An accord is a small blend of materials that smells like one new thing. Amber, chypre and fougère are all accords, not ingredients. Learning to build them teaches the core skill of perfumery: hearing how materials change each other.
Every exercise uses the same professional method: weigh, never measure by drops; write the formula in parts per 1,000; change only one material between trials; and let each trial rest for at least 24 hours before judging it.
By the end you will be able to
- Weigh and record a formula like a professional
- Understand ratio series and how to read them
- Build four classic accords and one modern woody-amber accord
- Write an original accord with a short creative brief
Your kit
- A scale reading to 0.001 g (0.01 g works if you make 10 g batches)
- Glass beakers or vials, disposable pipettes, labels
- All materials from Masterclass 02 at 10% dilution, plus labdanum, benzoin, Evernyl (oakmoss substitute), lavender and geranium
- A spreadsheet that converts parts per 1,000 into grams for any batch size
Week 1 · Two-material accords and ratio series
Mix two materials in five ratios: 1:9, 3:7, 5:5, 7:3 and 9:1. The point where they “click” into a new smell is the accord.
Materials: Hedione + linalool; vanillin + coumarin
Exercises
- Make both series on strips and choose the best ratio after 1 hour and after 24 hours. Do your choices change?
Homework: Repeat with one pair of your own choice.
Week 2 · A rose accord
A classic rose is built mostly from rose alcohols, then given life with spicy, metallic and fruity traces.
Teaching formula (by weight)
| Material | Parts | For a 10 g trial |
|---|---|---|
| Phenylethyl alcohol | 450 | 4.50 g |
| Citronellol | 250 | 2.50 g |
| Geraniol | 150 | 1.50 g |
| Linalool | 80 | 0.80 g |
| Eugenol | 20 | 0.20 g |
| Rose oxide (1% dilution) | 30 | 0.30 g |
| Beta-damascone (1% dilution) | 20 | 0.20 g |
| Total | 1000 | 10.00 g |
Exercises
- Make the teaching formula, then three variations: remove eugenol; double rose oxide; replace linalool with Hedione. Describe each change.
Homework: Compare your rose with a rose oil and list three things it is missing.
Week 3 · An amber accord
Amber in perfumery is a warm, resinous accord, traditionally labdanum with vanilla and balsams. It has nothing to do with fossil amber or ambergris.
Teaching formula (by weight)
| Material | Parts | For a 10 g trial |
|---|---|---|
| Labdanum resinoid | 300 | 3.00 g |
| Benzoin resinoid | 300 | 3.00 g |
| Vanillin | 200 | 2.00 g |
| Coumarin | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Ambroxan (10% dilution) | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Total | 1000 | 10.00 g |
Exercises
- Make the accord, then a lighter version with half the labdanum and add 10% Iso E Super. Which feels more modern?
Homework: Smell two amber perfumes and identify the amber accord inside them.
Week 4 · A chypre structure
The chypre takes its name from Chypre de Coty (1917): a fresh bergamot top over a floral heart and a mossy, woody base. Natural oakmoss is restricted by IFRA, so modern chypres use low-atranol oakmoss or substitutes such as Evernyl.
Teaching formula (by weight)
| Material | Parts | For a 10 g trial |
|---|---|---|
| Bergamot (bergapten-free) | 350 | 3.50 g |
| Your rose accord | 150 | 1.50 g |
| Hedione | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Patchouli | 150 | 1.50 g |
| Labdanum resinoid | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Evernyl (10% dilution) | 50 | 0.50 g |
| Clean musk | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Total | 1000 | 10.00 g |
Exercises
- Evaluate on skin over 8 hours. Note the moment the bergamot gives way to moss and patchouli.
Homework: Smell Guerlain Mitsouko or another classic chypre if you can, and compare structures.
Week 5 · A fougère structure
The fougère (“fern”) family began with Houbigant’s Fougère Royale (1882), one of the first perfumes to use a synthetic material, coumarin. Its backbone is lavender, coumarin and oakmoss.
Teaching formula (by weight)
| Material | Parts | For a 10 g trial |
|---|---|---|
| Lavender | 300 | 3.00 g |
| Bergamot | 200 | 2.00 g |
| Geranium | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Coumarin | 150 | 1.50 g |
| Evernyl (10% dilution) | 50 | 0.50 g |
| Vetiver | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Clean musk | 100 | 1.00 g |
| Total | 1000 | 10.00 g |
Exercises
- Make a “modern” version: halve the lavender and add dihydromyrcenol and Ambroxan. What decade does each version smell like?
Homework: Write the pyramid of your fougère in plain language for a customer.
Week 6 · Modern minimal accords
Many 21st-century perfumes are built on a few powerful, diffusive molecules used at high levels: woody ambers, Hedione and clean musks. Fewer materials make the formula transparent and long-lasting.
Teaching formula (by weight)
| Material | Parts | For a 10 g trial |
|---|---|---|
| Iso E Super | 350 | 3.50 g |
| Hedione | 250 | 2.50 g |
| Ambroxan | 50 | 0.50 g |
| Cashmeran | 50 | 0.50 g |
| Clean musk | 300 | 3.00 g |
| Total | 1000 | 10.00 g |
Exercises
- Make the accord, then create your own variation by adding one natural (for example pink pepper, iris or vetiver) at 5%.
Homework: Final project (below).
Final project
Final project: an original accord of up to eight materials, with your formula in parts per 1,000, three documented trials, and a 100-word brief explaining the idea.
Safety
Teaching formulas are for smelling strips only. Before anything goes on skin, the finished perfume must be checked against the current IFRA Standards for its product category, and labelled for allergens.
Further reading
- Robert R. Calkin and J. Stephan Jellinek, Perfumery: Practice and Principles
- Jean-Claude Ellena, Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent
