How to Translate a Fragrance Brief into a Formula | Reference Scents, Key Notes, Revision Rounds

Working process: Brief → smell target → formula job → first trial → timed testing → revision → scent approval → technical approval.

A commercial brief should also include the product type, intended fragrance level, target market, cost target, ingredient restrictions, performance target and approval rules. XUELEI includes these points in the same fragrance development and OEM/ODM process, instead of leaving them until after the scent has already been approved.

Smell direction

When a brief lists several notes, each note should have a clear job. For a direction such as bergamot / fig / jasmine / cedar / musk, the roles could be:

• Bergamot: brightness at the start
• Fig: the main scent idea
• Jasmine: light support in the middle
• Cedar: woody structure
• Musk: softness and drydown

If one part of the scent should be remembered most, say so directly. “Fig is the main idea; citrus supports the opening; woods and musk shape the drydown” gives a perfumer much more useful direction than a simple list of five notes.

Sensory scale

Use the same 1-5 scale throughout the project. That makes it easier to compare V2, V3 and V4 against the same target. These numbers are not scientific measurements; they are simply a practical way to keep feedback consistent.

Customer and use

What Cannot Change

Use 2-4 Reference Scents

For many projects, 2-4 well-chosen references are enough to show the main direction. More can be used, but every reference should have a clear purpose.

Target built from the references: bright dry opening + smooth woods + skin-like musk, with less density and less powder.

• Smell reference: a citrus, rose, fig, tea, wood or musk style that fits the brief
• Texture reference: airy, smooth, creamy, dry, mineral or dense
• Performance reference: opening impact, projection, development or wear
• Market reference: similar customer or price level, even if the smell itself should be different

Reference scents should show the direction, not become a copying target.

Check References Over Time

Use the same timing for samples that are being compared. Repeated or prolonged smell exposure can reduce perceived intensity through olfactory adaptation, so smelling too many samples back to back can make later judgments less reliable.^[1]

• Use the same blotter type
• Apply a similar amount
• Smell at the same times
• Use a neutral room where possible
• Avoid strong personal fragrance nearby
• Record sample age
• Use codes or random numbers when blind testing is useful

Give Every Note a Job

A note is what someone smells. It is not always one raw material. Pear, sea salt, skin and cashmere effects can all be built from several materials. Even a rose effect may use citrus, green, spice, wood, musk and other materials to change how fresh, deep, soft or diffusive it feels.

A material at 1% of the fragrance concentrate is not the same as a material at 1% of the finished product. XUELEI's guide to one-stop scent development separates scent formulation, finished-product formulation, safety review, base testing and production preparation.

Turn the Brief into Formula Jobs

One material can affect several parts of a formula. Feedback should describe the result that needs to change, rather than tell the perfumer to change one raw material.

Control the Main Smell Variables

Sweetness

Useful feedback: “The pear-like opening is right, but the vanilla-like sweetness becomes too strong after two hours. Keep the opening unchanged.”

Freshness

Useful brief: “Citrus-green freshness, no marine notes, no detergent effect.” If freshness needs to last for hours, check it in the heart and drydown instead of judging only the first few minutes.

Woods

Useful brief: “Dry, smooth woods from the middle onward, with no smoke, earthiness or heavy resin.”

Musk

Useful brief: “Skin-like musk, slightly warm, softness 4/5, no powder or laundry effect.”

Strength

How to Test Samples

Blotter testing

Useful working range: 3-5 samples in one focused comparison session.

Record personal preference and brief fit separately. A sample someone personally likes most may not be the one that best matches the agreed brief.

Skin testing

Fragrance evaporation can vary with the properties of the fragrance materials and with skin characteristics, so different wearers may notice differences.^[2] Use blotters for controlled comparison and skin for wear testing. Do not apply fragrance concentrate, individual aroma materials or essential oils directly to skin unless they have been reviewed as suitable for that use and concentration.

XUELEI's guide to why perfume can smell different on skin covers concentration, evaporation, carrier systems and application differences in more detail.

