Nina Medved Perfume School

🌹 It’s Rose Season! 🌹

The queen of flowers is in full bloom — and with her, a world of scent, memory, and beauty awakens.

Did you know?
🌹 The rose, often described as young as spring, is in fact a very ancient plant. Fossils of wild rose imprints are believed to be around 35 million years old.
🌹 To produce 1 kg of rose essential oil, it takes 3.5 to 4 tons of rose petals. For the same amount of rose absolute, we need approximately six times less plant material – which is why the absolute is significantly more affordable than the essential oil.
🌹 Rose essential oil is obtained through hydrodistillation. The first distillation yields essential oil and hydrosol. The hydrosol is then distilled again, and the resulting extract is combined with the first distillate.

What’s your favourite rose facet? Fruity? Honeyed? Metallic? Powdery? Citrusy? ☺️

Paris reveals itself like a perfume — in layers, through atmosphere, movement and unexpected encounters.

At Paris Perfume Week, I explored a world where perfume becomes more than a product: a language of perception, memory and artistic expression.

In my new article, I write about:
• natural perfumery as a niche within niche
• conversations with perfumers and founders
• the role of natural materials in contemporary perfumery
• scent, mood and perception
• and the question of what makes a perfume feel true

I also share reflections on exhibitions, masterclasses and encounters that expanded my understanding of perfume as an olfactory art.

You will find the link to the blog in comments.

After Paris — Rome. A perfect contrast.

The color of Paris is grey, beige, ivory — with gentle transitions, like watercolor. The light is soft, diffused, bringing everything into one cohesive atmosphere.

Rome, on the other hand, hits you. Contrasts, light and shadow, terracotta, golden tones of stone. The light here doesn’t soften — it sharpens. It divides space, highlights details.

Rome is a city that simply is. It doesn’t need spectacle.

The most beautiful moments happen unexpectedly — in the light on a wall, in a street you almost overlook, in the feeling of being, for a moment, part of something very old… and very alive. ❤

While I experienced Paris through the mind, Rome entered my body. ☺

I’ve just returned from Paris Perfume Week, a three-day event that brings together a wide spectrum of contemporary perfumery—brands, perfumers, educators, and researchers.

What I find particularly valuable about this event is its structure:
it is not only an exhibition, but also a space for dialogue through lectures, masterclasses, and curated presentations.

One of the most noticeable developments this year is the growing presence of natural perfumery - not as an alternative but as an equal, creative force within niche perfumery.

Several brands are working with high-level natural materials and developing compositions that are both technically and artistically refined.

This shift is important.

Natural perfumery requires a different approach—a deeper understanding of raw materials, their variability, and their behavior in composition. It also calls for a more nuanced sensory training.

Paris, as always, offered a kind of perspective.
Not everything is new—but something is changing.

I’m considering writing a longer reflection on this—
on what I saw, smelled, and learned.

Would you be interested in reading it?

Just hosted an unforgettable live workshop with my friend Miha, a master of GongFu Cha: GongFu Cha and The Art of Scent! 🍵✨

We explored the aromas of tea using the tea aroma wheel, discovering that some teas—especially select oolongs—can smell just like a fine perfume. A beautiful journey where tea meets scent, and mindfulness meets sensory delight.

Have you ever noticed how a cup of tea can tell a story through its scent?

The summer may be over, but the memory—and scent—of walking down to Fakistra Beach in Pelion Greece still lingers in my senses. 🌿✨

Each step was filled with the fragrance of sun-warmed pine, aromatic herbs like sage and thyme, salty sea air, and the subtle sweetness of wild flowers along the cliffs. The path felt like a journey through a Mediterranean garden.

Have you ever experienced a place so fragrant that it stays with you long after you leave?

☕✨ A different kind of Saturday: Ljubljana Coffee Festival.
As a true coffee lover, this festival opened up completely new horizons for me!

What fascinated me most were the sensory tests – so similar to perfumery. Just like in fragrance, coffee is described through descriptors: citrus, floral, woody, spicy, chocolate, hazelnut, smoky. I was surprised to taste jasmine in one coffee, while another reminded me of eating my grandmother’s strawberry jam. Knowing the perfume wheel helped me a lot – only this time I was navigating through the language of coffee.

It reminded me how deeply scent connects everything – from the cup in our hands to the perfumes we wear. And yes… I was definitely overcaffeinated. ☕☕☕

✨ I’m back! ✨

This past year, I focused on my Slovenian courses — sharing knowledge on natural cosmetics, aromatherapy, and perfumery. I also launched new scent walks in Ljubljana and began writing a book on scent. 🌿💛

Good news: I’ve also been working on an English course platform, which will be launching soon!

Exciting workshops, sensory journeys, and hands-on creations are on the horizon — it feels wonderful to reconnect and share the magic of scent once again. 🌸

I’d love to hear from you: what are you focusing on this year? Have you been exploring scents or creating perfumes? 🌹

As I am preparing for the Friday's workshop about enfleurage and tincturing, I thought to share instructions about tincturing citrus peels with you.

STEP 1: Obtain an organic citrus and wash it thoroughly. Then peel the zest using a potato peeler. If needed, cut the zest into smaller pieces.

STEP 2: Place the zest in a sterilized glass jar with a lid, filling it up to about halfway, and pour over with pure (edible) 96% alcohol. The alcohol should cover the zest by about 1 cm.

STEP 3: Infuse for at least 3 days, shaking the jar daily.

STEP 4: Strain through a coffee filter and store in a bottle. Label it.

You can use your citrus tincture in perfumes, colognes, room sprays, and even as a flavoring in cooking! 🍊🍋

If you want to learn about different techniques of producing aromatic extracts from various flowers, herbs, and resins, join our workshop "Scents From Your Garden: Enfleurage and Tincturing" this Friday via Zoom. The link in the comment bellow.