Study of the classics part 1

Last weekend I spent my days on studying the classic perfumes. I once read in a book that you can learn from the classic perfumes. I think that makes sense, it gives me a change to try to understand what the perfumer thought while creating the perfume why he or she used certain notes. So this weekend I started with two classicals. L'air du Temps and Shalimar. Here is the Simple formula I made for a perfume with a L'air du Temps kind of fragrance:


Benzyl salicylate 6,7
Eugenol* 1,5
Methyl Diantilis** 0,5
Ylang Ylang 1
Methyl Ionone 4,4
Vertofix 2
Sandalwood 1
Styrallyl acetate 0,2
Phenylethyl
alcohol 2
Hydroxycitronellal 4,4
Benzyl acetate 0,4
Bergamot 2,4
Linalool 1
Linalyl acetate 3
Aldehyde C11
undecylenic 0,1
Vanillin 0,05
Heliotropin 0,2
Iris substitute Firmenich 0,05
Exaltolide*** 0,15
Muscenone Delta*** 0,15
Jasmin etoile(givaudan) 0,2

*could be replaced by clove oil
** I used this instead of Iso eugenol because it smell similar but it's not restricted by IFRA
***Both musk notes, the original has Musk ketone but since it's restricted I don't like to use it

The perfume has some similarity to L'air du Temps but is lighter and more flowery, the original has more dark sweet notes maybe from benzoin or patchouli.

Now I will experiment with this accord. For example replace the Benzyl salicylate by Amyl salicylate or cis 3 hexenyl salicylate and study the difference. I could change the Hydroxycitronellal for Lyral or the Methyl Ionone by Beta ionone or Alpha ionone. I could even try to add a new note, maybe a green note like Galbanum or a peach note like Aldehyde C14 or Nectaryl. Or leaving a note out like the rose notes like Phenylethyl alcohol. Most perfumes are inspired by the classics, by using another interpretation of the classics there could be created a whole new perfume. Mitsouko by Guerlain was based on the Chypre accord but by adding a peach note from the Aldehyde C14 it became a complete different perfume.