In a world where bespoke everything is increasingly enticing, having your own fragrance is the ultimate, pièce de résistance. And we're not talking the celebrity kind where a 'signature' scent is developed for the mass market (a process they have approximately one per cent input into) but the truly bespoke kind. The kind where a fragrance is developed uniquely for you, stamped with your personality and with your 100 per cent creative involvement. What more could any woman want?

The former supermodel, Claudia Schiffer, added weight (and no doubt hundreds of names to the waiting list) to the bespoke market last Christmas by admitting a bespoke perfume was on her wish list. So, we got the lowdown from the UK's top perfumers on what's involved in getting a personalised signature scent.

Lyn Harris, Miller Harris

Development time: Three months

Waiting list for clients: 18 months

Cost: £8,000

Contact: Miller Harris on 020 7629 7750 or 020 7221 1545. Email Mayfairstore@millerharris.com or Nottinghillstore@millerharris.com

A relatively young and trendy perfumer, Lyn Harris is as renowned for her work with the Primrose Hill set as she is for her city clients. Trained the traditional way at an elite fragrance school in France, she spent years learning her craft before moving to Grasse in the South of France, the epicentre of the fragrance industry. After completing her study and apprenticeship, she returned to the UK, working in the industry until realising her dream and setting up her own perfumery in 2000 with her partner, Christophe. Her bespoke business, however, has been running for much longer. She took on her first private client 15 years ago, developing a unique fragrance for them out of her domestic laboratory. These days, all the mixing is done at Lyn's original store in Notting Hill. Her second Miller Harris shop is in Mayfair (21 Bruton Street) and there are further plans for expansion in 2008.

1. Lyn begins by meeting you for an initial consultation in her laboratory with hundreds of different fragrances and raw materials. Through conversations on holidays, memories, your background and what makes you tick, she determines the essence of your personality through smell, while getting your feedback on a variety of scents and raw materials. Your hair colour and skin texture is also an important part of the perfume composition. The consultation can last anything between one and six hours.

2. Over the next six to eight weeks, Lyn will develop three different routes for the bespoke fragrance, creating three different formulas. She then invites you back for a second consultation where you take the first perfume away and try it out, wear it, live with it and reflect on it. The same process applies with the next two scents.

3. Once you have chosen the scent you like best, Lyn makes all the necessary adjustments. It is then registered in Grasse, the centre of perfumery and the bottle will be engraved with your name and presented to you. The scent can also be adapted into a lighter, daytime version, incorporated into a body cream or included in scented candles, which many of her clients like to do as Christmas gifts.

Valentine's Day treat? While your name is on the waiting list for a bespoke perfume, why not take advantage of the consultations Miller Harris are offering between 8 and 15 February this month. A private consultation for two involves being introduced to the finest raw materials in perfumery while chatting through yours and your partner's collective tastes, memories and favourite ingredients over a glass of champagne. The Miller Harris consultant will then match your tastes to two different perfumes from their exclusive range of over 20 fragrances. The consultation, champagne and both bottles of perfume engraved with your names are inclusive for £250.

Roja Dove, Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, fifth floor of Harrods

Development time: Six months to a year

No waiting list applies

Cost: £20,000

Contact: rdpr@rdprgroup.com for bespoke fragrances. For Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, contact Annette Nejad at 020 7893 8797

Working in the industry for 30 years, Roja spent 20 of these with Guerlain, widely considered to be the finest perfumery house to ever exist. Seven years ago, he opened his own firm, with a bespoke fragrance business that launched following a request to develop a scent which would be auctioned by Christies for charity. "I decided it would be stupid to create a fragrance because if somebody didn't like it, they wouldn't bid for it." So, he had an exclusive Baccarat bottle blown which the winning bidder would then have filled with their own, bespoke perfume. In 2004, he opened his haute parfumerie in Harrods which offers a range of consultations and perfumery services but does not include his bespoke business. He continues to conduct this separately.

1. Roja will first meet you at his Marylebone office or travel to wherever you live. 'Over a pot of tea' he will get to know you so that the perfume process is ready to start by the next meeting.

2. On the second meeting, he will introduce a range of smells. He starts with 'top notes', the volatile fragrances which evaporate quickly (like Citrus) and ends with base notes, the fragrances which hold on the skin and linger. He takes notes on your responses and comments throughout the four/five hour meeting, creating a book of suggestions which are unique to you.

3. Roja develops three or four perfume variants which you then trial on the third meeting. Modifications and notes are made on each of the variations and the perfume is inserted into a bottle blown by Baccarat, the world's finest crystal house. The scent can be modified for different usages as requested.

Valentine's Day treat? Consultations with Roja (£250) or one of his team (£50, redeemable against any purchase) at the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie are popular gifts. You will be taken on a perfume journey and, through questions and conversation, the team will determine the perfume that best suits you. What sets Urban Retreat apart is its collection of perfumes. A number of commercial perfume collections which Roja rates highly, such as Guerlain and Lalique, sit alongside his own trilogy of scents; Scandal, Unspoken and Enslaved.

For a more tailored option, ask to smell the scent in his drawer. Roja has created seven unique scents for the true perfume connoisseur, with only 50 bottles of each scent created. When the fiftieth person has bought the scent, the book is closed and only those who have it can buy it in future. So far, the book has been closed on his no. 1 and no. 2 scents. A small number remain of his other five. These cost £1,000 and are presented in a perfumer's flask with a funnel. A bottle can be bought separately.

Buying a perfume? Lyn and Roja's don'ts…

…be tempted by establishments who create a cheaper, quick fix, semi-bespoke perfume. Here, the perfume mix is already created and clients simply add one or two ingredients. "Commercial perfumes are 80-85 synthetic. As well as the scent not lasting long, I believe cheap raw materials make you smell cheap," admits Roja.

…buy with your ego. People buying a 'Chanel' do so with the rational side of their brain rather than the emotional side, which governs smell. When the 'high' of purchasing the bottle wears off, it is often left untouched because they don't feel anything emotional for the smell.

…ask for something that's 'not too strong'. There's no such thing as a strong odour, scent is very subjective. When babies are born, they're not able to tell a bad smell from a good one, so smell is a learned response. As a result, if the first time you smell something and something positive happens, that smell will have a positive association. The opposite is the case with a negative event happens. The smell is associated with that.

By Barbara Walshe