#2013 spring fling

[manycutethings-blog]

Viva La Sniffa, baby! Day 2 & Tips to getting the most of your Sniffapalooza!

Day 2. Downtown.

Sniffa Day 2 was all about niche boutiques downtown. Different feel, somewhat different crowd.

It kick-started with the visit to the lavish bath product maker from the UK, Molton Brown. The brand has recently launched a line of fine fragrances, and we had the pleasure to experience them all. My hands got pampered with a lavish exfoliating treatment.

Osswald was our next stop.

(Photo: Patricia Choux and Thorsten Biehl, at Osswald, by Xenia)

Sniffers were given a warm welcome by Thorsten Biehl, the owner and the initiator of biehl. parfumkunstwerke, as well as Patricia Choux, one of the six noses creating for the brand. We learned about the perfumery, sampled several of Patricia's creations and got bunches of perfume samples that Osswald staff kindly prepared for us. It was a great visit. What an amazing place! And check out their mini fragrance collection!

Next - MiN perfumery. And let me tell you something about MiN. If I had to choose the friendliest, most easy-going niche perfume store that ever existed, MiN would be it.

(Photo: courtesy of shopikon.com)

You know the feeling when you are in a candy store and you can try every candy - and just play? For a perfume lover - this would be MiN! Amazingly friendly staff of this apothecary-style perfume shop were a delight - we did not want to leave! So many great new scents! I was finally able to experience a new line of niche fragrances, Kerosene, which is made in Michigan. I need to get me some Unknown Pleasures, which to my nose was a perfect tea-time combination of Earl Grey and a freshly baked gingerbread cookie. The most delightful gourmand perfume!

(Photo: courtesy of houseofkerosene.com)

During lunch we had a few more presentations. A very unique fragrance company from Australia, Nomad Two Worlds, presented their second creation, Sea Spirit. It actually contains pearl extract, giving the fragrance its white color and rich, milky and marine (!) scent. A seemingly incongruous combo, but it is a wonderful, mild and feminine fragrance!

(Photo: by Xenia)

Among other presenters - my dear friend, Lauren Fritsch, with her new, all organic perfume oil and balm line, Adalene (with the notes of rose, lavender, frankincense, eucalyptus... and pure love!). François Duquesne, introduced us to a new fragrance community, Fragrancerepublic.com, which will be supplying members with fragrance creations, directly from celebrity noses, skipping the retail. Ed the Frunkinator (which is how we know him online :) presented his new project, ScentTrails.com, which aims to put on the map perfume stores and events all over the world. Now we'll know exactly where to go perfume shopping when we travel!

One more downtown perfumery - Le Labo. Oh, do I have a bone to pick with them! Le Labo is great at making all of our world cities feel special by having an exclusive perfume, available only in that city. But since Sniffa visited the shop for a day, we were able to experience the exclusive scents. So... what a girl got to do if she is in love with Gaiac 10 (Tokyo exclusive)? Sounds like a perfume quest!

(Photo: courtesy of olfactoriastravels.com)

Atelier Cologne was one block down and we stopped there as well. I made a peculiar discovery. Their new fragrance, Mistral Patchouli, to me smells like a fresh, springy whiff of... old-fashioned, apothecary-style shaving cream! Gerard Camme, the president, who presented the fragrance to us a day earlier at BG, did not quite appreciate this comparison! :) But to me, it was a rather intriguing combination, although I personally won't be able to pull it off. I summoned my courage  and got a 1oz travel size of it just because it was so unique! To my delight, it got swiftly confiscated by the man of the household upon my return home, who is very picky. He LOVED it!. Turns out someone would love to smell like some old-fashioned shaving cream, because it is a very sexy man's fragrance. Just sayin'. :)

Last stop of Sniffa for me was Diptyque. This lovely boutique treated us to some champagne, which was greatly appreciated and made the sniffing experience special. Loveliest candles that I will be investing in when winter comes!..

And that, ladies and gents, is the kind of journey you are going to have at Sniffa. Your bag will soar with the perfume samples (which will take a couple of weeks to test and sniff). You'll find a few amazing perfumes that are going to grace your personal collection. And, the best part - meeting many amazing new people, including the renowned online fragrance activists you've been following on the "Internets". AMAZING!!!

