Do you really know if your fragrance works? Or are you just hoping for compliments? In this episode, Karen reveals why friends and family are not likely to be giving you the feedback you really need. She shares the essential steps needed to truly evaluate your perfume - like a pro. Karen takes you through setting a clear brief and mastering technical checkpoints. She shares the tools and mindset that separate hobbyists from serious creators.  Tune in to transform the way you judge your scents and take yourself one step closer to making fragrances that always deliver. KEY TAKEAWAYS  The opinions of friends and family feel good, but their noses can´t be the final word. Often, they are biased and rarely fit your target demographic. Investing time in learning how to professionally evaluate your scents is essential. Without a clear goal for your scent, you’ll never know if you’ve hit the mark, so start every creation by writing out a solid brief and use a checklist to keep your evaluation honest and well organised. Don’t just sniff and forget. Track and assess your fragrance over hours to see how it really lasts, evolves, and performs on skin or in the bottle. You need to test for smoothness, strength, longevity, harmony, diffusion and evaluate it in the base and conditions your customer will actually be using your scent in. Sensory fatigue is real. Periodically, step away and reset your nose. Allow plenty of time to evaluate your scents. BEST MOMENTS  “Evaluation is a whole separate skill. You could be good at blending, you could be good at putting different materials together, but also still not know whether what you made actually works.” “If you don't know what you were intending to create, you're not going to know whether you hit that mark or not.” “Make yourself a little checklist that you can actually go through every time you create a fragrance, every time you do modifications.” EPISODE RESOURCES In-Person Course - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/studio-classes Fragrance For Skincare Course: https://www.onlineperfumeschool.com/creating-fragrance-for-skincare-products-online-course How to create a scent story episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-and-why-to-create-a-scent-story/id1693602939?i=1000630627487 VALUABLE RESOURCES Getting Started Guide: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/podcast-getting-started-guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/artisan-perfumery-mastermind Website: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher, and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way.  Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/karengilbert/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KarenGilbert.co.uk YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@KarenGilbertPerfumeMaking Email - karen@karengilbert.co.uk   This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/