Perfume Creation and The Lourve

I’ve already established how much I am obsessed with French perfume. And today took that to a whole new level! I got to create my own perfume!  There were 8 in the class and I was the only one who spoke English.  Which meant I had one teacher and the other 7 had to share one.  Her name was Jihee and she has a masters in perfumery.  God just keeps smiling on me!  She explained that perfume is made up of bottom notes, middle notes (called the heart notes) and top notes.  Top notes are what you smell first.  Bottom notes are what you smell of the perfume as time goes on in your day. There were three trays with bottles for each of the notes:

And you smell EACH ONE.  You take note of the ones you like, and the ones you don’t. 

Once you get your 3 lists done, Jihee then suggests a formula based on the answers to a whole bunch of questions:

What perfume do you currently have?

• Stella by Stella McCartney
• Shine by Dolce & Gabbanna
• J’Adore
• YSL Mon Paris (of course I do)

What smells do you like and not like?

• Citrus is my favorite
• I like lavender and lilac
• I don’t like vanilla (though I did try it - with an open mind - and nope, I still don’t like it)

What are you looking for here?  An every day scent? A special occasion scent?  I said every day scent that is unique and something I don’t have.

Then you measure in milliliters the formula as she wrote down, very carefully, into the beaker on the right. As we did each note, we would pour it into the short beaker to smell it.  Each layer I loved.  She always kept a few millimeters available for adjustments.  And each time it got better and better.  Here is my formula (as if I’d ever be able to recreate it, but its fun to have).

For the bottom notes (done first), she kept forgetting I had a 100ml bottle (If I’m doing this, I’m doing it!)

Here it is!  We got to name our bottle.  I named mine Chara - Joy in Greek. 

The best part is they ship to the states and I can get more anytime I want. Whew. Because it’s the best perfume I have ever smelled.

I sound like a broken record at this point, but my days just keep getting better and better.

Right after class, we went to the Louvre.

We had a tour with a guide (she spoke into a microphone and we had headphones to hear her).  Matt had tickets that bypassed the crazy long line for the entrance and we went underground to this bunker area that was over 800 years old.  She took us on a path for all of the most famous pieces of art that you should see (since we don’t have the 65 days it would take to see everything!) While impressive, not my cup of tea. 20 feet tall paintings of war, death, cannibalism, beheadings, etc.  I know this is our history but oof.  Hard to see.  I liked the Coronation of Napoleon.  It was massive!

See?  I wasn’t tall enough to get it all in one picture. 

This was a depiction of Jesus as a boy.  I really liked this.

This painting is directly across from the Mona Lisa where our tour ended. It is Veronese’s Wedding Feast at Cana (where Jesus turned water into wine).  The legend is she’s smiling as she’s sitting across from a wedding.  LOL

I still cannot believe what my eyes have seen on this trip.  

Still no time for editing, or I would take out the “No sitting” sign.  HAHA

We sat outside a little cafe and this was our view.  Didn’t suck!

This is for Travis.  I have no idea what it is, but I see horns even in Paris!  <3

p.s. after posting:  9/4/23:  Matt & Carie Shealy are in a group chat with Travis & I on WhatsApp.  She said, "Reading the blog and the pic for Travis is horns and boobs? LOLOL"  I didn't even notice the boobs- only saw the horns.  HAHA