A Symphony of Scents: Crafting Art-Inspired Perfumes
Advisor: Brian Moshofsky
Internship Location: eau de yosh; modern peasant beauty
Onsite Mentor: Yosh Han & Lakenda Wallace
After selecting art forms/artworks (most likely paintings or songs) as inspiration for perfumes I will learn to make, I will conduct surveys with multiple people through social media & connections, learning about the connection between colors/notes, feelings, and smell. This will help me interpret the art into fragrance in a more unbiased way. Subsequently, after getting a general sense of the vibe/scents I want to create, I will learn from my mentors and tinker with making different fragrances.
The perfumes will then be used in studies where the participants who are surveyed beforehand on their feelings on the specific artwork smell/wear the related perfume while looking at the artwork again. They are then surveyed a second time on their feelings evoked by the artwork. Additionally, participants in a different study will smell the scent (on others perhaps) and talk for a bit to a stranger, preferably. Before smelling this scent and after this, different self-reported survey ideas like SAM (valence, arousal, dominance) will be used to measure any differences in the participants. In the end, I expect to create 1-3 perfumes but it really depends on how long it takes me. Lastly, I will analyze my results from the studies and present them as well.
Project Blog
Post 1: The Start of a Scent-sational Journey
Hello, dear readers!! First blog of senior year, wow. I’d never even thought this year would pass so quickly, but here we are—and I’m super excited to take you guys on an adventure with my Senior Project: A Symphony of Scents: Crafting Art-Inspired Perfumes.
How It Started—And My Inspiration
I guess I could say it really started when a beautiful perfume made by Melanie Martinez, a beloved singer-songwriter of mine, caught my eye. To this day, I still hope to experience the Cry Baby (an album of hers) Perfume Milk in person, but unfortunately for now, bottles are being sold for up to thousands of dollars because the perfume got discontinued.
Anyways, because of such high demand, multiple individual perfumers and duplicate (dupe) perfume companies have been selling dupes of the Cry Baby Perfume Milk online, with the most well-known being Miim.Miic’s, which smelled like HomeGoods—a total disappointment for me—and my favorite being Oil Perfumery’s.
What fascinated me through this exploration of perfumes (I would scroll on Fragrantica, the Wikipedia for perfumes, for fun), was how all of the dupes were inspired by the same perfume but had unique twists due to the different perfume-making processes and interpretations of the original fragrance. I was also interested in how notes, or different layers of scents in a fragrance, came together in different perfumes.
It made me wonder if and how art could be translated across the senses for a more multisensory experience, and afterwards I discovered Buly 1803, a French fragrance brand, and its eight art-inspired perfumes at the Louvre (https://perfumesociety.org/buly-1803-at-the-louvre/). Lakenda, one of my wonderful advisors, also told me about the soon-to-be-released Nose Music, a set where music is turned into fragrance, by Art and Olfaction. I’m thinking of reaching out to them (or similar projects) later to see if I can learn more about the unique process of turning one form of art into another by converting one sense to another.
Expectations
In my blogs, I’ll be giving rundowns of my progress and my reflections for this project. By the end, I hope to have blended one or more fragrances inspired by specific artwork(s) and surveyed how well they were able to amplify or replicate the vibe of the artwork(s).
This project aims to infuse the world of perfumery with the arts and aromachology with the creation of new fragrances. I hope to learn about the world of perfume-making as well as more about how smell affects how one experiences art through a multifactorial lens.
Project Discussion
The Initial Survey and Choosing Artwork(s)
Before I even get started on the process of perfumery, I’m planning to use a survey to gauge the emotions, visuals, or vibes evoked based off of specific artworks, in order to figure out what feelings to go for in the fragrance(s).
Obviously, I also need to choose the artworks, too. I know I could probably be basic and go for a more well-known work, but for now I want to find one, or multiple, that I feel speak(s) to me more. If I end up creating more than one fragrance, I can take two paintings, or one painting and one song, or maybe even two songs as inspiration—I think the contrast would be pretty interesting to see.
Also, both my advisors take a spiritual or more intentional route with creating perfumes, which is something I’m considering including and learning from them as well. Kind of like how specific Chinese fragrances meant different things, even way back in time.