(Photo with Karen Dubin: courtesy of Deborah Hollander)

Finally, here is my personal guide to getting the most of your next Sniffapalooza:

If it's your first Sniffa, just do both days to get the feel for what you like. Each day is very different in the feel and the experience, both equally fascinating. It's very much like comparing Upper East Side and Downtown. You get the idea. But... you get the most fun when you do both days, hands down!

Sign up early. Bergdorf's Breakfast is the best part and the most amazing kick-off for your journey on Day 1.

You WILL be running late everywhere, as it's just too good to leave! Watch your clock.

Meet and greet first, sniff second. I know, this is the opposite of what you expect to do at Sniffa, right? However, I personally think that it's important to use this opportunity to get to know the fragrance community, because you can always come back to sniff some more. When would you have another chance to speak to the fragrance house founders, celebrity noses, and just extraordinary sniffers? Exactly!

Don't buy unless you are FLOORED in complete AWE with a fragrance. There is just too much amazingness going on and it keeps on coming. Also, if unsure, many of the brands have sample services in store or online, therefore you could always get a sample first. BUY the exclusives you love, especially if you get amazing perks (such as your favorite perfumers' autographs, books, sample collections, etc.)

Bring alcohol-soaked napkins to wipe your skin on your arms. You will run out of clean skin surface pretty fast, even if you can physically reach every corner to sniff, including the elbows!

Ladies, no heels!..

If you do the meet and greet, Sniffa will keep on giving even when the event is over. Get in touch with all of your new fragrance friends!

BIG-BIG THANK YOU TO THE AMAZING TEAM KAREN, who have meticulously thought out and arranged every detail, as well as all of the incredible participants and presenters, who made this journey such an incredible experience!

Xoxos,

X

[manycutethings-blog]

Viva La Sniffa, baby! Day 1

It has been the most delightful experience attending Sniffapalooza's Spring Fling 2013 that has just happened during the weekend of May 4 & 5. An overwhelming amount of fragrances, great people - all obsessed with perfume - and special treats of meeting renowned perfumers, new niche brands and their makers... A sensory overload in the best sense of this word! Here is a (not so short) story of my first event (as well as a few tips for getting the most out of your next Sniffa in the very end).

The intention behind this blog post is for you to get a feel for what it's really like to attend Sniffa, therefore I'm supplying you with all the details and tales. Hope you enjoy!

(Photo: by Xenia)

So, what's Sniffapalozza? It is THE fragrance event that is an absolute must for those, who consider themselves perfume fanatics, and a great treat for the rest, who fancy a fragrant tour of "the best and the newest". The 2-day perfume extravaganza takes place twice a year in NYC, over a week-end in late Spring and early Fall. Started in 2002 by Karen Dubin, and joined shortly thereafter by Karen Adams, Sniffapalooza grew to an internationally-recognized fragrance event that launches major perfumes, hosts perfumers and brings people together from all over the world to celebrate (and indulge in!) perfume. This Sniffapalooza was #18 (!) and Team Karen, as they are collectively known in the circles, have no intentions of stopping any time soon. Viva La Sniffa, baby!

Day 1. Upper East Side.

If you are planning to attend the swanky department store day, signing up early and getting Bergdorf's Breakfast is a must, since it's limited only to the first 60 people who register (hint! hint!).

(Photo: courtesy of Karen Adams, via Sniffapalooza.com)

Bergdorf's Breakfast is as close as you could come to actually having Breakfast at Tiffany's, alongside with the first-hand experience of meeting the most dedicated bunch (and the Sniffapalooza founders!). While you feast on the breakfast yums, presenters take you on a fragrant tour of their latest launches, with blotters and blotters of fragrances. During Spring Fling 2013, the following labels greeted the sniffers with their newest: Prada, Tom Ford, Hermès, Annick Goutal, Guerlain, Chanel, Jo Malone, by Kilian, Antica Farmacia, Histoires de Parfums, Francis Kurkdjian, Creed, The Olfactive Studio, and Atelier Cologne, to name a few. The biggest surprise however awaited us in the very end. Everyone's heart stopped as a lavishly dressed man entered the room - it was Roja Dove of Roja Parfums, who has finally crossed the Atlantic from London!.. The crowd exploded in awe - Roja Dove is the world's sole man who carries the title of Professeur de Parfums, bestowed by Guerlain, where he started his path as a perfumer. It was a rather emotional moment for me as Roja Parfums, alongside with a few other renowned perfume encounters, have started my own perfume journey at Harrods, London... Roja told us his story of working at Guerlain and building his own perfume empire, while sprinkling it all with the the insight into his creative process. The perfumes by Roja are not for a shy bunch - the scents, like their names (and the maker!), are seductive and dangerous: Fetish, Enslaved, Scandal, Danger, Innuendo... with notes of leather, oud, ambergirs, castoreum and civet... Oh, but honey, they smell divine!

