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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a perfumer? To be the brains behind some of the world’s greatest fragrances? Perfumer brands and fragrance houses would have us believe that it is an almost mythical profession, where introverted, secretive beings creatively craft things behind the scenes, concocting magic away from the prying noses of the general public, only to unleash their creations when they’re ready. It appears as a world of expensive suits, silk curtains, velvet carpets, and scented sorcerers wistfully sniffing fans of scent strips all day. But what’s it really like? I caught up with perfumer Pia Long to discuss the realities of being a perfumer in 2025. If you don’t know Pia, she is a Finnish perfumer based in the UK. She co-founded the fragrance house and consultancy Olfiction (with co-founder Nick Gilbert) and creates fragrances for a wide range of brands, including Olfiction’s own Eau de Boujee. Her style of perfumery is rich and intricate, with unusual olfactory twists and turns that keep one guessing. In this interview Pia tells us all about she found perfumery and was determined to make it her profession. We’re taken behind the curtain (metaphorical in this case, not silk) and given a realistic insight into what it’s actually like to be a perfumer, including what makes it great and can also make it quite tricky. So, I hope you’ve got your lunch packed and your shirt/blouse ironed, because we’re going to work with Pia for the day. Hurry up, we don’t want to be late.

Pia, thanks so much for giving us an insight into a day in your life. Let’s start at the beginning, how did you become a perfumer?

I pursued perfumery with total determination from the moment the thought of it crystallised. I had been working with fragrance all my life already and sometimes I think of it as a kind of When Harry Met Sally moment of oh, wait, this was here all along and now I must get to know you better. I had been selling fragrance part-time through my teens and early twenties, then after graduating from London College of Fashion I continued to work in London department stores in-between travelling around for film, TV and theatre work. I’d always visualised myself in a creative career because it felt like the only way I could stand to exist, so combining pragmatism about the work itself with discovering new ways to apply ideas and problem solving didn’t tie me to one discipline. I was interested in the method and life of a creative professional on a more fundamental level. One day, when I had been working for a fragrance distributor in North London for a while as a training manager, a Tiffany rep came in with a small wooden box filled with little vials of precious absolutes and interesting essential oils. We were about to launch their new fragrances, and this was a nice piece of sales theatre, but it unlocked something in me: wait, who makes perfume, really? How? How do I get to do that? From there, via various adventures, I tried to answer those questions and by the time I was able to really go for a career shift, I had to be unconventional about my route in, so I sought employment with a company that creates all their fragrances in-house. It didn’t take long for me to work my way to the lab, and I was made a Junior Perfumer there shortly after. Onwards, after a few years learning the ropes in their factory, quality control, buying, and lab environments, plus getting to create a few memorable fragrances for soaps, shower gels, face cleansers and more, I found a job at a raw material distributor where I took on all incoming and outgoing quality control (great raw material training) and most of the company’s perfumery tasks. After that, I had the opportunity to work for a consultant company who also had a fine fragrance perfumery function and I helped them with some training and regulatory tasks, as well as perfumery. I’ve been really active in various societies and working groups of professionals, independents and even regulators through my 16-year perfumery career and have done a lot of writing on the topic over the years as well. I’ve had some help in the form of mentorship, advice, collaboration and more through being present and active rather than trying to do it all on my own.

You’ve since gone on to found your own business, Olfiction, with your co-founder Nick Gilbert. What inspired you to do that?

It became the obvious thing for us to join forces after we had met through the mutual interest in perfumery and kept in touch, had parallel careers up to that point and then went freelance at the same time. The same prospects kept approaching both of us and there was a memorable day when Nick rang me: “We’ve got someone who needs everything.” Our business was founded three months later.

How does a typical day start for you?

It is so tempting to write a fantasy LinkedIn post here about getting up to do something very productive super early, but those things only happen when I travel (which for a working fine fragrance perfumer is a notable feature of the job). On a more ordinary day, I am up by 8, have a green tea first, followed by black coffee and breakfast, head out to the lab for about 9:30, and start the day by smelling things. It is important to smell with as clear a mind and nose as possible when you are trying to detect minute differences so I prefer to smell previous work or incoming raw materials first thing.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

The most challenging part of the job is having two main choices of how to be a perfumer for a living: you either have to be employed by someone and therefore you won’t always get to do what you’d like, or run your own business, which means you must be the one telling yourself to do some of the things you might not like (admin and all kinds of other tasks that relate to running a business rather than to the perfumery itself).

What part of your job do you love the most or find the most fulfilling?

The creative problem solving, the process, the act of perfumery itself. What happens between an idea and a finished fragrance. I have various stages of the creative process that cycle through, which all energise me in a different way. Unlocking puzzles from the fragrant materials juxtaposed against the aims of the brief is sometimes so absorbing that it’s quite helpful to have other people around you to bring you back to planet Earth.

What part of your job do you dislike the most?