Getting Familiar
Of course, like Lakenda advised, I can use certain notes when creating a custom scent, but even then, a developed artistry is needed to create a formula of complexity in a perfume. Currently, I’m reading The Fragrant Mind—Lakenda’s recommendation—to learn more about how scents and essential oils can affect our emotional and physiological state.
Additionally, I’ve been looking through and exploring the many resources my other amazing advisor, Yosh, kindly sent me, both in person and online. Although most likely I won’t be blending fragrances too soon because I have the survey to do first, I think I’m going to try to familiarize myself with commonly-used notes beforehand and study fragrance families and the structure of perfumery (the top, middle, and base notes) to gain a deeper understanding on what it takes to blend a more complex scent.
Afterwards
With the creation of the perfumes, I will conduct surveys (whether the participants for this survey are going to be the same participants from the initial survey or not, I haven’t decided) to test the increased emotional response of an additional sensory input, the fragrance, combined with the original artwork, and to see how accurately I was able to convey one art form into another.
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my Senior Project and the world of perfumery. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 2: Doused in Knowledge
Hey, readers! Welcome back to my weekly blog. :))
Before we get started on the literature review, here are some quick updates on the project.
Paintings: being chosen/analyzed! No music.
Survey: I decided more about what to include/not include that will allow me to better figure out patterns in what people interpret the paintings like, to compare to the end survey of the artwork combined with the scent.
Perfumery: learned more about essential oils, accords, the process of perfumery (tincturing!), and complexity in a fragrance. Planning to make at least one mixed media (naturals and synthetics) fragrance.
Literature Review
Perfumes are either made from natural or synthetic fragrances (fine vs natural perfumes). Natural fragrances are made from natural materials, like essential oils and plant extractions, while synthetic fragrances are lab-created. While natural fragrances are usually more expensive with a shorter shelf life and less lasting power and sillage, synthetic fragrances are usually cheaper with a longer shelf life. There is a complex narrative on which of the two fragrances are safer. While natural fragrances are believed to be safer than synthetic ones in general, some ingredients in natural oils used are not necessarily as carefully scrutinized to prevent potential allergenic risks, possibly acting as endocrine disruptors, and synthetics may also offer less allergenic alternatives. However, the many preservatives commonly used in synthetics may be harmful to the body if inhaled, which in the case of a perfume, happens really often. Both sides have their pros and cons, and it’s up to the perfumer to decide which materials to integrate into their fragrances to optimize the safety of the perfume users. [1]
Evidence shows that fragrances can directly/indirectly impact the psychological and physiological human conditions, with a number of plants used in aromatherapy being beneficial as well. [2] The brain's olfactory bulb is next to emotional processing regions, and studies have shown that dysfunctional smells may be associated with mood disorders. Social odors are part of what helps connections and mood form between and within humans, so researching how created fragrances may amplify how one interprets a work of art will contribute to this topic; [3] studying this may also allow for control over specific moods or complexity of people in art.
This exploration of art-inspired fragrances goes beyond traditional perfumery, instead allowing one to experience and interpret art through a multifactorial lens (two different senses).
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Sources
1. The [Complete & Complex] Guide to Natural vs. Synthetic Fragrance: What’s the Difference? Petite Histoire.
2. Sowndhararajan, K.; Kim, S. Influence of Fragrances on Human Psychophysiological Activity: With Special Reference to Human Electroencephalographic Response. Scientia Pharmaceutica 2016, 84 (4), 724–751. https://doi.org/10.3390/scipharm84040724.
3. Scent | Psychology Today. www.psychologytoday.com.
Post 3: Getting Into It...
Welcome back to this weeks blog reader : ) Updates first, same order as last time!
Quick Project Updates
Paintings: Chosen. Currently working on my personal interpretation of the paintings, with the historical context, original meaning, and artist in mind.
Survey: Pretty much done, sent out to a few to test the length and comprehensability. Takes 10-15 mins, may be a bit long. Planning to send out to more people soon.
Perfumery: Exploring more online sources about mixed media, natural, and synthetic perfumery. Got my essential oils set, so getting more used to the different scents and how they work. Seeing if there is a way to work around using too much alcohol (and possible essential oils) in the perfume due to health concerns.
Methodology
Each perfume will be crafted by first turning a painting into a scent profile. In order to do this, I will consult people through an initial survey. I will experiment with both natural and synthetic ingredients to create one perfume per artwork (which I expect will be a big portion of the time), generally by 1) seeking what types of scents correlate best with the painting, 2) getting used to different notes/finding the right ones, 3) putting them together and testing how it smells, 4) experimenting more and asking for advisor/outside opinions.
