Whether it’s for Valentine’s Day, a special birthday, Christmas or another life milestone with cause for much celebration, new and unusual gift ideas are always very welcome in my book! This is where 4160 Tuesdays perfume making workshop definitely delivers – particularly if you’re looking to create your own signature fragrance, without the expense of booking a trip to Grasse (which I’d still love to do one day!)

It’s coming up to a year now, since I met my partner, Rob. And, with our one year anniversary coinciding with 14th February, give or take a few days, I wanted to take him on an unforgettable London date, that both of us would treasure.

One of the things that we’re both crazy about is fragrance. Smelling good. Perfume. Body wash. Moisturisers. Face oils. Scented candles. Incense. Fragrances for the home and the body. Even things like washing detergent and fabric conditioner gets extra attention in our relationship (Rob is the king of laundry!). Ah! Domestic bliss, eh?

I’d been looking for a perfume making workshop in London for a while now. You know those afternoons, when you’re daydreaming and end up pondering the idea of a complete career change… Well, since I was a kid, attempting to make my own perfume from rose petals stolen from my grandparents garden — which wasn’t very successful, I have to say… I’ve always had a thing about fragrance.

When an email came through from British Perfumer Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays, inviting us to come and review a workshop, I was thrilled! Sarah has her own artisan perfumery in Hammersmith, London. There, her and the team lovingly create small batches of perfume - 50-200 bottles at a time (and also one-offs for very special customers with very special occasions), to ship around the world.

When we arrived at 4160 Tuesdays, Sarah was just putting the finishing touches to one of her latest scents. She talked us through the collection of synthetics and natural materials, and explained that sometimes what we think something might smell like, often is not what we would expect.

Sarah went on to say that very often, people think that chemicals are dangerous and that naturals are safe. But with perfume, that’s not the case. Fruits are acidic to defend themselves, which means that only certain strengths of such natural materials are actually legal. If we were using the natural things at 100% strength, it’s likely to cause irritation or damage to our skin. The secret is to get the right amount of each material and blend them well.

Did you know… the Parma Violet smell is actually made from synthetics! Actual Violet Leaves smell nothing like the sweets.

I asked Sarah how she came to work in Perfume and what she was doing before 4160 Tuesdays was born. Sarah explained that, in a previous life, she worked for LUSH for 14 years and was known as “Auntie Pamela”writing for The LUSH Times.

We then made our way upstairs to where our workshop would take place, amongst piles and piles of 4160 Tuesday perfume orders – all waiting to be packaged by the lovely Arthur (a handsome northerner turned actor, musician and perfumer, who is about to star in a leading role alongside Dawn French, in a new TV series!) and shipped off to their new owners across the globe.

Sarah then handed us both a sheet of paper, to record the scents that we liked, as we sniffed our way through the humungous collection. However, we soon found ourselves so lost in smelling the gorgeous fragrances that, after trying out 10th one, we realised that we hadn’t been making any notes! Oops!

She started our session by asking us both about our favourite scents, and by offering us a selection of wacky mini Japanese KitKats… I chose a Wasabi one and an Apple one, Rob went for strawberry. We began talking about The Wall of Scents, a home to many perfumes that she’s been gifted over the years and also Sarah’s 1947 bottle of original Chanel No.5.

If you’re reading this and are also a big perfume fan, like me, I’d love to know what you wore and wear now and how that preference has evolved - leave me a comment below this post and share your favourites.

From looking at the perfume notes that make up some of my favourite scents, it was soon apparent that I’m very much into woody/oriental fragrances. The number of times that amber, cedar, oud, vetiver, tonka, musk and sandalwood come up is quite something! I’m Virgo, an autumn baby, and an Earth sign, so I wonder if this has anything to do with it?

Rob, on the otherhand, is very into scents with Tobacco, Bergamot and Vetiver in them – think Dunhill, Le Labo, Tom Ford, and Molton Brown. Although I am partial to steal some of his fragrances too, when he’s not looking!

So… About your ex…

When we first met, I had a bottle of Tom Ford Black Orchid (which as it happens turns out that there’s actually no such thing as a black orchid, it’s just a mythical thing, conjured up by the imagination of the Perfumers that Tom Ford hired to create one of his most popular scents.) Anyway, as it happens, it turned out that this particular scent reminded him of an ex… Awkward. So now I don’t wear it when I’m with him - I just enjoy it on my own instead, it still turns heads and noses! Haha!

However, that particular conversation did make me think about just how powerful fragrances can be in unlocking or creating memories – whether good or bad! Soooo… What more perfect a date idea is there in London, than taking your loved one to a perfume making workshop! It’s a fantastic opportunity to help one another blend a brand new signature scent, and make heaps of new memories together all at the same time.

My personal perfume timeline looks a bit like this:

Fragrances liked by 90s child/teenage me

• Calvin Klein CK One (Perfumers: Alberto Morillas and Harry Fremont.) It’s a pure high school, year 7 scent!) — pineapple, mandarin orange, papaya, bergamot, cardamom and lemon. Nutmeg, violet, orris root, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley and rose. Sandalwood, amber, musk, cedar and oakmoss.

