Episodios

  • Making a Mod: Embracing Iteration in Perfume Making and Doing It Right

    Making a Mod: Embracing Iteration in Perfume Making and Doing It Right
    Dec 1 2025
    This week Karen follows on from the conversation she had about learning to evaluate your perfumes. She covers something that is done as a matter of course in the industry. It's something a lot of people, especially when they're new, don't really get - making more than one version of your fragrance. Or, in industry terms, making a mod. Karen explains why learning to be patient and tweaking your perfume gradually is an essential skillset and how to perfect the art of iteration. KEY TAKEAWAYS Feeling disappointed with your first perfume draft is normal; instead of interpreting your setbacks as a lack of talent, treat each version as a learning step that even experienced perfumers face. Change only one element at a time and refrain from altering your original batch. Record each change and its impact on a spreadsheet so you can clearly track what makes things better or makes things worse. If you reach a creative block after many iterations, it’s fine to set a project aside and return later with a fresh perspective. Sometimes, solutions only emerge with time and new experience. Perfumery is a journey of constant learning and self-improvement. Make use of community resources and classes as needed, and keep up the habit of practice and iteration. BEST MOMENTS “The truth is nobody makes a perfect perfume in one go….you are creating your first draft.” “Without a clear direction (a brief) you are not going to be able to evaluate anything - if you can't evaluate it, you are not going to be able to improve it.” “The whole point of creating mods, or iterations of a fragrance, is comparison.” VALUABLE RESOURCES In-Person Classes: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/studio-classes Fragrance For Skincare Course: https://www.onlineperfumeschool.com/creating-fragrance-for-skincare-products-online-course Last week´s evaluating your perfume episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/evaluating-your-fragrances-how-to-judge-your-scent/id1693602939?i=1000738045728 Getting Started Guide: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/podcast-getting-started-guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/artisan-perfumery-mastermind Website: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/karengilbert/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KarenGilbert.co.uk YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@KarenGilbertPerfumeMaking Email - karen@karengilbert.co.uk This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    27 m
  • Evaluating Your Fragrances: How to Judge Your Scent Like a Professional

    Evaluating Your Fragrances: How to Judge Your Scent Like a Professional
    Nov 24 2025
    Do you really know if your fragrance works? Or are you just hoping for compliments? In this episode, Karen reveals why friends and family are not likely to be giving you the feedback you really need. She shares the essential steps needed to truly evaluate your perfume - like a pro. Karen takes you through setting a clear brief and mastering technical checkpoints. She shares the tools and mindset that separate hobbyists from serious creators. Tune in to transform the way you judge your scents and take yourself one step closer to making fragrances that always deliver. KEY TAKEAWAYS The opinions of friends and family feel good, but their noses can´t be the final word. Often, they are biased and rarely fit your target demographic. Investing time in learning how to professionally evaluate your scents is essential. Without a clear goal for your scent, you’ll never know if you’ve hit the mark, so start every creation by writing out a solid brief and use a checklist to keep your evaluation honest and well organised. Don’t just sniff and forget. Track and assess your fragrance over hours to see how it really lasts, evolves, and performs on skin or in the bottle. You need to test for smoothness, strength, longevity, harmony, diffusion and evaluate it in the base and conditions your customer will actually be using your scent in. Sensory fatigue is real. Periodically, step away and reset your nose. Allow plenty of time to evaluate your scents. BEST MOMENTS “Evaluation is a whole separate skill. You could be good at blending, you could be good at putting different materials together, but also still not know whether what you made actually works.” “If you don't know what you were intending to create, you're not going to know whether you hit that mark or not.” “Make yourself a little checklist that you can actually go through every time you create a fragrance, every time you do modifications.” EPISODE RESOURCES In-Person Course - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/studio-classes Fragrance For Skincare Course: https://www.onlineperfumeschool.com/creating-fragrance-for-skincare-products-online-course How to create a scent story episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-and-why-to-create-a-scent-story/id1693602939?i=1000630627487 VALUABLE RESOURCES Getting Started Guide: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/podcast-getting-started-guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/artisan-perfumery-mastermind Website: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher, and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/karengilbert/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KarenGilbert.co.uk YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@KarenGilbertPerfumeMaking Email - karen@karengilbert.co.uk This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    32 m
  • Why Buying More “Magic” Materials Won’t Make You a Better Perfumer