Afterwards, as mentioned in the first blog post, I will conduct an ending survey with a different group of people, where I will introduce the painting and perfume separately (I have not decided which should come first), then, present to them a survey similar or same as the initial one. With this, I will analyze the possible emotional effects of scent on people’s interpretation of the paintings.
For now, I plan to keep the paintings secret so that in case one of the final survey people comes across this, we can keep the end survey results more unbiased. But I will say that the first painting is in warm lighting, the second painting’s name is in French, and the third possible painting is kind of more lively.
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 4: Familiarizing With Fragrance
Dear readers,
For today's blog I'd like to provide some updates as well as lessons I've learned from speaking to both my wonderful advisors Yosh and Lakenda. Hopefully along the way you learn a little something too!
Updates
This week I sent out the survey! I'm still waiting on some to get back to me, but so far, 30-40 or so partipants have given me both intriguing and more repeated answers—both quite interesting to read. I'm starting to see patterns in what people feel and see within these three paintings, and what made me curious was that there were often two sides to the painting. One in which people saw a common, more surface-level theme, and another where some others interpreted a more hidden, deeper aspect to this theme.
Lessons
From Yosh:
Some suggestions were to have participants be more involved with the perfume-making process itself instead of just the end and the surveys, so having them for example, smelling the accords I blend.
The base of the perfume, whether natural or synthetic, really depends on the plan, or whatever I want to center my fragrance around.
Yosh also taught me the process she recommended for making the perfumes. I'm going to use around 5 main notes/accords/oils, then build up around them. Scent strips to test the lasting power/smell/sillage first!
Buy accords!
From Lakenda:
For fixatives (to make the perfume last, especially important for more natural perfumers as their materials tend to stay for less time): I can make my own with certain materials. Additionally, adding different fixatives/oils to a certain oil scent may help amplify or make the scent fuller instead of just adding more of that original scent. For example, adding cedarwood to citrus makes a fuller scent, instead of a flatter one where there's just more and more citrus.
I'll be keeping in mind that some scent strips may hold scent better than others, that synthetics will hold the scent longer than naturals, that perfumer's alcohol is generally toxic because it's denatured.
To dilute, you put drops of essential oil into a carrier (oil, alcohol, or water), then smell it (use different percentages of the dilution for different carriers). Always keep in mind the safety of the essential oil/carrier, as for example cinnamon, basil, and wintergreen can burn or be toxic if too much is used. Plus, citrus is photosensitive. Some essential oils may also be really strong, stronger than other oils (therefore why I'm using scent strips first).
Lakenda uses cane sugar organic ethyl alcohol which may be more long-lasting than oils. For oil-based fragrances, fractionated coconut oil or apricot kernel oil may work well. I'm currently looking at what carriers to use. There are different forms of extractions she uses, like distillation, tincturing, and oil baths.
She recommended I write down everything, down to how many drops of everything u add each time so you can retrace your steps, and the same goes with Yosh's concept of Mods.
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 5: Analyzing or Interpreting?
Hello!! Welcome back to this week's blog post : )
This week was mostly about data analysis, and of course, discovering more of what fit each painting. After discussion with my amazing faculty advisor Dr. Mo, I realized that I was unsure how to best capture the both quantitative and qualitative data from my survey answers, and incorporate their patterns in the process of making the perfumes. Therefore, his suggestions:
- Research more on using coding methods to analyze qualitative data
- Get more details on what alcohols/accords/etc to use for project
Quick Project Updates
Paintings: Currently continuing working on personal interpretation of the paintings, with the historical context, original meaning, and artist in mind. Apparently, one of the paintings may not have much historical context on the internet to analyze, from what I've found so far?
Survey: Pretty much done, though may send it out to some more people. Researching how to bet analyze results.
Perfumery: Going to use scent strips for my essential oils. Choosing what type of alcohol/oil/water as base—though I found that with water bases there were risks of microbial infection, so that's probably out of the question for now.
A Little Something For You
Lastly, I don't want to be holding you guys in suspense for too long, so here are some clues as to the historical context of the three possible paintings. Have fun guessing what they are, and if you do come up with any ideas, feel free to comment or let me know!! And of course, if you're a participant for the initial survey, please don't spoil what they are.
