How Winning Fragrances Are Made: From Idea to Fragrance

How Fresh Scents® Air Freshener Sachets Are Made: From Idea to Fragrance

The short answer: a lot of love, a little science, and up to two years of work.

Every Fresh Scents® sachet you open has already been through a lot before it lands in your hands. It's been imagined, refined, tested, reworked, and vetted — sometimes for nearly two years. Curious what that actually looks like? We went behind the scenes with Senior Perfumer Emily Arce and Manager of Quality and Product Development Rachel Knauff to break it down.

Where Do Sachet Scents Come From?

It starts with a brainstorm — and not a small one. Twice a year, our in-house perfumers and brand creatives come together to develop what we call fragrance briefs. These are essentially mood boards: think colors, imagery, and potential fragrance notes that together capture a feeling or concept.

Inspiration comes from all directions. Trending flavors. Nature. Childhood memories. A gap in our current lineup. If there's a scent story worth telling, it's fair game.

Once the group narrows the briefs down to a few strong concepts, each perfumer takes the brief and runs with it — creating their own unique fragrance formula from the same starting point.

"We have been working on building diversity into our teams because I feel like so much about fragrance is what you're passionate about," says Arce. "You can't have one cookie-cutter interpretation because fragrance is art. We all have the same medium, but we create a different masterpiece."

That perspective shapes everything. A perfumer developing a sweet tea scent, for instance, might bring a distinct edge if they grew up in the South. Lived experience is part of the formula.

How Long Does It Take to Develop a Sachet Fragrance?

The refinement process can take up to two years — and that's by design.

After the initial formulas are created, our team brings in an outside panel of testers. With no mood board context in front of them, panelists weigh in on one key question: Does this fragrance actually feel like what we were going for? Their feedback shapes everything from scent to packaging.

Meanwhile, our in-house artist gets to work on the design. Packaging goes through multiple rounds of revisions based on input from perfumers, creatives, and the panel — with subtle updates made until the group lands on something that feels right.

How Is a Scented Sachet Tested for Quality?

Once the fragrance is finalized, it gets combined with vermiculite — the mineral base that gives our sachets their long-lasting staying power.

"They take that fragrance oil and put it into the vermiculite medium so they're able to make sure that it's hitting all of our predetermined shelf-life markers," explains Knauff. "And that includes different types of conditions: humidity, heat, freeze, thaw."

Every product is then tested for safety — both internally and by third-party labs — before it ever hits a shelf. So when a sachet is in your closet, drawer, or car, you can trust it's been through the wringer (in the best way).

What Makes Fresh Scents Sachets Different From Other Air Fresheners?

Candles need a flame. Plug-ins need an outlet. Sprays need you to remember to use them. Fresh Scents sachets? Just place one where you want fragrance and shake to refresh whenever you need a boost. No flame, no mess, just fresh.

And because every scent goes through years of development — with real perfumers, real testers, and real quality standards — you're getting more than just a good-smelling sachet. You're getting a fragrance that was genuinely crafted.

Final Thoughts

Not every sachet we launch becomes a bestseller. But every single one we release is a step in a process we're proud of — one that's been going strong since 1975.

So next time you tuck a sachet into your drawer or hang one in your car, you'll know: a lot went into making that moment happen.

Emily's personal favorite? Bee Happy. What's yours?