How to warm up the atmosphere while enjoying your favorite fragrance? Thanks to the scented candles! But in your opinion, how do we do to perfume candles? We do not necessarily ask the question, yet it requires a long process of adaptation. So that the smell released by your candle faithfully reproduces the notes of your perfume, the formula must undergo some changes. Because between spraying and burning, olfactory properties change…
After Claire’s inspired interview, our former Nose, we give the floor to a quite talented perfumer! Laurent has worked on the adaptation of our perfumes, especially vanille, to create our new scented candles… and expand our collection of home fragrances.
Our scented interview
Laurent takes you to his laboratory to explain how to perfume candles. By juggling between raw materials and odoriferous molecules, he allows you to enjoy long scented naps!
Carrément Belle: how do you turn a body perfume formula into a perfume to burn?
Laurent: The aim of the game when we go from a skin perfume to a scented candle (or any other support), is to stay at the maximum close to the original note, while having a good performance and a good stability in the wax.
For this purpose, substitutions of raw materials and/or modifications of dosages are necessary. Because the products we use often do not have the same result in alcohol and wax! Sometimes some materials also have instability depending on the base in which they are used. The smell or the color can evolve without being able to control it. We replace some molecules present in the alcoholic perfume by others with a similar smell, but more powerful and stable in the candle. We increase the dosage of some others, because it takes more to obtain the same olfactory result that in the original perfume, wax being more sequestering than alcohol.
Our goal is to keep the balance between the different olfactory blocks. We must also keep in mind that the note released when the candle burns is very close to the note on cold wax. The selection of raw materials will therefore also be based on this criterion. Indeed, some of them do not have the same performance either hot or cold. In this case, combinations of molecules will be used to keep the linearity of the note. Thus, the balances of the perfume are respected and the smell, the power and the stability are maximized in the candle!
From skin to candles, there is only one Nose, but is the scent really the same?
The smell is almost the same, but to perfume candles, the formula is very different!
Do you usually create fragrances for candles?
Yes, I have been working on scented candles for about 20 years!
What is the work of adaptation of raw materials?
It is a work of substitution and dosage: the perfumer knows the olfactory and physicochemical behavior of each raw material in the different bases that he works.
How long does it take to create/adapt a scented candle?
It is very variable! For an adaptation, it will depend on the initial alcoholic note. The more the formula will be complex, the longer it will be to test and develop the same note as a candle.
For a creation, it will depend on the perfumer’s main idea to answer the customer’s request. Indeed, the clearest this idea will be, the fastest the technical development will be to perfume candles. It is easier to formulate when you know exactly where you want to go!
How to predict the reaction of ingredients faced with heat?
We can not predict it, it is the unit tests of raw materials as well as experience that will tell us. Empiricism is in this case a science!
Will the fragrance have different olfactory properties during combustion?
Yes, a raw material will behave differently when it burns, and we must anticipate the cold note and hot note to keep the linearity of the perfume. Hence the importance of testing the largest possible number of molecules or natural products alone in the base.
Tell us about vanille, the last perfume of our collection that you have worked on to turn it into a candle!
This is a gourmand vanilla, caramelized, in the style of a crème brûlée, sprinkled with almonds, coconut and tonka bean. It is an addictive scent ideal for the fall-winter season!
Perfume for skin, candle, incenses… There are different ways to enjoy a perfume: what is your favorite?
I really like home perfumes, rather wooded and comfortable, whether as a candle or a diffuser. As for skin fragrances, I cannot be perfumed during my work, so I appreciate them even more during the weekend or special events.
If you had to choose one of our candles for Christmas, it would be: ippi patchouli, ïōdé, so or vanille?
Certainly ippi patchouli because I particularly love its woody, earthy and resinous note!
Discover the fragrances mentioned in the article
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