Painting 1: refinement, opulent, gathering
Painting 2: performance, delusion/devotion, foreboding
Painting 3: leisure, romance, nature
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 6: Painting 1: Warmth
Dear readers,
Welcome back to another senior project blogpost!
This week was kind of chaotic (and honestly, the past few were pretty chaotic too)! What I focused on was the first painting which I won't name (until the final surveys are done). After analyzing the initial survey data through coding/making and counting certain repeated keywords, I've identified the main patterns in what people saw in the painting. I'm planning to use the top 5 themes to experiment with the perfume notes (which I've been smelling/putting together), and as you can probably guess by the title of this post, a theme I'm definitely going to use is "warmth." Last time I gave you clues as to what the paintings were, so now for Painting 1 you have: refinement, opulent, gathering, and lastly, warmth!
Essential Oils
Dropping the essential oils onto different scent strips turned out a bit tricky, because there are so many smells going on at the same time, and since the containers the oils came in make it somewhat harder to control the amount going onto the scent strips, I'm finding a way to control for that too. What I found was that like Yosh told me, certain essential oils do in fact smell better when bunched together with other certain ones, and some smell absolutely horrible together.
Additionally, like what Lakenda had said, the essential oils don't contain always the true scent of the note (what we smell when we smell the actual thing, and what synthetic notes try to replicate) due to it being made a certain way. For example, my vanilla oil currently doesn't quite smell like the vanilla note I'm used to in perfumes such as the Kayali Vanilla 28 or Skylar Vanilla Sky perfumes. It truly does smell gourmand in a way, and good, just not exactly what I expected.
Historical Context
I researched lots of history on the time period and artist of Painting 1 as there just wasn't much information on the history of that painting online, and will be using these context clues instead to brainstorm what notes to use in the perfume!
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 7: Save My Nails (and My Nose)
Hey, glad you could join me again! As I've been out for a bit for a previous week or so, I don't think this uploaded properly, so here goes. (plus a behind-the-scene photo of my (ignore the messiness) workspace)
After lots of smelling and some research and shopping online for materials, I've come down to a few final notes I plan to include in this fragrance. It's coming along more slowly than planned due to an unforeseen learning curve; however, I think that if I have ample time, the process of the next few possible creations will be faster!
Some things that were harder than initially expected was taking of the dropper bottle corks without breaking my nails (two got broken) and smelling the scent of the oil on me for the rest of the day, keeping track of all the different notes I wrote about, and smelling the different notes apart when they were all on the same table.
Experimenting... 🧪
I used a pair of gloves to take out the corks so I could use 1 mL pipettes instead, but that didn't stop the scent of the oils from traveling and sticking onto my clothes for days. Which actually may be a good thing, because then the lasting power/sillage shouldn't be too bad for naturals!
I've been getting used to the original essential oils set, but what I realized was that even though generally I knew what smelled like what, it was hard to keep track of so many scents, and it became harder to differentiate them if I smelled more than a few in the same day (Lakenda recommended 10/day! I did break it down a bit more as I'm less experienced, but it's a good amount to do). Following her and Yosh's advice, I would write down what anything that came up in my head when I smelled the scent dropped onto the scent strip. Unfortunately this probably took longer than it should have.. oops! I didn't realize it was more effective to drop the oils onto the thinner ends of the scent strips and write my notes on the thicker end until later, as before that I was dropping them on the thicker end and then writing on both the thin end and a sticky note attached to it (which easily fell off).
I got another smaller set of essential oils which I think I'll be using more extensively than the first, as they smell higher quality/layer better, and correlate with the paintings' themes more. Some notes inside it include sandalwood (this one I prefer over the original set's sandalwood, it smells more like the authentic sandalwood smell I get from Chinese wooden sculptures/objects/fragrances), cedar, and leather. Honestly nothing really seemed to be coming together well before the arrival of this set as I wasn't satisfied with how the notes smelled together, so I'm glad this set was able to add nice touches to the combination. Let's see how it goes next week!
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 8: Scents versus Ratios—Update :)
Welcome back!! This week we continued on the making of the perfume—it's taking a while, I know. But I think if we trust the process, we'll eventually get there. Not sure about the situation with the later perfumes due to somewhat of a time crunch, but most definitely we will get this one done and ready for surveying!
