How to Develop a Personal Scent Lexicon

From Generic to Associative, Metaphorical, and Synesthetic Vocabulary

Today, in a world where perfume storytelling and naming have evolved so far, you don’t want to sound too generic when describing a natural perfume. Creating perfume is not only about the formulation process, it’s also about how you present it to others. It doesn’t matter whether you sell it or not. Even on a deeper, more personal level, when blending simply to study or learn, natural aromatics stir memory and emotion. Many of us feel the urge to express this in a way that is uncommon, or uniquely our own.

Perfumes, and natural ones in particular, can throw you into a whole new realm if you have never experienced them before. They may feel like multi-layered, futuristic structures with no beginning and no end. And though they do eventually fade, they often leave behind a deeply etched impression of an otherworldly sensory adventure, especially rare and exotic ones. Natural aromatics are complex formations in themselves, many still not thoroughly studied. Their components continue to leave researchers in awe, hinting at other possibilities they might offer if used in the right way.

In the meantime, how do you actually develop the basic vocabulary to talk and write about natural scent?