(Photo with Roja Dove: courtesy of Mark Thompson)

At the end of our breakfast, the crowd spilled to the perfume department at Bergdorf's, while being joined by the rest of the Day 1 attendees. I was completely smitten and overwhelmed to sniff much, as it was just too good: Les Exclusifs de Chanel; a huge selection of Annick Goutal at the counter with Tom Crutchfield, who rumors say, has been instrumental in Karen Dubin's own perfume journey; sampling the Roja Parfums, and The Olfactive Studio, with their amazing photography-inspired fragrances, presented by Kim-Van Dang. Lumière Blanche, condensed of pure light itself, and smelling of gorgeous woods, cardamom and iris (an olfactive symphony by my beloved nose, Sidonie Lancesseur), had to be taken home with no further thinking. Follow the nose, as they say - and I did! My face got a quick pampering at the Sisley counter as Becky has treated me and two other lucky sniffers to a quick facial.

(Photo: by Xenia)

Off we went to lunch, during which we heard several presentations on all things olfactive. One of my favorites was an introduction of a new perfume by Elena Knezhevich of Fragrantica. Enchanted Forest, the fragrance with the notes of freshly picked blackcurrant, smelled exactly as if they just have been picked off the bush, with the fuzz, the leaves, and the roots! This perfume has been inspired and co-created by Elena and the famous perfumer, Bertrand Duchaufour. Incredible fragrance, an absolute must for any Slavic perfume junkies out there - it smells like... childhood!

(Photo: courtesy of The Vagabond Prince)

Some of other presentations included Trendincite, a perfume trend company, who revealed the latest fragrance trends; Raymond Matts presented Cinquième Sens, the fragrance program launching a series of perfume classes with The Pratt Institute; Scenterprises, an organization behind creative olfactive events told us about building stronger teams with the help of fragrance; and Women in Flavor and Fragrance Commerce (WFFC) were launching a mentorship program for professionals and enthusiasts, to name a few.

Henri Bendel was our next stop. An overwhelming amount of divine fragrances! The biggest highlights for me were the creations by Union Fragrance, presented by the nose (aka the creator), Anastasia Brozler, who was there meeting and greeting everyone.

(Photo: courtesy of apetogentleman.com)

Being a marketing nut and the biggest advocate for aspirational shopping, I am always incredibly sensitive to the sales pitch situation (in fact, I would love to completely reinvent the fragrance shopping experience). Anastasia was amazing, telling us about her quest for natively grown ingredients in the British Isles and was attentive to everyone, independently of our purchasing intentions, which was so refreshing. Although I did not take a Union fragrance home right then, I got intrigued enough to ask for samples (which were kindly provided) and should be returning... for Holy Thistle! Holy rolling hills of Essex, it smells great!.. It's an amazing herbal/green fragrance, which my nose had to learn to appreciate over time. Amen! Next! 

Off we went to Krigler at the Plaza.

(Photo: courtesy of Krigler, via Examiner)

This was my first introduction to the shop. One of the iconic scents that captured my heart was Krigler #14, Lieber Gustav, the perfume worn by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and, if I remember correctly, Marlene Dietrich. Not surprisingly, it's a gorgeous woody aromatic man's fragrance with a hint of lavender and leather. With so many more Kriglers to sample, my nose (and my feet!) plead for mercy and I had to take a break with some yummy Kusmi tea and Caneles by Celine, which were kindly prepared for all the sniffers. It was 5 o'clock, time for tea! Krigler, I will be back!

Last trip of day 1 - Lord & Taylor, with the special presentation by The 7 Virtues perfumes. Four fragrances with the raw materials sourced far from the quiet meadows, mainly Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Middle East. This was truly a remarkable story how the founder, Barb Stegemann, came up with the idea of her business. The 7 Virtues really lives their motto: Make perfume, not war. I got an amazing token from this presentation. Being an Anglophile, I love this clever WW2 motivational poster, which The 7 Virtues took to the next level. Thank you so much, ladies!

(Photo: by Xenia)

XOXOS,

X