Waiting for things. Be it logistics, couriers, replies regarding time-sensitive projects, even sometimes waiting for a launch that is taking exactly the appropriate time, but you wish it could be instant.

What’s a common misconception people have about your role as a perfumer?

There are many! I think the main one is that a story has been told through marketing and the trade itself even about perfumery being an innate gift to be discovered and cultivated, rather than an aptitude and interest that turns into first competence and later mastery through lots of smelling, training, mentorship, access to resources and hard work over a long period of time. Perfumery is now viewed from two equally mistaken vantage points: “the born genius myth was clearly not true, ergo, I can be a perfumer if I just say so” and “you can’t call yourself a perfumer unless you’ve gone through a very narrow path designed to train corporate employees.” Both are wrong because perfumery has been practiced in some form since ancient times and the method of creation and work depend on what is being made, where, by whom, and for what purpose. Accessibility and gatekeeping are sometimes confused with “does this take a great deal of effort?” French and global corporate perfumery that follows French education and principles is sometimes confused with the totality of perfumery practice in the world. Each have their role, and maybe we need to start using clarifying terms and more precision in our communication within and outside of the trade when talking about these topics.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve sniffed recently?

My dog’s head.

What relationships are key in your role?

I could not be where I am today without Nick and the working relationship we have of total trust, respect and love. We have found in one another a kind of bizarre twin from another era and another country, and I’m entirely serious when I say there is no way I could have continued my development as a creative perfumer to the degree that I have without such a business partner. His specific role is so myriad because it covers running two businesses (Olfiction and Eau de Boujee), acting as a creative director in some of our bigger perfumery projects on behalf of our clients and being my in-house evaluator whose nose and opinion I trust more than anyone else’s. It’s like having an extra brain connected to yours. The second most important relationship is the one with my compounder who we’ve trained in-house to precisely weigh the modifications and long formulas that are required in an active fragrance lab. It frees me to create, engineer, calculate, think, smell and judge. I do of course still sit at the compounding station and weigh trials myself, sometimes coming in on a Sunday to try out an idea all by myself before then writing out a little trial for Monday morning. The third most important relationship is the one with our team in France, the wonderful Sylvie and Olivier of Accords & Parfums. Again, there is no way I could have progressed and created so much without their raw material qualities, without the factory with robotics and top tier teams, without their ability to give our tiny business a huge capacity for taking on fragrance house-sized projects.

What’s the most important lesson you have learned as a perfumer?

It’s all about communication, one way or another.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in perfumery?

You must get a kick out of the process, the learning, the art and craft of it rather than view it as a nuisance. If what drives you is puzzling things out, learning, experimenting, making judgements about design, you might have the right kind of mentality to thrive. Depending on your age and life situation, you may have a variety of possible options to pursue or a narrow set of choices. Think about what you want your life to look like. Do you want to be securely employed with a good salary, or do you want to live a bit more like an artist who may not be that affluent but could have a bit more freedom? Maybe you are young enough to do the corporate bit first, earn enough money to put to one side and then start your own studio or a brand. Whatever you do, try to get some education in chemistry and French (if at all possible); they’re not required but they will help you a lot along the way. Think about what you’d be willing to sacrifice if you aren’t in a position of privilege. Can you relocate? Would you be willing to work for a company whose main business is matching?

What’s next for you in your career?

There are a few launches coming up over the next few months, I wish I could tell you more but I’ll refer you back to the waiting bit. Some fine fragrances and more heading out in various markets. I’ve also written a book that is somewhat autobiographical, somewhat political and quite unconventional. I am in the process of assembling the team for its design and publication.

Thank you, Pia. It was fascinating to get an insight into a day in your life. I hope you’ll invite us back to work with you one day. We promise to be well behaved.

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Now that we’ve grilled Pia about what it’s like to be a perfumer, it seems only right that we talk about some of her work. If you’re not familiar with Pia’s creations, here are five you should seek out.

Terror and Magnificence by Beaufort London – Inspired by Hawksmoor’s Spitalfields church, this is a salty, smoky take on incense that has a brooding, dark intensity. Embers rising up from the crypt through the cracks in the stone floor, filling the wide, expansive space.

Verdant by Eau de Boujee – The best green fragrance that has ever existed. The smell of lush monstera leaves overflowing with rainwater amongst a desolate cityscape of rocks and concrete. In the height of summer there is no greater fragrance to wear.

Gilded by Eau Boujee – The smell of smoky, silvery church incense wrapped in gold leaf. This is a fragrance that manages to smell like cold metal. An introspective fragrance with a glowing, radiant signature.

Spirit by Vallense – A sexy sport cologne with an abundance of fresh mint and a classic, old-school fougére structure at the heart. It’s very white shirt, buttons undone, sexy chest rug. I don’t know about you but I’m here for that, personally.

Honeyism by MOH London – A delightfully twinkly and cheeky take on honey that is sweet, golden, and glowing, but also very naughty. It’ll make you say “oh honey”.