Have you considered just mixing it up yourself?

Nope. Last time I decided to take up an art I quit my job and devoted all my time and money to learning and looking and making art. After five years I had begun to get the hang of the basics and had to quit.

At this stage of my life I am content to let the masters do the creating and limit my tinkering to "collaging" (rather than layering - cuz I don't do fumes on top of fumes).

I will be interested to see who shows up here to answer your - um - demonic query!!!

Hi, Astaroth!

I've dug my own pond, shingled my own house, cut my own hair, and am seriously considering paving my own asphalt-alternative driveway, but I would not begin to think about stirring up my own fragrances.

Just think about all the combinations possible and what experts have tried over their lifetimes. Think of the investment in ingredients--if you could even get the ones you needed. If one has an exceptional nose and plenty of time, adequate funding and a real passion, I wouldn't blame a person for wanting to explore the mysteries of scent. But me? Uh-uh.

I used to do it also, but it was costly. And I had to eat my mistakes!

Just what little I've done in the Notes Identification Project has showed me that:

(1) Good perfumery is hard as hell. I'm a scientist who can teach myself almost anything, and can create a mental representation of how to build and shift components of a fragrance. Yet, I doubt that I have what it would take to be a "real" perfumer. Not with the time I have left in life, even assuming that my current life simply vanished and I could go back to perfumery school.

(2) I will probably continue to mix and tinker, but only in the same sense as somebody who has a wood shop at home. It's like making a cutting board - not an ornate bedroom suite. I'm not going into the business - no way. I did enjoy making my mediocre knock-off of Terre d'Hermès. But I warn you - I don't enjoy the knock-off nearly as much as the real McCoy. I only enjoyed the challenge of making it.

(3) Never quit your day job.

Please read the Note Identification Thread. That is just what a bunch of us did. We bought our own ingredients, smelled and discussed all of them, and then embarked upon our own experiments. It was worthwhile, and yes, I would wear a few of my own creations.

Mmmmmm. It's hard as hell and more than a little crazy to just wake up one day and think: "You know what, I will take this seriously". That goes for anything unconventional or difficult to achieve.

I don't know if I'd recommend "just mixing it up yourself" as a hobby; not beyond aromatherapy and natural perfume oil mixes anyway. That's as good a hobby as fine art and the raw materials aren't as difficult to obtain.

But to go for the whole shebang and try to learn the art, craft and science of perfumery - that's one hell of a task.

I have been on the journey for years, first through retail sales as a teenager, then through various twists and turns as a training manager for a fragrance distributor, then (reaching a point where I just had to find out the rest and satisfy my obsession) - purchasing my first raw materials and equipment 3 years ago.

Now, I guess I am on the first step up towards becoming an actual perfumer. I am studying chemistry, will take a formal perfume diploma course next year, work for a company that does all of its fragrance and perfume formulation in-house and I've been accepted as a junior member to the product/perfume team...and the first product for which I've done some of the perfume work on is being launched worldwide this month. I am still pinching myself.

Yet, I occasionally feel a little pang of despair - I may very well have found my calling too late (36 now), may not have been lucky enough to be born into the right family background and might never learn enough about perfume and its creation.

The thing is (and this is the "crazy" part I was talking about right at the beginning) I'm just ignoring all that and will carry on, obsessing and working and studying and tinkering away! Any sensible person would say "as IF you have a chance!".