Starter guide
Your first perfume
One page, written for someone who has never blended anything. It covers what to buy, three simple blends to try at a table, and the safety rules worth knowing before you open a bottle.
What is inside
The materials list
What to buy first, in small amounts, and what can wait until you know you like blending.
Three simple blends
Three short starting points you can make at a table, each with the reason it works.
The safety strip
Dilution, storage and the two things never to do with a concentrated oil.
Who it is for
- You want to understand what you are smelling before you buy anything expensive.
- You have a small collection and want to know why some of it lasts and some of it does not.
- You are thinking about selling a few bottles and want a sane place to start.
- You already make perfume and want one plainer way of explaining it to customers.
About me
I am self-taught, about ten years in, and still learning. Most of what I know came from making a lot of bad blends and keeping notes on them.
Along the way I studied with a perfumer certified by a Korean perfume house, and spent a year studying in Indonesia, where a lot of the materials I use are worked with a patience I had not seen before.
Kavemen is the archive that came out of that: small batches, materials chosen one at a time, and workshops where you make something and take it home.
Get the guide
Tell us where to send it. We reply from our own inbox, not a mailing list.
Questions
- What do I get?
- A one page starter guide: the materials to gather, three simple blends to try, a safety strip, and a way to ask us questions.
- Do I need to have made perfume before?
- No. The guide assumes you have never blended anything. If you have, the workshop is the better next step.
- Is the guide free?
- Yes. Leave your email or WhatsApp number and we will send it to you.
- Do you share my details?
- No. We keep your details to send the guide and news about workshops. You can ask us to remove them at any time.