Finally—
I do have a pretty important update: the perfume notes seem to be on the right track now!
How I came up with the first draft for this painting was actually that I was just randomly dropping specific but also kind of non-specific oils onto one scent strip in ratios I didn't remember too clearly, for the purpose of testing the new oils out and mixing them with some of the original ones. Then I came back to it a few hours later and...wow! It actually smelled 1) kind of similar to the painting, 2) good-in-a-"I'm kind of satisfied with it"-way. Immediately after, I rushed to note whatever I remember I did down in my notebook in case I forgot or missed something.
Later the process was mainly just trying to remake it as accurately as possible multiple times and waiting a few hours for the notes to settle on the scent strip before smelling. Taking inspiration from different sections, feelings, and also opinions this painting gave off, I mixed new and old notes together and wrote the changes down. So the two main things I focused on this week were adjusting the ratios of the "original" notes and adding new notes.
The Setup
I realized I didn't really need the initial scent strips I used to gauge what each oil smelled like, since I was narrowing down on which ones I was thinking of incorporating at this point. So those could be cleared away, and what was left was my trial mixture scent strips plus the used pipettes and some small glass bottles. For those bottles, I put a ratio of 1:9 oil (the ones I was using) and fractionated coconut oil. I decided against using alcohol at least for this perfume due to safety/access concerns; coconut oil was just more accessible in smaller amounts and more skin safe. We'll see how blending goes next next!
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 9: Ratios, Again (Feat. Really Strong Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol)
Dear readers, here is this week's updated blog post! Plus a photo of me blending that big bottle I talk about later in this post :))
Final (?) Ratio of Essential Oils vs Non-Essential Oils
Let's see pick up where we left off last time: the small glass bottles and blending. I filled about four, five or so of them with the 1:9 ratio of different essential oils each, which—unfortunately—turned out not the be the right ratio for essential oils, at least. I feel like the mix-up came partially out of have two advisors who work with different types of media and perfume processes.
The Ratio of Notes
I'd brought to BISV a Ziploc bag full of scent strips—each with a different note I was considering, and shook it up, hoping the smelling of that Ziploc would convey the message of: "I'm a perfume! I smell good!" Unfortunately, and—funnily enough—the feedback I got back was that along the lines of "I'm actually an expensive, classy soap (dispenser). I do smell good though!" I mean, okay, fine.. it was a Ziploc bag with scent strips, some laying on top of each other, so having people smell the top of the Ziploc bag while shaking it and half-expecting an answer wasn't exactly an accurate metric of what I'd done mixing different ratios of oils on one scent strip so far. But still—unexpected but good advice.
I set about to fix that by searching online, and also asking my advisors. A common thing they recommended was to add a top note like citrus (which I was worried about the phototoxicity of, but was reassured that perfume oils were in such small amounts it had very low risk of harming the body like that especially compared to body oils); I decided to perhaps use a different oil I'd already incorporate with the characteristics of a top note, but in larger amounts so it stood out more. Yosh also recommended I try blending in honey essential oil and adding less sandalwood to perhaps reduce the soap effect, which I will try.
Another thing she asked that made me think a bit more was having the oils represent specific parts of the painting (spoiler: the lace, the vibrant red, etc). I'd thought some in that direction but so far had been focused mainly on portraying the larger feeling/vibe of the painting, instead of representing smaller parts of it. So in some ways, I did incorporate parts of the painting into the notes, but also it was something I could definitely take more time to think about and experiment with.
The Fragrance Rough Drafts
Currently I'm working on making samples with a ratio of 3:7 essential oil to non-essential oil (the carrier—fractionated coconut oil—plus fixative and preservative).
For the first bigger-bottle sample I created (which had the 1:9 ratio), it was only after I used 10 mL total that I realized my preservative (phenyl ethyl alcohol, with a rosy, alcoholic note) and fixative (Perfumers Apprentice fixative) hadn't been blended in yet. At that time, I'd thought that I'd just add in a few drops just to test out how much it'd change the fragrance, and oh boy it sure did. The whole thing started smelling like only the preservative...