• Davidoff Cool Water Woman — Citrus, Honeydew Melon, Quince, Pineapple, Lotus and Lily. Gentle flowers; May Rose, Jasmine and Muguet. Musk, Vanilla, Peach, Sandalwood, Orris and Vetiver

• Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers (gives me a very strong olfactory memory; reminds me of my mum and summer holidays) — Lemon, Melon, Bergamot, Peach and Mandarin. Rose Jasmine, Orris Root, Cyclamen and Osmanthus. Sandalwood, Amber, Musk, Oakmoss and Cedar

• DKNY Women by Donna Karan (1999) — Blood orange, Chilled vodka, Tomato leaf. Yellow waterlily, Green coral orchid, Daffodil. Freshly laundered t-shirt, Wet cobblestones, White birch, Tulip tree bark.

• ** KENZO Flower by Kenzo (Perfumer: Alberto Morillas) — Parma violet, wild Hawthorne, Cassis, Bulgarian rose, mandarin orange, jasmine, vanilla, white musk, opoponax, incense, wood.

• Tommy Hilfiger Tommy Girl (reminds me of a rubbish high school boyfriend who said he’d bought me a bottle of this, but dropped it, so I couldn’t have it… suffice to say, we broke up very shortly after this. I think he dumped me. Sob.) — black currant, camelia, mandarin orange and apple tree blossom; honeysuckle, lily, violet, mint, grapefruit, lemon and rose; magnolia, leather, sandalwood, jasmine and cedar.

Fragrances liked by me as a 00s young adult

• ** Jean Paul Gaultier Classique (reminds me of my first serious relationship, I think he had the men’s version) — Rose, Star anise, Orange, Mandarin, Pear liqueur. Iris, Orchid, Plum, Ginger, Orange blossom, Ylang-ylang. Musk, Vanilla, Woody amber.

• Carolina Herrera 212 Sexy — tangerine, bergamot, cotton candy, vanilla, musk.

• Emporio Armani She — pineapple, bergamot, pear, tangerine, muguet, orris, jasmine, heliotrope, tonka, sandalwood, cedar, musk.

Fragrances I was fond of during University days 2004-2008

• ** Dior Addict (Perfumer: François Demachy, Parfumeur-Créateur Dior) — mandarin flowers, mulberry flowers, night queen flower, Bulgarian rose, orange flower, bourbon vanilla, sandalwood and tonka bean.

• ** Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb (Perfumers: Domitille Bertier, Carlos Benaim and Olivier Polge) — Bergamot, tea, jasmine, freesia, orchid, centiflora rose, patchouli.

• ** Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir (Perfumer: Beverley Bayne) — pomegranate, plum, rhuburb and watermelon; lily-of-the-valley, jasmine, rose, pink pepper, clove, olibanum, opoponax and guaiac wood; virginia cedar, patchouli, musk and amber.

• ** Jo Malone Grapefruit (Jo Malone) — grapefruit and tangerine; rosemary, mint, paprika and jasmine; vetiver, patchouli and oakmoss. (Beautiful when layered with Pomegranate Noir - as I found when I first walked past a lady in the Bullring Birmingham branch of Waterstones and was blown away by this intoxicatingly decadent scent, and just had to ask what she was wearing!)

Fragrances I’ve grown up to love: Adulting and beyond - 2008-2015

• ** Narciso Rodriguez For Her (Perfumers: Christine Nagel and Francis Kirkdjian) — rose and peach, amber and musk, with patchouli and sandalwood.

• Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede (Perfumer: Christine Nagel) — red apple, peony, jasmine, carnation, rose, suede.

• ** Tom Ford Black Orchid (Perfumer: Givaudan) — french jasmine, black truffle, ylang-ylang, black currant, effervescent citrus, black orchid (an imaginary ingredient), patchouli, sandalwood, dark chocolate, incense, amber, vetiver, vanilla, balsam.

Fragrances for life: Thirty plus me - 2015-2020

• ** Jo Malone Oud & Bergamot (Perfumer Jo Malone, created in collaboration with Christine Nagel) — orange, bergamot, lemon, cedar and oud

• ** Tom Ford Oud Wood (Private Blend) — agarwood (oud), Brazilian rosewood, cardamom, Sichuan pepper, sandalwood, vetiver, tonka bean, vanilla, amber.

• ** Byredo Baudelaire — caraway, juniper berries, pepper, hyacinth, incense, leather, patchouli, amber, papyrus.

• ** Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 (Geza Schoen) — Iso E Super (similar too Timbersilk)

• Diptyque Oud Palao — Bulgarian rose, labdanum, Madagascar vanilla, rum, tobacco, patchouli, camphor, sandalwood, Laotian oud.

  (I’ve put ** next to my very favourites)

If you have a favourite fragrance and are wondering wHAT other SIMILAR ones are out there, check out Michael Edward’s Fragrance Wheel and try the ‘Match My Fragrance’ tool.

