What is Slow Perfumery

Natural Material Mouillettes by Whitney for Slow Perfumery

The world of perfumery is often described by people who enjoy diving deeply into personal interests and hobbies, waxing poetically through picturesque vignettes that paint olfactory scenes in the mind’s eye. It is through this lens that so many of us fall in love with perfumery (myself included).

Whitney’s personal collection of perfumes by Whitney

As an artisan perfumer, I am often reminded of how the idea of slowing down is paramount to any endeavor, and perfumery is no exception. Enter the art of slow perfumery. One of the pioneers of this concept is the renowned perfumer Mandy Aftel of Aftelier Perfumes, who trademarked “Slow Scent.” Years ago, I took a class with Mandy and saw firsthand how she incorporated the idea of slow perfumery into her process. Since then, I have applied this philosophy into my own creative process.

You may already have a good idea of what slow perfumery is: a skilled artisan meticulously maps out a plan and concept for their next creation, selects and sources ingredients, and creates countless trials before arriving at the final perfume formula. Each perfumer’s process may vary depending on what works best for them, and unless you are working for a large fragrance house, I think it’s safe to say that, for many artisan and independent perfumers, the process is often slow, meditative, and deeply personal.

The Wit & West studio and Whitney’s custom-made perfume organ by Whitney

Beyond the complexity of designing a fragrance concept and creating many trials before finalizing the formula, sourcing ingredients, especially naturals, is both an art and an essential part of slow perfumery. I am first and foremost an artisan perfumer, but I am also a natural perfumer, and as a result, I have naturally (pun intended) gravitated toward creating in-house extracted ingredients while also sourcing beautiful, rare, unknown, and sometimes undervalued natural ingredients as sustainably as possible.

While the process of creating and sourcing unique ingredients can be rewarding, it also comes with many of the challenges inherent to slow perfumery. These challenges include limited availability and rising costs due to overharvesting, geopolitical issues, minimal production and supplier options, adverse weather, seasonality, poor labor conditions, and more.

One example is Santalum album (Indian or Mysore sandalwood), prized for its creamy, warm aroma. Historically cultivated in India, decades of overharvesting nearly drove it to extinction. As a result, S. album is currently classified as “Vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Making matters worse, illegal harvesting and adulteration have further complicated the situation.

While there are still challenges with sourcing sandalwood, there is hope for ensuring the survival of this beautiful species. Today, sustainable practices by companies such as Biolandes and LMR in New Caledonia focus on conservation through sustainable farming practices and regeneration efforts.

Another challenge in sourcing perfumery ingredients is the geopolitical impact of rising import costs and supply chain instability affecting raw materials. This is a significant issue for perfumery ingredients of natural origin, as many of the most important materials are not grown in the United States. Even when purchasing through US-based suppliers, rising import costs are eventually passed down through the supply chain. In my own business, I have seen the cost of some natural ingredients like jasmine sambac (Jasminum sambac) from India increase by more than 50% in recent years due to a combination of tariffs, supply chain volatility, inflation, and limited availability.

Jasminum sambac flower (Source: Wikipedia)

In addition to overharvesting and rising costs, another challenge I have personally faced as an artisan perfumer is scarcity due to limited supply. Scarcity may occur because a particular natural ingredient is rare and produced by only a handful of suppliers, which sometimes means waiting until the next season before it becomes available again. Other times, a supplier may stop carrying an ingredient for various reasons, rendering it nearly impossible for an artisan perfumer to obtain due to the high minimum quantities required to source directly from the producer.

A recent example I can share from Wit & West is a rare species of rhododendron that I use for my perfume, Rosé L.A. The species, Rhododendron adamsii, is native to Siberia, Mongolia, and the Tibetan Plateau and is used to make the traditional Sagan Dalya tea.

Rhododendron adamsii leaves for herbal tea at a market (Source: Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a suitable replacement for it. Another species of rhododendron is available, but it does not possess the same fruity, effervescent, berry and wine-like olfactory profile as the R. adamsii species (fitting for a perfume that has rosé in the name!).