The example ratio Lakenda had given me for preservatives and fixatives was, out of 165 mL of non-essential oil (or the "other"), she put 20 mL preservative (12% of the “other”) and 5-10 mL fixative (~5% of the “other”), so I felt a bit confused by how strong the scent of the phenyl ethyl alcohol was and wanted to experiment around with that. Yosh did also bring up that I was pipetting by hand and using my eye to measure generally how much of the 1 mL pipette was filled, so she recommended that I start with smaller 10 mL bottles (which I'm doing, yay!). Hopefully these few weeks are able to yield a more conclusive ratio and rough drafts!
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 10: Almost There—Try No. 2
What an eventful week! Welcome back to blog number ten, week ten, readers!
This week was quite the busy one—creation, exploration, and surveying all in one. Let's break it down.
Miim.Miic Try No. 2
Remember the disappointing Crybaby dupe hand lotion by Miim.Miic? The one that smelt like a piney HomeGoods during fall to me? (Nothing against HomeGoods though, just that I don't want to smell like one.) Yeah. I found the Miim.Miic 52, the legendary, most popular dupe of Crybaby, in perfume form, for less than $15 at Marshalls. I thought, perhaps the hand lotion was just faulty, and the actual perfume would smell amazing, like how I imagined Crybaby smelt. Spoiler: it was the same—I didn't like it. But on the flip side, the bottle was nice, and huge, and holdable. Sadly, it seemed too linear and simple a smell compared to what people had been raving about about this dupe and the Crybaby perfume. Either way though, I was super excited to see what 52 smelt like in perfume form, and I'm excited I was able to experience it and share it with you all.
Painting 2: Gloom
I wanted two paintings that would contrast each other in unique ways, and therefore was this process of making the fragrance for this perfume. This time around was multiple times faster than the first process as now I knew the general gist of how things could work. After coding the data, I selected out the top 5-6 vibes (basically the words or types of words used, grouped together.
Then, with the historical and artist context in mind, as well as my own interpretation/feelings towards this painting (it felt dark but (only) momentarily hopeful to me), I experimented—a lot—around with scent. With the creation/finalization of this second scent, it was then time to conduct final surveys.
Final Surveys
My goal was to get around the same number of responders as that for the initial survey, and I was able to achieve that goal by taking a trip to BISV and surveying people in person.
The process of the final surveys was as follows: 1) Have them smell the perfume, sprayed on skin (with consent) 2) Look at the artwork (one at a time) 3) Take the survey. Then repeat for the second painting.
There were many intriguing comments I certainly did not expect to hear over the course of this survey. For example, Painting 2's perfume reminded a certain person of their grandma/grandma's room, and another of their tía. And Painting 1's perfume smelled a bit "off" to someone, but was generally preferred by the public, and an immediate comment I heard that was also agreed upon was that it smelt like "those Indian clothing shops," in a good way.
Next week I will be focusing on final touch-ups as well as final analyses!
Until Next Time
I hope you enjoyed this update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by!
See you later,
Alina : )
Post 11: Last One—Signing Off! Painting and Data Final Analysis and Reveal
The last stretch of the Senior Project—and Senior Year—is now. Left feeling a bit bittersweet? I know I certainly will miss experimenting and writing about my progress during the whole course of this project. Maybe Perfume NO.2 can be a lasting reminder of that feeling (though it's personally not my favorite).
Painting Reveals
Starting off with Painting No. 1: Warmth—
"The End of Dinner" by Degas
A beautiful piece. Now, for those who may not be watching my presentation this Saturday on 5/18, or those who may just want to look again, (as a brief description, interpretation, and historical context) "The End of Dinner" invites us to partake in the indulgence and refinement of the Belle Époque through a glimpse into the aftermath of a lavish dinner party, but with an underlying great disparity in ages between the men and women.
"The End of Dinner" Final Scent Profile (a moody and deep but airy vibe)
Top: Honey, Cologne (which smelled like a fruity, breezy type of essential oil)
- Honey: represents the food and youthful vibe of the ladies as well as the soft lighting and powdery, luminous feeling, and gives a similar velvety texture as sandalwood but one that is not as heavy.
Middle: Rose, Jasmine
- Rose: a classic and universally cherished scent that enhances the traditional and somewhat formal atmosphere of this gathering, and add a sense of love and passion to hint at the underlying romantic interests among the guests.
- Jasmine: an intoxicating and sensual aroma which helps to deepen the floral center of the fragrance.
Base: Sandalwood, Leather
- Sandalwood: adds the velvety, warm, deeper texture for feelings of both nostalgia and sophistication.
