WIN the opportunity to create your own custom fragrances for you and your loved one!
Share the LOVE this Valentine’s Day by entering our incredible GIVEAWAY in collaboration with the Experimental Perfume Club! You and your chosen loved one will receive 2 x fragrance creation setseach and an exclusive online perfume blending session to enjoy together (worth a total of £360)!
What’s more, Emmanuelle Moeglin, Head Perfumer and Founder of Experimental Perfume Club, will personally be guiding you via an online session through the creation process to ‘find the fragrance that tells your story’, all from the comfort of your own home(s).
You’ll be in expert hands as Emmanuelle Moeglin trained at the French perfumery school of ISIPCA, worked as a Scent Design Manager for various global fragrance brands, and went on to become an independent perfumer, based in London. In 2016, with a desire to demystify the often confusing (and still quite closed) world of perfumery, she started the Experimental Perfume Club – a small but airy studio in London Fields, where she first developed workshops to help people understand scent better!
To be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize, enter your details and the details of the person you’d LOVE to share this experience with below…
GOOD LUCK!
Experimental Perfume Club Valentine's Day Prize Draw
T&Cs – This prize draw is open to residents of England, Scotland and Wales only and runs from 1pm on Monday 8th February 2021 to 23:59pm on Saturday 13th February 2021. A winner will be chosen and contacted on Sunday 14th February 2021. The winner will then liaise direct with Experimental Perfume Club to organise the timing of the video session; please allow up to 10 days for delivery of the kit. NB There is ONE joint online session for the winner and their chosen person; both of you will be sent the physical blending sets to use in the digital session. There is no cash alternative to this prize.
Experimental Perfume Club has always been about pushing the boundaries and trying new things within the world of fragrance, and now they’ve gone one step further – offering their unique ‘bespoke service’ online!
It’s been a tough time for retail, and perfume houses have had an extra layer of difficulty, given that we haven’t been able to smell their scents other than buyingtheir Discovery Sets and getting samples to try at home. We’ve seen a HUGE demand for our Discovery Boxes because of this, so that’s all well and good, but what about those houses offering bespoke, custom-blended fragrances?
Brilliant perfumer, and founder of Experimental Perfume Club, Emmanuelle Moeglin has managed to turn what could have been tragedy into triumph, rby eacting quickly and being one of the first in the industry to dramatically adapt her business to the ever-changing challenges.
As we reported previously, Experimental Perfume Club now offer online classes – from a free mini session to an advanced creation course, so the learning and experimenting (that was the impetus for them launching in the first place) is now available to an even larger audience who can do the classes in their own time, from the comfort of their own homes.
Now, we are thrilled to share that Experimental Perfume Club are bringing their utterly genius bespoke customisation service online, too! The Bespoke Collection and Discovery Set allows you to create and customise you very own unique fragrance online (an opportunity which was previously only available to customers in-store at Selfridges).
We happen to know this Bespoke perfume service works perfectly, as one of the first people to try it in-store when it launched was The Perfume Society’s own Co-Founder, Jo Fairley – followed shortly after by myself. We happen to have almost identical tastes in perfume, but Jo had not mentioned a single note that was in her customised blend. Lo and behold: when we compared, we found we’d both created exactly the same scent, out of the many thousands (hundreds of thoudsands?) of possible combinations! A dark, smoky amber/incense that positvely purrs with provocation, it proved to us beyond doubt their bespoke customisation service genuinely works.
How to get your bespoke-blended perfume:
The new Bespoke Collection includes twenty unique blends, carefully curated by Emmanuelle, to sample and wear at home first. Online, you can use the LAYERS formula finder’s in-house algorithm and ‘receive a shortlist of formulas that match your unique olfactory profile.’ Finally, your favourite fragrance can then be ordered in a full size, fully personalised bottle.
