How to make Big Money selling perfume oils over the internet
Step One: Decide what "persona" your perfume house is going to have. Gothic nerd, a la BPAL? Whimsical yet cultivated nerd, a la Possets? Exotic nerd, a la Conjure Oils? Egyptology nerd, a la Nocturne Alchemy? ("Effortlessly cool normal person" doesn't seem to be a popular theme. Maybe it's the "sitting around in your kitchen surrounded by lab glassware trying to decide whether jasmine sambac and green musk would be better complemented by neroli or bergamot" factor inherent in the whole enterprise.)
Step Two: Find some public domain artwork that fits your theme, for use on your web page. Since technology for printable perfume samples is still in its infancy, your web design is important for setting the mood. Nothing says "this smells like the perversely glamorous dark side of Belle Epoque Paris" like post-Impressionist poster art.
Step Three: actually study perfumery. If you're doing it kitchen-sink style, you don't need to be a full-fledged organic chemist, but you do need to learn what all the different musks are, the difference between neroli and orange blossom, and what the heck "amber" is in a perfume context and if it has anything to do with fossilized tree resin, sperm whales with indigestion or Roger Zelazny. (As it turns out, no.)
Step Four: ????
Step Five: Profit!
Step Two: Find some public domain artwork that fits your theme, for use on your web page. Since technology for printable perfume samples is still in its infancy, your web design is important for setting the mood. Nothing says "this smells like the perversely glamorous dark side of Belle Epoque Paris" like post-Impressionist poster art.
Step Three: actually study perfumery. If you're doing it kitchen-sink style, you don't need to be a full-fledged organic chemist, but you do need to learn what all the different musks are, the difference between neroli and orange blossom, and what the heck "amber" is in a perfume context and if it has anything to do with fossilized tree resin, sperm whales with indigestion or Roger Zelazny. (As it turns out, no.)
Step Four: ????
Step Five: Profit!