- Leather: gives a robust and slightly animalic note to ground the fragrance with a feeling of luxury and status by the environment and guests.
"The End of Dinner" Data
Here are the general ratings given by participants from both surveys. I will explain the results, together, in more detail below.
Average rating for... (format: initial survey rating--final survey rating out of 6)
Lively/Energizing: 4.46--4.54/6
Romantic: 4.08--3.78/6
Comfort/Calm: 3.91--3.97/6
Positive/Happy: 4.73--4.86/6
Nostalgic: 3.24--3.59/6
Complexity: 4.22--4.62/6
Top values, coded (initial):
1. warmth
2. joy
3. dinner
4. homely
5. intimate
6. open/bright
Top values, coded (final):
1. happy/lighthearted
2. dinner/party
3. nostalgic
4. warmth
5. intimate/togetherness
6. bright/new
Secondly, with Painting No. 2: Gloom—
“L'Étoile (The Star)” by Degas...
Here is the brief description, interpretation, and historical context... “L'Étoile (The Star)” spotlights the engulfing reality behind the radiant lone ballerina on the stage, who, maybe in the moment, breaks free through her dance, away from her patron, the foreboding figure half-hidden behind.
“L'Étoile (The Star)” Final Scent Profile (a dark but (only) momentarily hopeful vibe)
Top: Bergamot
- Bergamot: the bright and slightly bitter (bittersweet) scent introduces the fragrance with an uplifting aroma representing the brilliance of the ballerina in her performance on center stage, to set a contrast against the deeper notes explored to mirror the contrast in the painting.
Middle: Neroli, Sweet Tobacco
- Neroli: the delicate scent represents the refined elegance of the ballerina while carrying subtle green and spicy facets to hint at the underlying reality behind the stage.
- Sweet Tobacco: the rich, warm, and slightly sweet aroma adds depth to evokes the maturity and worldly nature of the setting around the ballerina, and also her half-hidden patron.
Base: Leather, Patchouli, Frankincense, Cedar, Myrrh (heavy on the base for contrast)
- Leather: its grounding scent allows for the resilience required of the ballerina, both physically and emotionally, in the performing spotlight, and balances the top and middle notes.
“L'Étoile (The Star)” Data
Here are the general ratings given by participants from both surveys. I will explain the results, together, in more detail below.
Average rating for... (format: initial survey rating--final survey rating out of 6)
Lively/Energizing: 3.50--3.81/6
Romantic: 3.16--3.11/6
Comfort/Calm: 3.26--3.03/6
Positive/Happy: 3.55--3.35/6
Nostalgic: 2.79--3.30/6
Complexity: 4.29--4.38/6
Top values, coded (initial):
1. ominous/gloomy
2. calm
2. free, passionate, confident
4. contradiction
5. isolation
Top values, coded (final):
1. impure/dark
2. contrast
3. open/passionate/lively
4. calm/content
5. happy/fun
Results and Analysis
I conducted a Welch t-test (with the help of an online calculator) on each quantitative survey question (six per painting, 12 per survey), due to the fact that the variances (one of the conditions to conduct a 2-sample t-test) were unequal, and therefore a 2-sample t-test could not be conducted.
According to the data, the differences between the initial and final surveys—or the differences between the emotions evoked by the artwork with and without smelling the perfume associated with it—were not significant, although one question's answers did come kind of close to being smaller than the 0.05 P value.
This was unexpected in that multiple studies have previously shown an association between a difference in emotions and scents/fragrances; however, it was also in some ways expected due to some things we should consider:
- There were only ~40 participants per survey.
- There was a difference in the talkativity of responders in the initial vs final surveys (therefore I decided not to use the coding from the free-response questions in any actual statistical tests).
- There were differences in responses from each participant in the surveys.
- There was perhaps enough time spent getting to know the scent before taking the survey (due to a time crunch between classes at BISV).
- There may be new/past personal biases towards/against the painting/perfume (plus where the scents fall on the female/male spectrum may have influenced the answers, though the answer to that is unsure).
Lastly,
I hope you enjoyed this final update on my Senior Project. Thanks for sticking by! It's been a roller coaster of a journey and I've learned so much over this short (kind of) period of time. I truly couldn't have done it without the help and support of my advisors Yosh, Lakenda, and Dr. Mo, and also my family and friends, so thank you all!
Goodbye,
Alina : )