Start with the feeling and the application
We develop custom fragrance around your brand’s audience, scent character, emotional direction and intended application. At our Guangzhou factory, fragrance development connects with formulation, product-base evaluation and manufacturing preparation. Describe an atmosphere or daily ritual in ordinary language; we turn it into a direction for sampling.
For example: “An uplifting daytime fragrance for a contemporary lifestyle brand, bright citrus at the opening, an airy floral body and a soft woody finish; avoid syrupy sweetness.” Another direction might be a warm, enveloping evening scent with a quieter opening. These are creative propositions for the brand experience, rather than claims that a fragrance treats a condition or produces a verified psychological result.
State whether the scent is for perfume, hair fragrance, home fragrance or a personal care base. The same concept can guide a range, but each carrier and use needs its own formulation and evaluation.
Define the development work
Agree the number and type of directions to explore, the intended sample format, how feedback will be collected, and what refinement is included. Development fees, revision rounds, sample delivery and timing are discussed for the actual brief. A concise direction with clear priorities makes a revision more useful than a list of unrelated references.
| Brief element | A useful decision |
|---|---|
| Audience and occasion | Who wears or uses the product, and when |
| Scent character | Qualities to emphasise, reduce or exclude |
| Emotional direction | The atmosphere the brand wants to express |
| Product and market | Application, carrier, destination and intended claims |
| Commercial frame | Quantity direction, packaging, budget and launch objective |
If a close starting direction already exists, library selection may be suitable. If the central task is to interpret a particular reference, use fragrance matching. Bespoke development is the route for building the brief around your own brand concept.
Our two independent R&D centres and three joint research centres support formulation and evaluation, with more than 30 cosmetics R&D specialists. This gives a multi-product brief a practical foundation: perfume, a wash-off base and a leave-on cream can share a signature character while each receives its own sample and specification. We use your priorities to decide which scent facets stay consistent and which need adapting to the base.
Evaluate the sample against the brief
Record the sample identifier and version, the application and the conditions in which it was evaluated. Describe the opening, development and dry-down separately where relevant. “Keep the bright opening, reduce the sweet impression in the middle and make the woody finish softer” gives an actionable revision target.
Use comparable conditions for repeated evaluations, and distinguish scent preferences from dispensing, texture or packaging observations. The sample evaluation template helps consolidate feedback before a new version is developed. The approved version and its intended product become the agreed reference for the production discussion.
Agree rights and exclusivity
We keep your customer, concept, quantities, process and formulation information confidential. The development agreement separately defines permitted formula use, supply arrangements and any requested exclusivity, including its market, application and period. Record which work uses an existing library direction and which is commissioned for your brief so ownership, access and future manufacture are clear.
References and designs supplied by the brand should be identified clearly, including the permission to use them. Development objectives and commercial rights are separate decisions, even when they form part of the same project agreement.
Prepare your fragrance development brief
Send your customer profile, brand positioning, product, destination market, desired mood, preferred and unwanted scent qualities, references, expected quantity and packaging direction. Add a target budget and timing if available. Mark each point as essential or flexible so the team can identify a productive starting direction.
Use the copyable fragrance brief to organise your inputs, then start a development discussion. If your idea is still a few sentences, those sentences can be the beginning of the brief.
Niche, oud and hotel signature briefs
Describe the audience, use occasion, note balance and desired scent character: oud and rose, vanilla and amber, fresh woods or a restrained musky floral. If French or Swiss ingredient provenance matters to your brief, tell us which materials or origin requirements you need. We review the proposed formula’s supplier, origin and traceability information with that requirement, and identify any sourcing change before it becomes part of the approved reference. A hotel retail perfume and a room fragrance need separate application evaluation. Explore concrete note directions.