Abandoned Perfume Formulas

Behind the Scenes: Past Projects, Creative Chaos, and Future Ideas

I’ve been keeping a perfume journal ever since I started working with natural scent. From the beginning, I wanted to document not just what I created, but also what never made it to my website: unfinished blends, one-off experiments, and ideas that were set aside or quietly faded away. A lot was left behind. This post is a look back through those pages: a review of unrealised projects, reformulated perfumes, abandoned themes, and concepts that never quite found their final form. As I go through my lab journal, I’m reflecting on the process, the decisions, and the shifts in my practice over time. Some of these notes have become part of my current work; others remain as lessons, memories, or raw material for future creations. I hope this post will be useful to fellow perfumers and clients alike, as a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes chaos, and as a reminder of how ideas evolve, take shape, or sometimes get left behind for a reason.

Early Notes

I’ve been working with natural aromatics since 2015, but I released my first perfume in 2018. It sold on the first day. It was overpriced, but it featured an overdose of jasmine, rose, oakmoss, ambrette seed, and orris absolutes. That was one lush perfume, and I still think it was worth the price. The name was Iris d’Ambre. Is that even correct in French? It was a bold 30% concentration in a 30ml bottle. I never made it again. Why? It included cliché ingredients, most of them too expensive for the proportions I used. It lacked originality and a clear narrative. I could have sold more bottles if I had simply mentioned that the rose and jasmine were used well above the maximum dermal limits set by the EU, which made them very noticeable in the blend. But I always wanted more. I’ve always searched for the unusual, the underrated, the underused, the overlooked aromatics. I’m always excited to work with the finest nagarmotha, or blue tansy, or dragonhead, the darkest patchouli, green spikenard, white tea, white rose, or carnation absolutes…

Looking at the early pages of my journal, I see I used a lot of green notes: oakmoss, blackcurrant, tarragon, galbanum. Some were very sharp, but they were classic. I used to make more complex perfumes. Many of them have since been adjusted, simply because it’s hard to source each ingredient consistently over time. I simplified them to include only the most readily available materials. Reformulation is unavoidable, especially for bestsellers. It’s disappointing, but that’s the reality, even for small businesses.

Villanelle Notes

My lab journal was chaotic. I recommend writing down everything, even if you’re only making a tiny portion of a scent. The original Villanelle included more than 20 ingredients. Now it has about 7. Sounds unfair, but I believe it has much more balance and structure, since I kept only those that worked in harmony. I also decided not to use spikenard in some cases. It’s becoming increasingly unsustainable and difficult to source in good quality. Valerian is the closest alternative. It gives a damp, earthy impression and becomes slightly powdery with time, without the sour edge spikenard sometimes has. Villanelle was one of the first five formulas I created. It’s still here, still the best-selling perfume. I include it because the original 2018 version could be seen as an abandoned scent. Some clients said they missed the dark, bitter notes (like galbanum). But it’s not always possible to replicate a formula exactly when working with naturals.

Antique Notes

I also experimented with antique perfume formulas and tried to adapt them—something I plan to return to here on Substack. The formulas were simple and direct, but they didn’t always smell pleasant. Some were too harsh or sharp. I’ll share them here again soon. Adaptation is essential. A few of these scents were briefly available on my website, but I only made a single batch and moved on. They lacked something: a sense of soul, a touch of subtlety. They needed a modern twist. But their names were beautiful. They were full of resins, ambergris, orris, and musk. Not all of that is viable today.

Vintage Notes

The Anthology series (classic Hollywood stars, if you remember) was more experimental, but I dropped it. I felt I had exhausted the theme and no longer felt connected to it, though the concept was compelling. I worked with dark honey, aged wine, vintage powder, dried fruit, aged tobacco... I’ll post those as accords soon. They were developed in beautiful ways. Some materials are a bit hard to source, but if you can find them, it might be worth the effort.

Subtle Notes

I also created perfumes inspired by goddesses, but that direction felt too cliché. Still, it helped shape the Psyche collection and deepened my interest in aromatherapy, especially subtle aromatherapy. That eventually led to digital products. The Psyche scents were discontinued too. The collection grew too large to maintain. I also found roll-on bottles a bit intimidating. You can find the Psyche formulas in this publication, in the Studio section, scroll back to around April–May 2025. They’re easy to make at home, even for beginners. But be quick, because I’m going to adapt them as Lists only. The formulas will go away eventually. The idea is to make them more suitable for simple scent rituals: anointing, diffusion, and very basic perfumes. I will add max dermal limits for ease of use.

Miscellaneous Notes

Green tea. I struggled with this one for a long time, then I decided to let it go. You can technically make a green tea tincture, but the colour is far too dark. There are green tea absolutes, but they’re faint and fade quickly. Maybe a green tea accord is the best approach, but I left it behind. Green tea felt too overdone. I began searching for more abstract, philosophical ideas.

Paper Moon was a candy-sweet floral. Lovely in its way, but I never made a second batch because I didn’t order labels in time. I usually order them in bulk, and once the moment passed, it was too late. Maybe I’ll recreate it someday. But it’s okay to let some scents exist as one-off batches. No restocks, or only once every few years. That makes them unique, experimental. Any concept can live like this.

I also worked on some personal accords of botanical musk and botanical ambra. They varied from formula to formula. I’ll post them here soon.

Catharsis Notes

Of course, it’s a joy to make one-of-a-kind, limited-edition perfumes. I can play with ingredients I don’t need to reuse. I do this in the Villanelle and Untitled series. Those aren’t really abandoned perfumes—they’re conceptual collections that evolved into what they are. I need that kind of catharsis, where I can use anything I want in a perfume without judgment or expectation. These are often the perfumes people fall in love with and ask me to recreate. But I can’t, not without betraying the idea.

I also have a few bottles sitting on the shelves. Scents I never finished. But I’m a practical person. I always find a way to use them eventually. They age beautifully and develop their own character. So in intuitive perfumery, there are no abandoned scents, only those waiting to be finished. Their time will come too.