One of the most frequently asked questions we get, is: ‘how can I learn to become a perfumer?’ And now, Experimental Perfume Club is launching a learn-at-home perfumery course, with all the equipment, materials and step by step instructions in online video tutorials! And there’s a FREE mini-course of three lessons – scroll down to find out more…
Emmanuelle Moeglin is a classically-trained (ISIPCA) French perfumer who moved to London and opened a workshop in order help people have access to materials and tuition that would either be incredibly expensive, or impossible to gather on your own. These workshops were so popular, it allowed Emmanuelle to create and launch her own signature fragrances – innovatively presented as perfume ‘Layers‘ that could be worn alone or mixed at home to achieve unique results.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has hit independent fragrance houses hard, so they’re having to innovate and try new things to survive. Explains Emmanuelle: ‘Like so many other brands, we’ve been impacted pretty badly by the crisis as 90% of our business was client facing and almost nothing online.’
Now, those workshops have been put online, so you can have the kit sent to you and learn at your own pace, from the comfort of your own home! With all the mateirals and tuition you need, this is a unique opportunity to take your love of fragrance and interest in perfumery further – perhaps even something that might make you consider a change of career when all this over…?
Available as a two-week / 12 lessons Fundamentals of Perfumery begginer’s course, you’ll have access to a series of how to and tutorial videos and a workbook that will help you awaken your sense of smell and develop an in-depth understanding of the most commonly used ingredients in perfumery. You’ll start by learning proper smelling techniques and how to accurately describe and categorize perfumery ingredients by family, volatility and type. You’ll then learn to compare and contrast these ingredients to deepen your understanding of the scented world around you. You will receive the ingredients you need to follow this course including a selection of 30 of the most commonly used perfumery ingredients and laboratory materials including scent strips, pipettes and bottles.
Or, you can choose to study a more advanced six-weeks / 36 lessons Fundamentals of Perfume Creation course. ‘During this 6-week course, you’ll be getting a series of videos and a workbook that will help you to understand the fundamentals of perfume creation and gain the knowledge to start creating fragrances. From the ingredients to the formula, you’ll be taken on a step-by-step learning journey that will give you the necessary information to get started in perfume creation – whether it is for a hobby or professional purpose.
Each week, you’ll receive a set of how-to videos, practical demos and theory courses to help you gain a broad understanding of the fundamentals of perfumery. You will start by awakening your sense of smell by learning to recognise, describe and organise a large selection of the most commonly used perfumery ingredients. You’ll then explore the fundamentals of professional perfumery practice including the basic equipment of perfumery and setting up your own laboratory at home. You will end the course by learning the creative process behind a fragrance brief and developing an in-depth knowledge of fragrance creation across a variety of applications by composing both simple and complex fragrance formulas.
You will receive all of the materials you need to follow this course including a wide selection of perfumery ingredients and the necessary lab equipment, including scent strips, a scale, pipettes, empty bottles, and solvent.’
Whatever level you want to start at, you’ll come away with a new appreciation for the art of perfumery, for each fragrant ingredient you smell, and for the skill of the perfumers whose creations you spray every day. So why not take this as an opportunity to learn a new creative skill, and to distract yourself in the most pleasant was possible while adding another scented string to your bow…?
Experimental Perfume Club have launched a LAYERS pop-up lab at Selfridges, London, where customers can now design their own bespoke fragrance from almost endless combinations and have it blended instore, just for them! It’s one space, but with two scent experiences – and it’s shaping the future of fragrance as we know it…
The Formula Library
How it works: ‘Create individual blends using our six LAYERS Eau de Parfums in multiple combinations, you can compose over 50,000 unique, personalised fragrances. Our LAYERS App features an in-house algorithm which enables us to understand your personal tastes, before recommending 3 possible formulae that match your unique olfactory profile. You can either choose your favourite blend from the shortlisted selection or customise the fragrance further with the help of our Fragrance Curator. Once you choose your final blend, our Fragrance Curator will formulate your unique fragrance in front of you. And, for the ultimate bespoke touch, you can choose a name for your fragrance and a personalised label for your 50ml bottle.’