Test in the real product

Dosage also changes cost. In a simple 100 kg finished batch, a 15% fragrance use level needs 15 kg of fragrance concentrate, while an 18% level needs 18 kg. That is a 3 kg difference in fragrance use before packaging and processing costs are added. These percentages are only examples for showing the calculation, not recommended use levels for every product.

XUELEI's custom fragrance R&D process includes product type, concentration, target market, cost, testing and packaging before scale-up.

Revision Rounds

This four-stage process is a useful way to manage development, not a fixed industry rule. Some projects finish earlier and some need more rounds.

Revision feedback

Later revision rounds are easier to control when feedback focuses on 1-3 high-priority issues. One smell problem may still require several formula changes; the client should define the result, not the number of materials that may change.

Who makes the final call

1. Collect comments from each stakeholder.
2. Mark the points everyone agrees on.
3. Mark the points that conflict.
4. Compare the conflicts with the original brief.
5. Rank the remaining requests.
6. Send one final revision instruction.

There should be one final decision owner or one clearly defined approval group. Conflicting comments from marketing, sales, product development and management should be resolved before they reach the perfumer.

Sample log

Minimum 8 fields: sample ID, date received or compounded, change from previous version, test medium, evaluation time, what to keep, what to change and final decision. Add priority when several issues need to be ranked.

Worked Example: Clean Woody Musk

Opening

Heart

Drydown

Formula map

First trials

Final revision note: “Use C as the base. Keep its opening and smooth feel. Reduce the woody effect later in the wear. Move the musk closer to B. Do not increase sweetness or projection.”

XUELEI's perfume sample approval process separates scent approval, technical approval and production approval, so a scent that smells right is not automatically treated as ready for production.

Approval Stages

A project can pass scent approval while technical or production approval is still open.

• Skin-like woody-musk identity stays clear
• Sweetness stays around 1-2/5
• No obvious powder or laundry effect
• Projection stays around 3/5
• The opening stays fresh without becoming sharp
• Performance is acceptable in the real product base

Final approval should be tied to a specific sample code, concentration, product base and approval record. XUELEI's perfume manufacturing process shows how formulation, scale-up, filling, packaging and quality checks continue after the scent direction has been fixed.

Product, Market and IFRA Limits

IFRA Standards are an industry risk-management system and do not replace national or regional laws.^[3]

EU fragrance-allergen labeling

Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 expanded individual fragrance-allergen labeling requirements. The European Commission states that covered allergens must be listed when they exceed 0.001% in leave-on products or 0.01% in rinse-off products.^[4]

Under the transition rules, non-compliant products could be placed on the EU market until 31 July 2026. Products placed on the market by that date may continue to be made available until 31 July 2028.^[5]

United States

FDA explains that perfumes and many fragranced personal-care products are regulated as cosmetics depending on their intended use. Companies selling cosmetics are responsible for product safety and correct labeling.^[6]

IFRA Standards

IFRA uses these three types of Standard.^[7] Not every fragrance material has an IFRA Standard; a Standard is used where risk management is needed.

For quantitative restrictions, IFRA expresses the upper concentration for the restricted material in the finished consumer product, not simply as a percentage of the fragrance mixture.^[8]

The IFRA Certificate of Conformity is prepared between the fragrance supplier and customer for fragrance mixtures intended for finished consumer products. IFRA itself does not issue these certificates, and the certificate does not replace a safety assessment.^[9]

Natural materials

• “Natural” does not mean unrestricted.
• “Synthetic” does not mean unsafe.
• Essential oils and natural extracts contain many different substances.
• Natural complex substances can contain restricted constituents that must be included in safe-use calculations.^[10]
• Safety depends on the material, concentration, exposure, product type, relevant constituents and market rules.

Claims

FDA states that cosmetic claims must be truthful and not misleading. Claims that say a product treats or prevents disease, or affects the structure or function of the body, may cause the product to be regulated as a drug rather than only as a cosmetic.^[11]

Fragrance Brief Template

For projects that continue into production, XUELEI's perfume manufacturing process connects brief confirmation, formulation, technical checks, scale-up, filling, packaging and quality release.