We’re used to product testing various different activities here at Last Night of Freedom HQ and have tried all sorts from painting willies to enjoying massages. When we found out we were going to be we were super excited to get stuck in. It was something that none of us had ever done before!
The set up
We started off by meeting our hosts from The Perfume Studio. They explained a bit about themselves and how the session was going to work. The Perfume Studio used to just make and sell perfume, but they had the idea to make it into a workshop. It’s a fun workshop but also the ingredients they use are super high quality, so you’re going to end up with a lovely perfume to take home. Brides will often opt to make perfume for their wedding day.
There were twenty different scents that we had to choose from to create our own unique blend. We were told some of these smells we’d like, some we’d think were okay and some we wouldn’t like. You might think that blending together random smells could lead to perfume disaster, but every single scent has been specifically selected so you can’t make a bad smell.
Team LNOF testing scents
We were told that perfumes are split into base, middle and top notes. Lloyd explained that choosing scents for a perfume is a bit like choosing an outfit for a night out. The base notes are like your underwear, this is the thing that’s going to stick around the longest. The middle notes are your outfit, your dress or whatever you’ve chosen to wear. And the top notes are the thing that you will notice first so like your make up.
All the scents were put onto sticks so we could smell them then write down whether we liked them or not. First up was bottom notes. As the base of your perfume, this was never going to be anything too in your face. There were different smells including woody, musk and gourmand. Gourmand was interesting because it was very sweet and evoked feelings of being at a fun fair.
The experts giving advice
Next it was onto the middle notes. There were a lot of these to smell. There was scents that smelt fresh like the sea, heady floral scents and a spicy scent that smelt like Christmas. All of us reacted differently to the different smells.
Finally, we got to the top notes. These are important because it’s what hits you first when you smell the perfume, although on the flip side, it’s the part of the perfume that sticks around for the least amount of time. There were exciting smells to choose from including citrus, passion fruit and green (a fresh smell of Green Teas, Boronia and Aloe Vera).
Whilst we smelt the scents, we learnt loads of fascinating facts. We learnt that the difference between eau de toilette and eau de parfum is that eau de parfum has a higher concentration of perfume oil. We also learnt that there are more astronauts in the world than there are trained perfumers. Also, whale vomit is often used in perfume…. Whale who’d have thought it?!
Lots of samples to sniff
With all of the smells smelled, it was time to make some decisions. You could stick the different scents sticks together and waft them like a little fan to see if you like the smell combination. You could have as many or as few scents in the final blend as you want. Lloyd explained how 4 or 5 was optimal but it’s down to you and your taste and what you want in your own personalised fragrance
If there was a scent you really liked you could have a double measure of it and if there was a scent you liked but thought it was a little overpowering, you could have a half measure. With your fragrance fan you made, you could figure out how a half measure would smell by bending the fragrance stick so it was a bit further away from your nose than the others you wanted a full measure of.
After a lot of deliberation, we all finally chose what we wanted blended in the final fragrance. Now we had the task of naming our fragrance. I’m called Hannah so I went for Hannel No 5. Other names included Spice Cabinet and Eau De Toon. We even got to choose the bottle it was in, choosing from latte and white – both colours were super classy. If you ended up really liking your perfume, you could even order it again.
The final product
Take it from someone who’s not that especially bothered about perfume, this was an incredibly interesting, unique and enjoyable experience. Personally, I’d chosen smells that reminded me of being on holiday like citrus, the smell of the sea etc. I’ve ended up with a lovely smelling perfume. Perfume is such a personal thing so by getting to choose smells you like, you’re very likely to come out of the session with a perfume that you love. Also, you’ll have a blast whilst making it.
If you want to have a go at perfume making on your hen or stag (lads can do it too), then it’s available in 22 of our major UK destinations including , , and .