Scent School: Learn to Smell Like a Perfumer
Ready to smell like a perfumer? You don’t need a lab coat. Just your nose, and a little curiosity.
You know how to smell. But do you know how to really smell?
We're not just talking a quick sniff followed by “mmm, that’s nice” – but to truly slow down, notice the shift in notes, pay attention to texture, temperature, time. To recognise the shape of a scent, the way it unfolds, evolves, lingers. It’s not magic. And it’s not something only professional perfumers can do. It’s something you can learn… starting now.
Lesson One: Smell, but slower
Most people rush scent. Spritz and go. But perfume isn’t static, it’s alive.
A great fragrance will change over time – sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically – depending on the formula, your skin, the air, the moment. Which is why your first lesson is simple: slow down.
Spray your scent once. Wait. Inhale gently. Then again, later. Let it unfold in real time – not all at once. The best way to understand a fragrance is to let it speak at its own pace. There’s an arc to follow. A beginning, a heart, a base. The more time you give it, the more you’ll notice, and the more you notice, the more personal it becomes.
Try it with one of our Signature Blends. Wear it on your skin, and return to it throughout the day. Let it live a full life. You might find it tells you something you missed the first time.
Shop the Blends Collection
Lesson Two: Understand the arc of a fragrance
Every perfume has a structure. You’ve probably heard the terms top, heart and base notes – but they’re more than just categories. They tell the story of a scent from start to finish.
Top notes are the opening credits. Bright, bold, often citrusy or herbal, they’re what you notice first. And they’re gone almost as quickly as they arrive.
The heart is the real character arc: florals, fruits, spices – the part that lingers on your skin for hours.
Then comes the base, the grounding finale: woods, musks, resins. These are the last to arrive and the longest to stay. They're also the reason your scarf still smells like your favourite scent two days later!
Once you understand this structure, you start to appreciate how much craftsmanship goes into a single spritz. And why two perfumes that smell ‘sweet’ at first might feel wildly different by the end of the day.
Lesson Three: Learn your own language of scent
Here’s a secret: even professional perfumers sometimes struggle to describe scent! There’s technically no universal language for smell – no precise colour wheel or exact sound scale. It’s abstract, personal and emotional. But that’s exactly why it’s powerful. And exactly why you need to find your own words.
Forget trying to sound like a dictionary. Describe scent using feelings, textures, places. A perfume might smell “like breakfast in Amalfi”, “like velvet” or “like a summer picnic” to you. These aren’t wrong. In fact, they’re exactly right – because they’re yours.
If you're not sure where to begin, our Fragrance Finder quiz is a great place to start. In 30 seconds, it’ll match you with a blend that reflects your personality and preferences… no perfumery jargon required!
Take the quiz
Lesson Four: Get blending
This is where perfumery gets really fun. At EPC, we believe the best perfume is the one you make your own. That’s why we created our Creation Sets: a beautifully designed blending experience that lets you play with top, heart and base notes like a perfumer would.
Inside the new sets, you’ll find three 10ml perfumes (curated for creative harmony), a refillable blending bottle, a pipette for precise transfers, a step-by-step blending guide and access to our video blending tutorial.
It’s not about getting it ‘right’ – it’s about finding what feels like you.
Your signature scent? You’ll know it when you smell it.
Explore the new Creation Sets
Final lesson: Your nose knows
You don’t need to be an expert to think like one. You just need to be curious. Perfumery is both an art and a science – but it’s also deeply personal. What you smell. How you feel. What you choose to wear on your skin.
At EPC, we’re here to help you discover the joy in that process. To break the rules. Blend your own. And craft a fragrance that speaks only to you.
Because the world doesn’t need more perfume. It needs yours.
