The Art of Patience
In today’s fast-paced world, fragrances are blended and bottled in the hundreds or thousands daily. When a new fragrance launches, the batches are not allowed to age for very long. They are generally sent to the filling floor within two weeks, where machines fill bottles at a rapid pace. From there, the bottles are shipped world wide where they age on the shelf waiting for the next customer to purchase.
However, perfumery was not always like this. The art of perfumery is closely tied to the art of patience. When a perfume is made with love and crafted using large quantities of exquisite natural ingredients, as they were in the past, these ingredients require time to harmonize and fully develop in the blend. This process can take several weeks or even months, ensuring that all ingredients meld beautifully.
Even the ingredients themselves can sometimes require time to be ready. For instance, when a perfumer prepares a tincture of vanilla or musk, the material needs ample time to fully integrate into the alcohol before it’s ready for use. Animal musks like civet and ambergris can take months or even years to reach their peak for use in a perfume. Similarly, many oils need time to mature before they are ready. Good examples include the essential oils of sandalwood and patchouli. Patchouli, for instance, doesn’t have a pleasant scent when first distilled. The oil requires several weeks or months to mellow and develop its beautiful aroma. In fact, the best patchouli oils are those that have aged for a year or more. The same goes for sandalwood. This oil benefits greatly from a long aging process, aging gracefully like fine wine, improving and enhancing with time.
Another intriguing ingredient is the iris root (or orris root). This precious root requires an astonishing three years to fully dry and reveal its prized scent before it can be prepared for distillation or extraction.
At Votum, we honor this meticulous process by handpicking only the finest ingredients that have been carefully aged to enhance their fragrance. When crafting a Votum fragrance, the perfumer carefully weighs and blends each ingredient before diluting these precious oils in alcohol. Once all ingredients are fully blended, the batch undergoes a gentle resting period, being stirred occasionally and allowed to mature for a full three months before the final steps of filtering and bottling.
By reserving a Votum perfume, you are not only securing a bottle of a fragrance lovingly crafted with the most exquisite ingredients on earth, but you are also reserving a perfume that pays homage to the art of high perfumery and the art of patience. Each scent is given the time it deserves to age gracefully, as it should.