When faced with these challenges, I try to remember that nature is fleeting and ever-changing. Sometimes these obstacles help get the creative juices flowing, and I can find a solution through an alternate source for a particular ingredient. Sometimes I might decide to reformulate. And sometimes, I may have to consider retiring a perfume. Luckily, in the case of Rosé L.A., I can do a modest reformulation that ensures the original character of the perfume remains intact.

Wit & West Signature Collection perfume, Rosé L.A. by Whitney

Before I launched Wit & West, my goal was not only to create unique botanical perfumes, but also to create a limited-edition collection focused on rare and in-house extracted ingredients. Embracing the idea of slow perfumery, I spent several years before launching honing my enfleurage skills and creating a backlog of enfleurage extraits to use in future perfumes.

If you aren’t familiar with enfleurage, it is a traditional French method of extracting scent from flowers using a scentless fat such as coconut oil and fresh fragrant flowers, which are replaced daily until the fat absorbs their scent. Enfleurage is a very labor-intensive process that requires a large quantity of flowers to create a product fragrant enough to use in perfume.

I live in Colorado, where the sun shines 300 days a year, but due to our erratic weather, which can bring snow one day, sun the next, and rain the day after, we can’t grow many of the fragrant flowers I wish we could, such as jasmine, gardenias, or magnolias. As a result, I am limited to a select number of flowers that are fragrant and can be used for enfleurage, including lilacs, irises (yes, contrary to popular belief, there are many species of fragrant irises!), roses, and peonies.

Iris Enfleurage by Whitney for Wit & West Perfumes

For the past seven years, I have spent the late part of April through early August gathering flowers and extracting their scent via enfleurage, an annual ritual that has become central to my practice of slow perfumery. Overall, enfleurage has been a very rewarding and therapeutic process for me, but I have also encountered multiple setbacks over the years.

Yearly late-spring snowstorms can, depending on the timing, wipe out an entire season of lilacs, which has happened three out of the past seven years. The blooming season for roses also varies significantly, and if they don’t begin blooming until mid- to late June, I spend each morning walking around my garden with a glass bowl filled with soapy water so I can brush scarab beetles (also known as Japanese beetles; Popillia japonica) off the roses before they devour them. The weather in Colorado has been particularly volatile in the last several years. A tornado in 2023 damaged plants and flowers throughout the Denver suburbs, while Colorado’s unusually warm 2026 winter resulted in poor lilac and iris blooms.

Lilacs in the Wit & West Garden during the April 2026 snowstorm by Whitney

You might be asking yourself, “Why does Whitney even bother with enfleurage given all of the challenges?” My answer is this: because when enfleurage works, it is truly one of the most rewarding experiences I have as a perfumer.

The Wit & West perfume, The Violetear by Whitney

Creating something in this slow, seasonal, and labor-intensive way is part of what drew me into perfumery in the first place. I love the idea of working with the flower before it becomes an extract that I can use in perfume, watching it move from the first hint of green leaves to the first bud, and finally into bloom. To take this beautifully fragrant plant and transform its essence into an extract for perfumery is a delight and a true representation of what slow perfumery means to me. One perfume in the Wit & West Reserve Collection, The Violetear, features my in-house Iris pallida enfleurage extrait. Inspired by the hummingbird of the same name.

Whitney Swales, Guest Contributor and perfumer for Wit & West Perfumes

Wit & West Perfumes New to Natural Perfume Sample Set by Whitney

Thanks to the generosity of Wit & West, one registered reader in the USA will receive New to Natural Perfume Sample Set that includes 5 Samples: Rosé L.A., Yuzu Pop, Fleur du Riad, Jasmine Bae Saranae, and La Valse, plus, a $50 digital gift card to use toward a future purchase. Please register here or your comment will not count. To be entered, in the comments section below, share what you enjoyed about the practice of slow perfumery discussed in the article, and your location. Draw closes 6/8/2026

Whitney Swales is the perfumer and co-founder along with her husband Rob for Wit & West Perfumes. Read Whitney’s Profile in American Perfumery here. Wit & West’s Violetear was in Former Editor Rachel NG Best Scent of in 2023 and Editor Sandi Lundberg’s here. Wit & West Caldera Flower was named Best Natural Perfume 2025, and both Sandi and Michelyn’s Top 10 Perfumes in 2025.