Natural Perfume Chronicles 2026

3/22/2026 - Part 1

Perfume has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I have very early memories of my Mom's Chanel No 5 misted on a teddy bear when she was working nights. My grandma's White Diamond engulfing me when I entered her bathroom or closet after she got ready. 

Honeysuckle will always remind me of my favorite house in Georgia. Fresh garden roses remind me of Logansport, Indiana and my mom's front yard garden. The smell of elephant ears takes me to Indiana Beach and summers with grandpa at the lake. Monte Blanc has a cologne that will forever remind me of my first love. Drakkar Noir and the smell of Rum & Coke still make me gag twenty years later. 

Scent is inextricably linked to memory. I grew up surrounded by perfume and scent. I fell in love with The Body Shop and Bath & Body Works, dousing myself in so much Plumeria and Cucumber Melon; that my mom once threw a body mist out the moving car window in frustration at me spraying in the car, again. 

Brittany Spears Curious, RALPH by Ralph Lauren, Romance, and Stella by Stella McCartney defined my teens and twenties as I got into Cosmetology school. 

I eventually started working at a Great Clips in Georgia. I loved the clients and the work, especially with color, but I had near constant migraines from the time I got into high school that only got worse when I started work at the salon. 

I eventually made the connection between artificial fragrance and my headaches. I eradicated everything scented from my life; laundry soap, body wash, shampoo, perfume, air freshener, lotion, household cleaner, and anything in my life that had a scent had to go. It was devastating, but my migraines slowly tapered off until they became a once-a-month occurrence instead of daily. 

Early in my formulation journey i made simple essential oil perfume blends, things like citrus and vanilla, rose, and jasmine gave me life. Over the years my sense of smell became even more keen, and I realized I could smell all kinds of things that I didn't know were unique. 

I started studying French perfume methods, the old school ones from the 1500's and before. I learned about the notes and learned how to blend them, finding I had a real knack for perfumery. 

I used the oils school methods to formulate scents for my products, especially the deodorant. I didn't really explore perfume for the next several years beyond personal projects. 

As natural deodorant flooded the market, I expanded into formulating for other brands and eventually in 2024 got contracted to work on a natural perfume for a creator online. 

This was the start of my exploration into natural perfume for the commercial market and learning about the different aroma molecules and chemical constituents in essential oils. 

My goal in this blog series is to bring ya'll along on the journey and teach you a little bit along the way!