Are you in the early stages of designing a new perfume? Or maybe looking to brush up on your perfume design skills ? Our perfume creation guide will cover the main areas of perfume selection, formulation, packaging design, filling and marketing your perfume. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design – Perfume ingredients Perfume ingredients can either be synthetic or natural. Natural ingredients can vary from one harvest to another, so fragrances with a very high percentage of natural ingredients may result in small variations for each production batch. Natural essences are derived from plants, spices, barks, grasses, animal products and mosses which are naturally occurring. Do synthetic ingredients cost less than natural ingredients? Not necessarily, as there are some very sophisticated and expensive synthetic ingredients available. Some very interesting nuances of natural smells using synthetic ingredients can be created. It can be argued that synthetic perfumes are a more sustainable and planet friendly option. Many people are talking about the negative aspects of some synthetic ingredients, that they are ‘endocrine disruptors’. IFRA – the International Fragrance Association – has strict rules about the ingredients of fragrances and how much of the allergenic ingredients can be safely used in each formulation. It rigorously tests ingredients to ensure safety and sets guidelines about how much of a certain ingredient can be used. All allergens must be mentioned on the outer packaging of perfumes in most regulated countries. An allergen is a chemical which it has been proven to cause an irritation when applied to the skin. It is worth noting that essential oils (natural perfumes) can also cause allergic reactions and that IFRA is currently considering adding some essential oils to the list of known allergens. Your perfume supplier will be able to provide an allergen list for the fragrances you select. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design – Perfume formulation What is better – a formulation with or without alcohol? In ancient times perfumes were made without alcohol using waxes or oils to hold the perfume. Nowadays most perfumes are made with a combination of distilled water, ethanol alcohol and perfume oil. Of course the decision of which formulation to use depends on the market you work in and who you are targeting. In a highly muslim population country a non alcoholic perfume may work better. Alternative carriers such as water, oil, wax or resin can be used to dilute and mix the perfume oils. In a market where alcoholic perfumes have been traditionally used, it could be difficult to change consumer behaviour. Formulations containing alcohol allow the top notes of a perfume to open up quickly. At the point of sale where consumers trial new perfumes this could pose a challenge for non alcoholic perfumes. Often buying decisions are made based on the first ‘hit’, if the top notes are strong or powerful enough. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume Design – Fragrance concentration How much perfume should I put in my formulation? The amount of perfume that you put in your formulation will depend on the market where you are selling it, what is the norm. Some markets like Saudi Arabia love a very high concentration of up to 25 or 30% fragrance oil, but the UK market will usually prefer a lower concentration of maximum 15% fragrance. A very high concentration can be irritating for the nose in markets which are not accustomed to heavy fragrances. The price you pay per kilo may also be a consideration of how much to add. For high price fragrances adding one or two percent more fragrance oil will add a lot to the product cost. Eau fraiche has 3% or less fragrance oil. Eau de cologne has 2 to 5% fragrance oil. Eau de toilette contains 10% usually. Eau de parfum has 8 to 15% fragrance oil. Soie de parfum has 15 to 18% fragrance oil. Parfum has between 15 to 30% fragrance oil. The Ultimate Guide to perfume design – Fragrance notes A perfume will undergo different phases after being sprayed onto your skin and a perfume consists of different ‘notes’. Each phase will last for different lengths of time. TOP NOTES are the first notes which give a burst of smell right after spraying the perfume and typically last for 10-15 minutes. These notes are usually more volatile and they are often citrus, fruity or floral. MIDDLE NOTES are also called heart notes and these take 15 to 30 minutes to fully develop on the skin. They usually contain florals and aromatic plant notes and are the notes by which the fragrance is classified. BASE NOTES last the longest and help to slow down the evaporation of the more volatile molecules. Typical ingredients for a base note are woody, vanilla, musk, cedar and sandalwood. A perfume which does not change from initial spray to its final dry down is a linear perfume – it does not contain top, middle or base notes. The most popular linear fragrance at the moment is Baccarat rouge by Francis Kurkidjan. There is a recognised classification system of perfumes which was developed by Michael Edwards. The main types are floral/ amber/ Woody and fresh with sub classifications for each type. Check out the Michael Edwards fragrance wheel online if you wish to know more. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume design – wholesale and retail trade Understand the dynamics of the wholesale and retail trade for perfumery in your country. A detailed retail survey of the market place would enable you to have an idea of market size and what is selling. It is vitally important to understand the wholesale and retail margins in order to be able to calculate the price at which you need to sell your product in the market and to establish if you can actually make any money out of it. The Ultimate Guide to Perfume – Consumer knowledge It is important to think about how best to describe your perfume and market it to buyers. But first you need […]
Catégorie : supply chain
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How are new perfumes made?
