts out dramatically in a mélange of notes featuring French Myrtle oil; the unique Highland Myrtle oil; Coriander seed oil; and integrated with this heady mixture is the fresh and Spring-Summery green theme of freshly cut grass.
The absolute oil of Basmati is carefully infused with three types of rose absolute oil – French Rose Centifolia – Turkish rose absolute – and rose absolute from Morocco. We find a lot of the absolute oil from Ylang-Ylang (quite different from the ordinary oil) and the floral theme is reinforced by modern synthetic aroma molecules; along with a floral-spicy backbone built on those most intriguing aroma molecules – the ionones.
The dominant (but modified) theme here is a warm modern musk feeling which is given by using a synthetic version of one of the most powerful aroma molecules found in the natural musk secretion of the musk deer.
There is a strong woody element (greatly increased in the fragrance for men) and has many woody oils including vetiver; a special patchouli; cedarwood; and the natural woody aroma is enhanced by some modern and powerful synthetic woody aroma molecules.
The Perfume and Fragrance-for-men is available exclusively from this website.
Both are in an elegant 30 ml French bottle (of the kind shown in the photo – not actual perfume). The perfume (a perfume - not an edp) – is £85. The Fragrance for gentlemen is £45.
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WSD10 Perfume (including delivery) |
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WSD10 Fragrance for gentlemen (including delivery) |
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(The Perfume Studio at Mellon Charles – where
the WSD10 Perfume was designed and created)
(Sunset on Loch Ewe – where The Perfume Studio is located)
'Dr Johnson, when sober or pissed,
Could be frequently heard to insist,
Letting out a great fart:
‘Yes, I follow Descartes –
I stink, and I therefore exist.’
(A. Cinna)
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‘They fill the air in chase of livelihood,
They snuffle up the smells of dry bone.’
(Flies - Peter Redgrove)
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In this Gents
'We are creating a mingled
Essence of Gent whose powers
To the attuned nose
Are magnificent indeed
And shall affect the umpires.’
(Pheromones – Peter Redgrove)
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