The latest on scents, houses and aromas
The October 2013 Olfactif collection tells the story of the rise and fall of a relationship. From the first giddy moments to the painful, solitary reflections on what could have been—and everything in between—it's all here, in three acts.
Anat Fritz was never content to follow the crowd. As a child, she felt and looked different from other kids—making her own clothes, cutting her own hair, and wearing perfume typically worn by much older women. It wasn't until she was an adult that suddenly, her unique artistic sense became a cause for celebration.
When Sabine Poncet Hernandez was growing up in France, she had two dreams: to make perfume and to live in the United States. Today, in Chicago, she does both. And it's a good thing for those of us who are wild her autumnal wonder Pleasant Promenade.
Landscapes are a frequent theme in perfume, as perfumers strive to recreate the essence of a place that moved them deeply. But how can a piece of land be so sacred? How can a bit of earth draw us back again and again? We explore these questions in our Landscapes collection.
Some perfumers build their own brands because they relish the creative freedom that comes with independence. But the vast majority of the world's perfumers—including some of the people who have created the most iconic perfumes in history—work for fragrance companies.
It's not unusual for lovers of perfume to be lovers of other art forms, and perfumers themselves often are influenced by the arts. But Anaïs Biguine took her love of literature to a new level when she created Jardins dÉcrivains, a line of fine perfumes, candles, and body products based entirely on the lives of her favorite authors and their characters.
When people in perfume talk about "rising stars," a name that comes up is Charna Ethier. Through her Providence Perfume Co., Charna has launched a library of natural scents that have won fans around the world and even FiFi nominations. (In the perfume industry, these might as well be the Academy Awards.)
Is there any month that inspires such mixed emotions as August? According to the calendar, it's summer—the glorious peak of summer. But according to the rhythms of life, the march toward autumn and stillness has already begun.
Olfactif subscribers know that we're big fans of Sarah Horowitz, the creative mind and generous spirit behind Sarah Horowitz Parfums and Perfect Coconut Milk, a July Olfactif selection. Now Sarah is helping us delight one lucky winner with a custom-made perfume.
After working for years in the cosmetic industry, Patrice Cardenoso and Jérôme Bonnet had an epiphany: In an increasingly urban world, consumers were seeking ways to integrate nature back into their lives. They connected with talented perfumer Fabrice Olivieri to create a groundbreaking new line of fine fragrance that borrows from nature’s finest materials and combines them in a stylistic alchemy: old but new, natural but refined, urban but inextricably tied to the earth.
All perfumers take different routes to their craft, and those routes all have one thing in common: dogged persistence. But we haven't heard many stories as chock-full of determination and hard work as that of Sarah Horowitz, owner and founder of Sarah Horowitz Parfums. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Sarah—creator of the addictive, beachy Perfect Coconut Milk—is also talented, creative, and intensely passionate about scent. Here, she shares how she built a successful business, why she loves the one-on-one connection of customized scent creation, and the serendipitous story of how she stumbled into perfumery at all.
Neela Vermeire discusses her journey from lawyer to critically acclaimed perfume creator, her passion for experiencing art in all forms, and the inspiration behind her autobiographical scents -- especially the Olfactif subscriber favorite Bombay Bling.