FRAGRANCE DEVELOPMENT PRICING
Every fragrance project is unique.
Unlike buying a fragrance from a catalogue, bespoke fragrance development doesn't have a fixed price because every project is specific to what you're creating.
Asking how much a bespoke fragrance costs is a little like asking how much it costs to build a house. Without knowing what you're trying to create, it's impossible to give a meaningful answer. The scope, complexity, materials and amount of development required can all influence the final cost.
Our approach is designed to keep the initial investment proportionate, while giving you the flexibility to continue refining your fragrance where needed.
Development in Stages
Rather than building the cost of an unknown number of revisions into the initial price, we approach fragrance development in stages.
Your initial development covers an agreed scope, allowing us to create the first fragrance prototypes and establish whether we're moving in the right direction.
Once you've reviewed the initial development, we can refine the strongest direction based on your feedback. Further development can then be quoted as it is needed, depending on the changes you would like to make.
Some fragrances reach the desired result relatively quickly, while others require more exploration. A staged approach means you're paying for the development your project actually needs rather than committing upfront to an assumed number of revisions.
Working With Your Budget
There are two different costs to consider when developing a bespoke fragrance: the cost of developing it and the cost of producing the finished formula.
Development Budget
Where possible, we can adjust the scope of development to work within different budgets. This might mean focusing on a single fragrance, limiting the number of development rounds or simplifying the scope of the project.
Bespoke fragrance development does have a minimum viable cost, so not every budget will be suitable. If you let us know your budget when enquiring, we can advise what's realistically achievable.
Production Budget
Your development budget is separate from the cost of manufacturing the final fragrance.
The materials and quantities used in the finished formula determine its production cost. If you have a target cost, we'll take this into account throughout development and select materials accordingly.
The exact production cost can't be known until the formula has been developed. Your target gives us a practical cost range to work within, rather than a figure the formula needs to reach exactly.
Where a brief calls for particularly expensive materials, such as natural oud, we'll discuss the likely impact on production costs before development.
What Influences the Cost?
Every fragrance project is different, but there are several main factors that influence development costs.
The Brief
A clear brief makes for a more efficient development process.
When we understand the fragrance direction, your preferences and what matters most to you, we can focus development within a defined creative space.
A broad or unclear direction may require more exploration before we understand what you're looking for, increasing the amount of development required.
→ Learn how to brief a fragrance
Materials
Fragrance materials vary enormously in cost.
Some cost less than £100 per kilogram, while others can exceed £100,000 per kilogram.
Expensive materials don't automatically create better fragrances. Some exceptional fragrances are built around relatively inexpensive materials. The goal is to choose the right materials for your brief, your product and your budget rather than simply the most expensive ingredients available.
Where the cost of a particular material presents a challenge for the intended production budget, we can explore alternative approaches while preserving the overall fragrance direction.
Complexity
Some fragrance ideas are relatively straightforward to develop. Others involve more creative or technical variables and require greater exploration.
Complexity can come from the fragrance itself, the intended product, technical requirements or the difficulty of achieving a particular effect.
A more complex project doesn't necessarily produce a better fragrance, but it may require more development to reach the intended result.
Refinement
The amount of refinement required is one of the biggest variables in the overall cost of bespoke fragrance development.
Initial prototypes are designed to explore different interpretations of the direction agreed in your brief. From there, your feedback helps us identify what should be developed further.
If additional development is required beyond the agreed scope, we'll discuss the next stage and provide a quote before continuing.
This gives you control over how far you want to take the development rather than committing to an open-ended process from the beginning.
How Long Does Development Take?
Every project is different, but fragrance development typically takes several weeks to a few months, depending on the complexity of the brief and the amount of development required.
Fragrance also needs time to mature throughout the development process. Each new formulation or refinement typically needs 2-4 weeks to settle before it can be properly evaluated. If further changes are needed, the process is repeated until the fragrance is ready for approval.
LEARN MORE
Every Great Fragrance Starts with a Great Brief
Learn how to communicate your ideas, explore fragrance directions and create a brief that leads to better results.
Wondering What to Expect?
Discover how we develop fragrances, from the initial brief through to the final fragrance.
How Much Does Fragrance Development Cost?
Understand how we price fragrance development and the factors that influence project costs.
Have More Questions?
Find answers to the questions we're asked most often about fragrance development, ownership, timelines and more.