    Why Buying More “Magic” Materials Won’t Make You a Better Perfumer
    Nov 17 2025
    It’s easy to believe that the secret to creating great fragrances lies in having more materials - more naturals, more synthetics, more obscure aroma chemicals. But as Karen explains in this episode, the opposite is usually true. Expanding your organ too quickly can overwhelm your creativity, stall your progress, and make it harder to build the strong foundation you need to truly master the craft of perfumery. Karen breaks down exactly why “more” is rarely the answer, why many professionals still work with a limited palette, and how to experiment, build skill, confidence, and clarity by initially using a focused, small set of materials. KEY TAKEAWAYS In perfumery, progress comes from starting simple and structured learning - not from collecting hundreds of bottles. Most trained perfumers work with a tight palette that they fully understand. Don´t be tempted to start by exploring big scent concepts; they can lead you to collect unusual materials prematurely. Start by making simple scents first. Remember: most powerful or “interesting” materials only work in tiny amounts. Without practice and proper dilution, they can easily unbalance a blend. Start by practicing with a focused set of ingredients. Learn to dilute them correctly, carefully observe how each material and combination behaves and make notes. BEST MOMENTS “Weird, wacky, interesting materials do not make you more creative. They don't make you a better perfumer - knowing how to use them does.” “You are literally trying to build this whole city before you've built your shed in the garden.” “If you change everything in a formulation over and over again, you're going to keep going around in circles.” “You can own hundreds of materials and still be guessing and floundering, or you can have 20 core materials and be working with them and learning about how they interact with each other.” EPISODE RESOURCES Use the discount code shared during the show to master the 70 most important materials you need to build a strong skill foundation for your perfumer career by going here - Materials Mastery - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/materials-mastery Studio Classes - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/studio-classes Getting Started Guide - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/podcast-getting-started-guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/artisan-perfumery-mastermind ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher, and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/karengilbert/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KarenGilbert.co.uk YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@KarenGilbertPerfumeMaking This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    35 m
  • You’ve Made Soup! - How to Avoid a Muddy Fragrance

    You’ve Made Soup! - How to Avoid a Muddy Fragrance
    Nov 10 2025
    “You’ve made soup!” is a well used phrase by French perfume teachers to their students. ‘Soup’ is a term used to describe a fragrance that smells muddy, flat or undefined. But why does this happen and how can you avoid it? It turns out there are many ways to make soup, and some of them seem like good ideas at the start. In this week’s episode Karen is here to explain all the traps people fall into you so that you can avoi KEY TAKEAWAYS One easy way to achieve the muddy scent is by constantly adding materials on top of each other, for no other reason than you like them. Karen explains why this is a very bad idea. Copying a notes list from a perfume you admire is another sure fire way to achieve a muddy scent. So why do people do it and why should you avoid it? Understanding scent structure is crucial to create a well balanced perfume. Karen breaks down why this is and why it should be the first thing you master. Nose fatigue is a very real thing and it can lead you to making crucial mistakes when creating a scent. Karen gives her top tips on how to avoid this trap. BEST MOMENTS “Adding more materials won’t fix anything, it will just make your fragrance more dense and confusing.” “Sometimes a space in a formulation is what gives it its strength.” “Everytime you make a formulation, make notes and you will be moving forward.” VALUABLE RESOURCES https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/studio-classes https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/materials-mastery Getting Started Guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Email This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    34 m
  • Raw Notes - What I Learned from Bruce Springsteen

    Raw Notes - What I Learned from Bruce Springsteen
    Nov 3 2025
    Karen recently went to the cinema, something she doesn’t do very often. However, on this one-off trip to see the new Bruce Springsteen film, something resonated with her. We often chase perfection, either from our own standards or from what we assume others expect from us, but sometimes, the real beauty lies in imperfection. In this week's episode, Karen is here to talk about how the thing you create might be more successful if you just let go and be true to yourself. KEY TAKEAWAYS One of the main storylines of the new Springsteen film is how the record he created sounded raw and unfinished, but how that sound added to the beauty of it. Karen describes how you can apply this working method to your perfume creation. Karen tells the story of Mark Buxton and how creating an accord based on the markets of Marrakech ended up launching a perfume brand. A lot of indie perfumers try to replicate the big commercial brands, but, as Karen points out, they are not your competition. Karen shares what really matters when creating your fragrances. BEST MOMENTS “Sometimes that raw first version might be exactly what it needs to be.” “If you try to make something more commercial, you're in danger of moving away from what you set out to achieve.” “Whatever the thing is that you create, if it expresses what you want it to express, that’s what it should be.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Getting Started Guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Email This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    18 m
  • The Evolution of Musk - Part 2