The Refill Fountain
How it works: ‘Being eco-conscious has always been at the heart of what we do and we strive to source and manufacture responsibly. Our goal is to reduce unnecessary packaging and waste and enable loyal consumers to reuse their packaging again and again. Our first refill service will be available exclusively at the LAYERS lab at Selfridges, London. A place where you can reduce your carbon footprint by bringing back a bottle of your empty 50ml fragrance to be refilled for a reduced price. Looking after both your pennies and the planet.’
Emmanuelle Moeglin, founder and perfumer of Experimental Perfume Club, said: ‘We love to provide unique olfactory experiences for consumers who are becoming more and more invested in what goes into their products. The LAYERS pop-up lab will take our bespoke perfumery offering to the next level with more formula choice than ever before where customers will be guided in creating their own bespoke fragrance. We are also proud to be a company striving for sustainability with our perfume refills, and are one of only a few perfume brands offering this eco-friendly service.’
If you can’t make it to Selfridges to experience the fragrant fun first-hand, don’t fear! You can get the feel for layering up the fragrances in your own home by trying the Experimental Perfume Club Blending Boxes for £90 – fine fragrances to wear alone or blend at home to your own bespoke formula, with all ingredients and instructions included.
‘A set of three pocket fragrances and a personal blending bottle. Choose three fragrances from across the collections to customise your own fragrance; one Top, one Mid, one Base eau de parfum. Follow one of the suggested blends or let your imagination run fly!’
What we’ve been observing at The Perfume Societyis a growing fascination with how perfumes are actually made. Mostly, that happens behind closed doors. But The Experimental Perfume Club, in London’s East End, invites you to take part in hands-on sessions which explain the technique, allow you to create your own perfume – and almost certainly, walk away more fascinated than ever, with an enhanced appreciation of professional perfumers and their art.
You can read more about our experiences at this innovative scent destination here. But now you’ve a chance to have a teeny scented stake in the future of this space, which was originally set up as a pop-up for six months by classically trained perfumer and fragrance expert Emanuelle Moeglin (she trained at ISIPCA).
To secure the future of the venture, to improve the breadth of materials available to students and to spread the word, Emanelle has now launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, with various ‘benefits’ for supporters. Her target is £14,000 (at time of press, that was 66% funded) – although the dream would be to raise £20,000.
There’s just over a week to go for the campaign – so you’ve still a chance to back this Access Perfume Lab and take advantage of one of the many perks on offer…
For instance, if you pledge £15, you’ll receive an Experimental Perfume Club tote bag.
We can see that might not pique the interest of our community of dedicated sniffers, though – so you’ll want to know that £25 (plus shipping) will secure you The Budding Perfume-Making Kit, containing five x 2.5 ml vials of different ingredients, a 10ml empty bottle, pipettes and blotters. It comes with a card that details ingredients, together with ‘recipe’ ideas for at-home fragrance blending.
Or for £40 (plus shipping), there’s The Quirky Ingredient Set. As Emanuelle puts it, the box ‘contains 12 ingredients that have a quirky edge and not often used: incense oil, Iso Butyl Quinoline (tarmac), iris absolute, rose oxide (metallic rose), myrrh resinoid etc… They are diluted in alcohol, come with a booklet, pipettes and empty vials.’
The Perfume Lover Ingredient Set contains 16 vials of ingredients (seven naturals, eight aroma chemcicals), again with info about how to use them and suggested blends.
Or for £85 backing, you can enjoy an Apprentice Perfume Workshop, allowing you to delve into the world of ingredients and make a bespoke perfume from scratch at the Club’s HQ. It’s a saving of £10 on the usual price – so if this is something you’ve had in mind for a while, this seems like the perfect opportunity to support The Experimental Perfume Club and help them Indiegogo-go for it.
Click here for more info about the campaign. experimentalperfumeclub.com
Written by Jo Fairley