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Stiff competition for china
If we compare the cost of goods in China to other developing countries we can see that China is already less competitive for some products. For example we can buy paper boxes and liners for a cheaper price in India due to the low value of the Rupee, this and the low cost of labour in the country has continued to keep India competitive for many hand made items. Unfortunately until India is able to build the sort of infrastructure and business ethics which China has, then India will not be able to fully emulate the Chinese economic superstar. However, Indonesia has a young and educated workforce with low wages and is also trying to steal some of the economic glory. Vietnam likewise is a good alternative for hand manufactured items which are very competitive due to its lower wage costs. Over the last year China factories have faced numerous challenges which have seriously affected their ability to compete against packaging suppliers from other countries. A combination of challenges have made life interesting: First of all environmental restrictions placed on factories by the government. Due to China’s commitment to the Paris Agreement in order to tackle climate change, very strict new laws have been implemented to ensure that pollution as a by product of manufacture is greatly reduced. – Glass bottle factories have been forced to change to gas fired furnaces instead of coal, this has meant huge infrastructure costs in factories to rapidly build new furnaces. The frosting of glass bottles is now more than double the cost of a few years ago- many glass factories have stopped doing this process themselves, as the effluent from the excess acid must now be disposed of carefully. – Anodizing factories for metal products are also facing similar problems, no more chance to keep cost down by dumping the waste in illegal sites. – Paper is also much higher in price due to more strict deforestation policies and also stricter rules on processing. The Renminbi had been steadily creeping up in value this year until the central bank intervened making China goods a little more expensive than earlier, even without any other influences. This has meant that many suppliers in China have been quoting in RMB (instead of USD which is the norm) to avoid taking a loss in profit on currency differences. Wages in the developed Eastern area of china close to the main shipping routes have increased a lot over the past few years. In the past there was no problem recruiting new staff after the New Year holidays each year. But increasingly factories either have to increase salaries a lot to attract staff from other parts of China or have to introduce more automation in the factories to reduce labour. According to a Forbes report of June 2017 China average salaries in Shanghai and Shenzhen are already as high as salaries in Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. The oil prices have greatly increased over the past year worldwide. This has affected the cost of plastic for all of us, wherever we buy from. China has been experiencing difficulties in sourcing some plastics such as surlyn which are in short supply. Recently prices have shot up by 50% with some suppliers who are struggling to get stocks of materials. The local market in China has really taken off a lot with many young Chinese consumers enjoying local cosmetics products. This has put a lot of pressure on many factories who also make glass bottles and plastic/aluminium caps for perfumes. The volumes of local china cosmetics brands are huge and the suppliers command a higher price for local sales than for exports, so they prefer to sell to local factories. If the cost is increasing so much in China, then why are people still buying there? 1. First of all reliability factor. Most China suppliers keep their promises and the local business and government infrastructure supports them, allowing them to be more reliable. 2. Speed of response. China suppliers work very hard and have an ‘open all hours’ approach to business. If you deal with a supplier in Western markets then working hours are not so flexible, you cannot get quick replies for quotes, especially not out of normal work hours. 3. Great ability in tooling and development. Whilst China is not the greatest nation for creativity, it certainly is very good at implementing others’ ideas at low cost. A new mould for injection moulding or metal casting can be developed relatively quickly and at much lower cost in China than in Europe. If we compare the cost of a mould fee for injection mould in Europe at around 20,000 Euros per mould, the cost for similar can be between $1500 to maximum $8,000 for the most expensive Rolls Royce mould in China. So great savings can be made in product development. 4. Trust. ‘Better the devil you know’. It takes a lot of time to build up trust with new suppliers. Switching to new suppliers is not easy, there are often fitment and quality problems or delays. Often it is better to solve your differences with the existing supplier than to change supplier. 5. If you already have moulds developed with a particular supplier it is a huge investment to move them over to new suppliers. 6. Often factories who buy a lot from China will ship many goods from various suppliers in one container. Its expensive to ship half empty containers from Vietnam to Europe. You should have enough suppliers or enough volume with that new supplier to ensure that shipping costs do not add more cost than staying with your old supplier. In short, China is still a major player and will continue to be a major player for some time. But the tide is turning, it may not keep its dominance as the low cost supplier and have to reinvent itself to make itself relevant in the future economy. Maybe more innovation and less […]