    The Evolution of Musk - Part 2
    Oct 27 2025
    Following on from last week's show on the history of Musk, Karen is here to tell you all about the synthetic musks. First developed by accident in the 1930s, synthetic musks have evolved through many different variations, each one advancing from what has come before. In this episode, Karen gives you a full and comprehensive overview of the history of synthetic musk, how they changed the perfume industry, and the musks that you should have in your toolbox. KEY TAKEAWAYS Nitro Musks were the first synthetic musks, discovered in the late 1880s by accident. Karen gives you the history of this fascinating discovery and how it changed perfume-making. In the 1930s, macrocyclic musks were developed as a safer and more elegant alternative to nitro musks. Karen details their history, the perfumes that pioneered them, and the impact they had. Polycyclic musks were developed in the 1950s with the intention of being lower-cost and more commercial. Karen explains how they brought musk into the mainstream, including the Body Shop’s ‘White Musk’. Due to biodegradability issues of polycyclic musk, alicyclic musks were developed in the 1970s. Karen explains why they were created and how they burst into popularity in the 1990s. BEST MOMENTS “Musks are often more of a feeling than they are a specific smell.” “Musks change when they interact with other materials, so don’t just smell them on a strip, use them.” “If you’ve ever smelt laundry and thought ‘that smells clean’, that’s a polycyclic musk.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Materials Mastery Studio Classes Getting Started Guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Email This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    40 m
  • The Evolution of Musk - Part 1

    The Evolution of Musk - Part 1
    Oct 19 2025
    This week, Karen is introducing the first in a two-part series on musk. Musk started life as one of the most prestigious materials in the world of perfumery and was often associated with nobility and power. However, over the years, it has constantly evolved and, today, is seen as one of the most common and well-known materials in all of perfumery. In this episode, Karen takes you on a journey from the beginnings of musk to its place in the modern-day world and how it has shaped both perfumery and culture over hundreds of years. KEY TAKEAWAYS Musk has a long and fascinating history. Karen takes us through it from its origins in central Asia to its everyday use today. Historically, musk was sourced from the glands of male deer; however, as the species became endangered, the material could no longer be sourced from the animal. In 1888, Albert Baur made a discovery that changed musk forever. In the 1970s, a number of fragrances entered the market that changed musk to a much more accessible product. Karen explains how and why. By the late 1980s, musk was mainstream, in large part due to the Body Shop’s ‘White Musk’. Karen breaks down how this shift affected the perfume industry and people’s perception of musk. BEST MOMENTS “Over the years, musk has gone from one of the most expensive materials you can buy to one of the most common synthetics in the world.” “Musk moved from a sexy smell of desire to one of laundry and light, airiness.” “Musk feeds that need we have for comfort, especially when the world outside is a much more intense and scary place.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Materials Mastery Studio Classes Getting Started Guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Email This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    39 m
  • Soapy, Sparkling, Strange - A Journey Through Aldehydes

    Soapy, Sparkling, Strange - A Journey Through Aldehydes
    Oct 12 2025
    After last week’s episode on Chanel No. 5 and its revolutionary use of aldehydes, Karen is going to delve deeper into this fragrance family and its role in the world of perfume. Whilst most people associate aldehydes with Chanel and, in domestic use, soap, there are many different types of aldehydes that produce various fragrances. So, if you want to know your aliphatics from your aromatics, then this is the episode for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS Whilst organic in their chemistry, aldehydes are synthetic in fragrance. However, natural aldehydes are starting to appear. Karen details the availability of these materials and what the future might hold. Aliphatic aldehydes, the most well-known aldehydes, are complex in their makeup and cover a wide range of materials. Karen breaks down what they are, their uses, and in which products you will find them. Aromatic aldehydes are soft, powdery, and sweet-smelling materials and do not resemble what most people associate with aldehydes. Karen shares some well-known fragrances that utilize them and explains how they can best serve you. Green aldehydes are very herbal and are the ones that most people use when first experimenting with perfumery. But what do they smell like, and where can you find them? BEST MOMENTS “It’s important to smell these materials yourself. It’s impossible to build your own associations if you’re just reading off a list.” “Aldehydes oxidise much quicker than most materials, they don’t last as long and can have chemical reactions within your fragrance.” “If something smells inherently soapy, it’s not necessarily the smell, it’s because your brain has linked that smell to products that use a certain aldehyde.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Materials Mastery Studio Classes Getting Started Guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Email This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    30 m