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Day in the life of a niche perfumer

Day in the life of a niche perfumer 4 years ago
My name is Matthew Meleg, I am a self taught perfumer and this is what I do on a given day.

1). 6am to 9am - Early morning NOSE work!
It's important for me to take advantage of the fact that I can smell best early in the morning.
I make 3 cups of coffee, open the living room windows, turn on the fans and sit down at my "perfumers organ." I organize my perfumers desk and take out all the materials I will use for the next 3 hours. I smell each material on their own, and take notes and remind me of the DIRECTION I want to take my project. As soon as I start loosing focus or getting tired, or start loosing my ability to smell, I leave my perfumers desk and take my dog for a walk.

2). 9am - take my dog for a walk to get fresh air.
*during my walk, I often bring a scent strip with the perfume I am working on.
I must smell this strip outdoors, in the fresh air to get a clearer picture.

3). 10am = computer time.
I check my emails, and orders for the day.
This is when I make social media posts on my meleg perfume instagram account also.

4). 11am - packaging time.
To package an order, I do the following:

a). fill 30ml bottle with perfume
b). use crimping machine to secure the spray top and collar to the perfume bottle
c). add the front and side graphics to my bottle
d). "tie," my bottles with special leather security ties.
e). seal my bottles with sealing wax
f). prepare shipping box with bubble wrap.
g). include a thank you letter with my perfume

5). Go to the post office with Boo Boo my poodle.
Drop off orders for the day. I also send emails to my customers to let them know their order is coming!

12 Lunch time - 2pm = nap time.
Smelling materials, and concentrating on them makes you very tired.
I often take a mid-day nap. My nose is best when I wake up from this nap.
In this way, I can get 2 "fresh noses," in a single day!

6). 2pm - 3pm
Back to the perfumers organ!

I will continue working on my perfume formulas.
When I work on a perfume formula, I ask myself many questions like

- what is the key material in this perfume?
- how can I give this perfume, or accord more personality?
- is this perfume to harsh, to dry?
- is it possibly too sweet? too commercial? too weird?
- how is the opening to this perfume?
- how can I make the opening better?
- should I try to make this perfume smoother?
- does this perfume smell better at higher, or lower concentrations?

I ask myself these questions and I take many many notes through the afternoon.

3pm - call suppliers
I often call my suppliers, or amazon or UPS or USPS to make sure I know when my orders
and my materials are coming in (hopefully on time!). I have to make sure that I get all my supplies in on time. If my supplies are late, then my shipments and orders might be late too!

5pm - clean the house
I make all my perfumes in our living room, and
My wife comes home from work at 5:30pm, so I have to clean up all of my bottles, tape, knives, crimper machine, papers, prints, boxes etc.
8pm to Midnight -late night creative thinking
Constant experimentation at my perfumers desk during the late night hours.
I am most creative at night. Unfortunately my nose does not work well at night.
All the experiments are go through in the evening are reviewed in the morning.
4 years ago
Thank you for sharing your creative process! Do you have a favorite note and/or material you enjoy working with most?
4 years ago
A favourite note? Well... I think it's likely patchouli because it so complex. If you pay attention, look closely at patchouli - you will find that its dry and dusty...but at the same time it smells like cold, damp basement. Of course, I absolutely love real ambergris and agar wood "oud," because they - incredibly complex materials! I also love animal musks.
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