One of my absolute favourite fragrance ingredients is Labdanum, also known as Cistus or Rock Rose. It was first mentioned as a perfume ingredient by Herodotus in the 5th century BC. This resinous material is incredibly versatile and can have warm, smoky, woody, powdery, amberry and sensual nuances. Labdanum has an affinity for skin which gives compositions tenacity, without being overwhelming.

Lemon-scented eucalyptus essential oil has such an uplifting, joyous aroma, it is like liquid sunshine. It imparts Daisy Chain with a feeling of pure happiness. Daisy Chain also contains orris, from the dried rhizome of the iris flower. This is a beautiful, if expensive, base note. Many modern perfumes use artificial iris substitutes but I have used real orris in the creation of Daisy Chain. The scent develops a softness and smoothness in the dry down not achieved by artificial substitutes.

Peru Balsam imparts a sweet, warm finish to amber and oriental fragrances with a hint of cinnamon. Found in my green oriental Swan Dance and its sister scent, the floral oriental Serenade.

Essential oils from the flowers of the bitter orange tree can be distilled to produce neroli or extracted with solvent to produce orange flower absolute. The neroli oil is incredibly beautiful, fresh and green, but difficult to use. A little goes a long way. I have used neroli in my creation, Serenade.

The fragrance family known as fougere is based on an accord between lavender, oak moss and a component of tonka bean, called coumarin. These aromatic scents with refreshing citrus top notes are delicately balanced with rose or geranium "the masculine rose" in the heart. You can try my new masculine scent, 4 Gideon, at the expo. The scent is suffused with the transparent freshness of bergamot. This essential oil is extracted from the unripe peel of Citrus bergamia. The fruit is inedible, but the oil is heavenly. It has a high linalool content and is the only citrus oil not to have limonene as the dominant component.

The rose has been regarded as "Queen of the flowers" since ancient times. In England it became a national flower from the time of the War of the Roses (on which Game of thrones is loosely based). Royalty through the centuries have loved the rose and perfumes created from their essences. Queen Alexandra is said to have had a preference for "Essence of White Rose". Swan Dance, a green oriental by Pearl Perfumery, has a heart of rose absolute.

Aquatic and ozonic scents try to capture the freshness of air itself, or in the case of marine fragrances, the smell of the sea. Some scents achieve this with the synthetic ingredient, callone; but I created this effect with my perfume, Lotus Lane, by blending with Blue Lotus. It is a magical, mysterious, moody unisex scent - cool and blue as a pool.

Our dip'n'sniff table at the expo will give you a chance to train your nose to identify the different essential oils. Join us for a cornucopia of sensual delights at this year's Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo.

See you on the 18th November!