Sarah McCartney + Team

11/10/2026

Bespoke day at the studio, exploring materials and excluding the ones she really can't stand. Any guesses?
We settled on four variants for her to take back to Philadelphia, and I shall be fascinated to find out which one wins.
We also tried rose absolute and a CO2 extract of orris. The process is exciting and exhausting. (There are a lot of ex words in this caption.)

08/10/2026

When most of running a perfumery seems like it's admin and unwanted emails, what a delight it is to sit down with all the materials and make a client's concept into a fragrance.
What are you working in (in between fending off the content creators and filling in forms?)

08/10/2026

IFRA day! It's always mind expanding to hear from the speakers.

05/10/2026

IFRA, the dull facts about who really makes cosmetics laws.
TLDR: governments- the legislators - bring in legislation, IFRA works on behalf of all fragrance makers to ensure that new laws are reasonable and cause minimum chaos.

01/10/2026

30/09/2026

I would like to recommend this book, and absolutely not (only) because the story of Vianne's Confession appears in it.
Alice du Parcq has written the Perfume book in the British Library Philosophy Of... series, and it's a delight.
I would be prepared to bet that everyone interested in perfume will receive at least two for their Yule related festivals this year, but don't let that stop you getting one now.
The British Library and Alice have produced a delicately informative, humourously dedicated tour of perfume's past and present. I read it all in an evening and will go back and read it all over again.
A special gold star goes to Alice for featuring small British houses as well as famous French brands.
Please get yours directly from the British Library and help to take care of our treasures.

20/09/2026

Sniff by
Read!
If you haven't already got your copy, please do not hesitate. It's bursting with fascinating facts which will intrigue perfume obsessives (like me) but it's so much more. I started at the beginning but I keep opening random pages just to find something unexpected.
Mine arrived courtesy of Yale University Press but I was about to buy it next time I was in an actual bookshop, promise.
It's entertaining. I'm afraid I'm going to be bothering my team with a constant stream of, "Did you know...?"
Maybe we could compare notes here instead.
It really doesn't hold back either. This isn't a little coffee table book about the delights of scent. (Yeah, guilty.) It explores (exposes?) judgement in the guise of religious beliefs and tribal bases on people who smell unfamiliar. The politics of perfume are scrutinised.
Anyway, get back to me.
Cheers to Yale University Press London | History for making it happen.

08/09/2026

04/09/2026

Today's bespoke fragrance was a challenging delight. It's wonderful to have a visitor who brings an original idea, well researched and ingeniously inspired, with a list of potential materials, composed using her own real intelligence.
So, perfume makers, what do you make of our collection, What would you make with it?