Sarah told us about meeting Perfume Master, Michael Edwards, for the first time. He’d looked at her quizzically when she suggested blending two particular scents… Exclaiming that she “couldn’t do that!” Sarah laughed and said that she could do whatever she liked! After all, her best-selling fragrance “The Sexiest Scent on the Planet Ever” pays all the bills! She added with a mischievous laugh.

We found that the synthetic ‘Tonka’ aka Coumarin, is softer on the nose, and so more widely used. I asked if Sarah is pro synthetics, when it comes to perfume, or does she prefer to be ‘au naturel’. She says she is a big fan of synthetics! They make things far more wearable, and help open fragrances out much more.

Two keys things to remember when blending a fragrance you’ll love:

1. Balance the things you really like. The things that smell sharp and strong - use just a little bit.

2. The things that smell much softer - use much more to make the fragrance last longer.

I asked Sarah what sort of collaborations she had done over the years. She went on to say that she’s done some rather interesting ones with alcohol brands. Hendrick’s gin being one of them. They asked her to create a scent which smelled like the botanicals and cucumber that you would expect to find in your glass of Hendricks.

Another cool commission – or should I say challenge – was for Sarah to recreate what it would be like to stand by the River Spey, Scotland. This was so that the Speyside marketing team could bottle it, and take the scent around the world with them, when talking about their Whisky. It was from that particular experience that 4160 Tuesdays Brigadoon fragrance was born.

It was an absolute pleasure to drink coffee and chat signature scents with Sarah; we could’ve done it all afternoon. Debunking myths we’d heard, and learning all about our favourite scents in more detail. I’d recently discovered that I loved Tonka. Sarah told us that a guy, when trying to invent Quinine, accidentally developed Coumarin – a vanilla-esq chemical compound, that’s often used as a base in many perfumes. Real Tonka Beans are actually a blood thinner. It’s one of the only materials in Sarah’s Perfumery that has a skull and cross bones on it, as it’s used to make Warfarin. Real Tonka Beans are incredible expensive, and real perfumes that contain that particular ingredient often retail for over £300 a bottle!

We’re looking forward to receiving our bottles of 4160 Tuesdays perfume. Mine will be a play on the heady woody/oriental notes that I like most, whilst Rob has opted for something with Bergamot, Vetiver, Manderosa (like an orange-y scent) and Timbersilk (which is like Molecule One.)

I’ve got to say, it was probably one of the best date ideas I’ve had. It was immersive, intimate, memorable, educational, fun and thoroughly unique! I would 100% recommend booking a perfume making workshop for yourself and your beloved. Want to take that love and bottle it? 4160 Tuesdays is the place for you! Thanks again to Sarah and team for making us feel so welcome. We can’t wait to try our new fragrances.

Fragrance update

My finished 4160Tuesdays fragrance is a true traditional amber, with labdanum, vanillin, styrax, woods, tonka absolute, bergamot and spices. 

Rob's is sandalwood, cedarwood and citrus fruits, especially mandora. We’re lucky, Sarah says she also splashed out on real orange blossom absolute. Yummy!

The beauty of our two fragrances is that they can be layered over one another, in a complementary fashion, creating a whole new scent! It’s wonderful! Really happy with the results, and would 100% recommend buying a gift card and having an experience like this yourselves.

About 4160 Tuesdays

4160Tuesdays is an artisan perfumery based in London, who have been hand-making adventurous scents since 2011. They create all of their perfumes in small batches of 50-200 bottles at their Hammersmith studio, where they also run perfume-making workshops.

4160 Tuesdays perfumes are inspired by a place or a person at a certain moment, and created by perfumer, Sarah McCartney (who isn't related to any of the other more famous McCartneys, but she does get asked quite often). 

They like to make our world a lovelier place starting with the small space around us and working outwards. 4160 Tuesdays stands out from other niche fragrance brands not just because it’s British, creative, witty and pioneering, but for an indie house hand-making all their fragrances, they are unusually affordable. They want everyone who’s interested in fragrance to be able to try them. 

Their perfumes are appreciated by people with a sense of adventure, willing to push their fragrance boundaries. They are stocked in a small but lovely collection of online stores and shops around the world.

Awards:

• 2016 Best indie fragrance in the EauMG awards for Dirty Honey.

• 2016 Stylist Best Beauty Awards. Five stars, and runner up in the indie category with New York '55.  

• 2016 Finalist twice in the Fragrance Foundation Awards Best Independent Fragrance with Maxed Out and Midnight in the Palace Garden

• 2017 Finalist twice in the Fragrance Foundation Awards Best Independent Fragrance and People's Choice, with Mother Nature's Naughty Daughters

• 2017 Finalist in the Fragrantica most innovative fragrance, and the only indie house in the top 10, with Eau My Soul.

• 2017 Best Indie House - CaFleureBon 

• 2018 and 2019 CalFleurbon hardest working perfumer.

Find out more at perfume making workshops in London at: 4160tuesdays.com

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Photography © Lucie Kerley