I made my first formula in the Fragnatique Scent Lab. How do I evaluate whether it actually works?
TL;DRevaluate on blotter first, then on skin. smell at zero, fifteen minutes, one hour, three hours, twelve hours. listen for whether the structure holds (still feels like one idea after 3 hours) and whether anything sharp dominates (a single material poking through). most first formulas need a second pass to fix top note balance 馃И
just finished my first formula in the Fragnatique Scent Lab in the iOS app. the match advisor walked me through proportions for a woody-fresh structure i designed. exported the manufacturing PDF, mixed up a 10ml sample at home, and now i have a bottle of something i made 馃敩
how do i actually evaluate whether its good? what should i be paying attention to? looking for community guidance on the evaluation process, not just the smell.
7 answers
Sorted by accepted, then voteswelcome to the most useful part of formulation: evaluating your own work without lying to yourself.
step-by-step evaluation:
blotter test (mandatory before skin test):
- spray once on a clean perfume blotter. set a timer.
- smell at: 0 minutes (top), 15 minutes (top settling), 1 hour (heart), 3 hours (heart-base transition), 6 hours (base), 12 hours (residual).
- take a one-line note at each interval. use specific words: bright, sharp, muddled, clear, cloying, thin.
skin test:
- apply two sprays to the inside of one wrist.
- same intervals: 0, 15, 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h.
- note differences from the blotter test. skin amplifies sweet notes and absorbs heavy bases. some materials disappear entirely.
what to listen for:
- structure coherence. does the fragrance still feel like one idea at three hours, or has it broken into separate fragrances?
- top to heart transition. is it smooth, or does the top notes fall off a cliff leaving an awkward gap?
- single material poking through. often a top-note material was over-dosed. look for a single aggressive smell that does not blend.
- sillage shape. how far does the fragrance project? is the projection consistent across the wear, or does it spike and crash?
- lasting power. most home formulas under-perform on lasting power because of insufficient base materials. if your fragrance is gone after three hours, the next iteration needs more base.
common first-formula problems:
- too much top note material. the first hour is loud and sharp. reduce by 30 to 50 percent in the next iteration.
- top heart gap. top notes evaporate before heart notes wake up. add a connective material (a soft musk, a light woody amber).
- thin base. use base material that is heavier or use more of it.
- material clash. two strong materials fighting (citrus and oud, for example, often clash). pull one back.
iteration is where formulation lives. the first version is rarely the final version. the Scent Lab walks u through creating a new version with adjusted ratios. plan for two or three iterations before evaluating the formula as done 馃憣
florist with a side fragrance practice here. the biggest first-formula mistake i see in students is over-fragmenting. new formulators wanna use ten materials. best practice is three to five carefully chosen materials in your first formula. the fewer materials, the easier to evaluate, the easier to fix.
the Scent Lab can help here because it surfaces material counts and warns when ur pushing past coherent ratios. listen to those warnings on the first pass 馃尶
practical wear test. after the blotter and skin test, ask three ppl u trust to smell your wrist at different times during a normal day. their reactions will tell u something your own nose cannot. ull be amazed how often the formula u think is perfect is described by someone else as smells like soap or smells weirdly medicinal 馃拃
use that data without ego. iterate.
documentation discipline. keep a notebook for every batch. record the formula, the date, the ratios u actually used (not just the planned ones), the substitutions u made, and the evaluation notes from each interval.
six months in, ull be able to read your old formulas like a code. without notes, every batch is a new experiment from scratch.
original asker. reading these answers carefully. have already spotted my single material poking through issue (i over-dosed cardamom). iterating with reduced cardamom + added base musk this weekend. will report back.
one frame that helped me when i started: think of a formula like a song. the top notes are the opening hook, the heart is the chorus, the base is the bass line. every part has to work alone AND in combination with the others. if u focus only on what does the top smell like, ull end up with a great chorus and no song.
the Scent Lab's three-tier display (top, heart, base) was the first time i really felt that arc as part of formulation rather than as a marketing concept 馃尶
update from the original asker. iterated three times. third version is genuinely good. ive been wearing it for a week. mads's evaluation framework is now my permanent process.
the Scent Lab makes it easy to ship the formula to a small fulfilment lab if u want a real bottle made up. im considering it for the third version 馃敟
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