Dragon's Den

It makes a change to see perfume on the Dragon’s Den and it makes it all the more special that funding was successful too, so well done David Pybus for convincing the dragons that his recreated fragrances from the past are a worthwhile risk. His new company is called Scents of Time.

I spoke to David today and congratulated him on his success. His feet haven’t really touched the ground since the deal was done. He had the fragrances made by Quest (Givaudan) from his brief, and I have to admit a level of jealousy, particularly over the Titanic fragrance – I would dearly love to be able to smell the original perfume.

Looking solely at the storage conditions of the perfume, they would have been perfect, and any deterioration would have been slowed down considerably. People often ask me how you can stop perfume deteriorating and the simple answer is that you can’t. Perfume compounds are extremely complex mixtures. Each essential oil will have hundreds of components so you only have to add a few together to get thousands. A perfume with 50-60 ingredients could have tens of thousands of components.

It is true to say that at the time of the Titanic, aroma chemicals were in use (the first was coumarin used by Paul Parquet of Houbigant in 1882), but nothing like the range we have today. Most fragrances would still have had a very high proportion of naturals, making them highly complex. The complexity includes all the functional groups, so there will be alcohols, aldehydes, esters, acids and so on. The number of possible reactions is enormous. All perfumes settle down a lot in the first month, although the biggest change takes place in the first 24hrs.

Reactions will continue to take place over time – for years – but as any chemist will tell you, if a reaction is going to take place, it will do, and there is nothing you can do about it. You can however slow it down, and you can do this by (a) keeping it cool so that the reactions take place more slowly (b) keeping it in full containers so that the headspace is minimal. This keeps the oxygen to a minimum and finally (c) removing any source of light. Ultra violet light is brilliant (no pun intended) at getting reactions going. You can ruin perfume in an hour in direct sunlight.

So, getting back to our Titanic perfume, it would have been very cold, in full bottles because they were new and in complete darkness – perfect. You can also be fairly sure that no-one would have been tampering with them over the past few decades either! I want to smell them!

Comments

[Gillian]

Hello John

I hope you won't mind me approaching you via your blog? I wondered if you could help me please? Perfume is my driving force and passion, I have worked for Chanel and during my time with Guerlain I was lucky to attended a special course with Roja Dove who was always extremely complementary about my 'nose' and memory. He gave me the encouragement to 'do something' with it. Had I grown up in Grasse I may have had careers advisors who could've pointed me in the right direction but just how do you get 'into' the industry in the UK? I have applied for the IEAT course that starts in January and I have met with Michael Hawksley from Les Senteurs and he kindly told me how they got started selling the end product, however I do not think that I just want to sell it. I would love a boutique one day however, I have an enthusiasm and believe I am very good at bringing the perfumes to life for other people. I would love to write about perfume, freelance and perhaps books too. I don't know if my memory and enthusiasm would be enough to help me create fantastic scents? (God willing that would just be too wonderful!) I have seen that you run a course, but if you will forgive me? I do not want to 'play at it' I am serious about making a career somehow with the thing I love. Can you advise if the course is for people who want a bit more knowledge and a bit of a fun day out or if it would be suitable for me? If not, how would you suggest I progress? Can you offer any advice please? Any advice and guidance would be gratefully received.

With thanks and kindest regards
Gillian Sparrow
07854 100 812