Sunday, August 23, 2015

Modern Urban Sensory Experiences heads to Pitti Fragranze in Florence



For my birthday, I received a flight to Florence Italy to attend Pitti Fragranze, one of the premier  international fragrance trade-shows in the world. When given this surprise, I was in disbelief and excited. Anxiety set in and the notion of going, let alone, preparing and planning the trip became overwhelming. The internal debate, "Should I go now, or wait?" had me deliberating for a couple of days.  I reached out to one of my IG followers, Pefumemistress, who owns a fragrance boutique in Dublin, to pick her brain about the show and ask if she was attending. She told me, "the time to go is, NOW and waiting until spring shouldn't be an option." After a few nights of hard core thinking, I woke up one morning and committed to going. I booked the flight the same afternoon and started to look for a hotel, many of which were sold out already.  Its Sunday and I'm still looking for a hotel but everyday it gets closer to departing, I become more getty. Attending and representing Modern Urban Sensory Experiences (MUSE) internationally is pretty cool! Having the opportunity to explore perfumery, while simultaneously bringing a different presence and perspective to the trade-show, even better!  I look forward to sharing this experience with each of you on the blog and on Instagram.

About Pitti Fragranze

"From Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September 2015, the Stazione Leopolda will host  Pitti Fragranze. The international fair that brings the world’s finest artistic perfumery to Florence is a Pitti Immagine production. The outstanding observatory looking at the galaxy of scents, Fragranze presents the most exclusive essences, the finest artisan quality, wellness products, cosmetics and sophisticated accessories made by more than 230 of the world’s best names in the industry
              

Every year in September, the greatest names and the world’s most prestigious noses gather in Florence to discuss what’s happening on the olfactory scene and the myriad links between fragrance and contemporary lifestyles."

Additional information:
http://www.pittimmagine.com/en/corporate/fairs/fragranze/news/2015/fragranze13.html

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Early Fall Fragrance Release: ODIN 12 Lacha

With September around the corner, there will be a hosts of new fragrances released in time for you to  switch it up for Fall/winter. Odin New York's latest addition, Odin 12 Lacha, sounds like it will make a nice seasonal fragrance for men or women. "A spicy blend of black pepper, rare Lacha saffron-(a spice known for its multiple threads and fibers filled with taste and aroma). Saffron is commonly cultivated in Spain, Iran, or Italy. Lacha Saffron, however, is from Kashmir and is extremely difficult to obtain due to vegetative/weather conditions and tough export restrictions from India. However, ODIN has managed to sprinkle a little bit of this unique saffron into there fragrances.

The Inspiration: Indian Culture.
For whom: Men and Women. 
The notes: "black pepper, Lacha saffron, nutmeg and carnation, flowers, sandalwood, leather, and patchouli.  
The Price: $165 100ml #theMUSExperience #yousmellgood #scentstyle #scentedinspiration #fragranceinspiration #standout 

Monday, August 17, 2015

Montreal Perfumer adds Soul to her Scents

#ScentDesign: #Perfumer Dana El Masri's, Jazmin Saraii's fragrance collection seeks inspiration from  musical genres and artists like, Sade, Otis Redding, Hip-Hop, Rhythm and Blues, and Rock. The song selections, mixed with her creativity and artistry caught my attention, as I was strolling IG.  I appreciate music and originality and will order a sample pack to explore further. I've  included a review of the collection from fellow blogger, Colognoisseur. http://www.colognoisseur.com/new-perfume-reviews-jazmin-sarai-otis-me-how-you-love-neon-graffiti-and-led-iv-songs-in-the-key-of-scent/

http://jazminsarai.com/otis&me.html

Sunday, August 9, 2015

4am Summer Rain…Memories and SCENT

I've been meaning to share a fascinating experience I had a couple of Mondays ago but didn't have time to write until today. Do you like the smell of rain? I do. This post is about an experience I had in the early hours as it poured raining outside my window. There is something calming, sensual, therapeutic, and tranquil about rain and its after scent. It's been two weeks and the details of that night are as clear as they were on August 4.

It was 4:14 am when the smell of rain awoke me from my sleep. The scent was intense, so much it entered my nose, flowed through my subconscious, and then somehow told the brain to open my eyes.  The rain was pretty heavy that night and the thunder loud. Yet, the smell of rain that awoke me. How can I be certain?  Well, normally, loud, violent, and unsuspecting sounds, like thunder, a gun shot (hey, I live in NYC), or the fall of a piece of art from a wall in the middle of the night, can startle someone causing fear or a tense reaction; however, that wasn't the case. My eyes opened rather calmly and naturally. I smelled rain before hearing it. I guess the night breeze had something to do with the movement of the scent across my nose and throughout my room.  It was a perfectly quiet summer night, complete with some humidity and a subtle breeze. For a few moments, I laid in bed listening to the natural down pour and welcoming the air against my partially covered body. The quietness of the room made it very easy for me to drift into my thoughts.  I turned over to grab my iPad mini as something told me to write down what was happening in that moment. I unlocked it and begin typing in darkness. This is what I jotted down: down pour, loud, roar, breeze, sleepy, thunder, loud, tired, alone, stillness, quiet, down, intermuntwnr (I have no idea what that last word is but I typed it maybe as I was falling back to sleep-who knows).

My reaction to the smell of rain was strange and instinctive. Strange because the encounter was new and instinctive because it was automatic.  I recall waking up twice that morning and both times the sound of rain wasn't the immediate trigger; instead, it was the smell and the roar of thunder. It's hard to describe the scent of rain but before I drifted back to sleep the first time, I wondered how'd  I describe what I was smelling, had someone asked me to.  I knocked back out before answering the question but thinking about it now, I'd say rain has a distinctive smell to it. It's  fresh, earthy, natural, wet, green, chemical-like, grassy (kind of like the smell of grass after it gets mowed), airy, light, welcoming, pleasant, and euphoric. Don't get me wrong, I've been on this earth for 34 years and I have smelled rain before. Yet, never before have my senses and emotions been so intertwined, heightened, or engaged over rain, out of all things! This is what scent does, it extracts and creates complexities that triggers a reaction, expression, or memory. The sense of smell is connected to a lot.  It brings about awareness and acts as a trigger of sort.  Before you see or hear, you smell first (at least, I believe so). That night I smelled the scent of rain; it awoke me from my sleep. From that, an authentic connection between me and rain fall was created and a new memory embedded. For me, the scent of rain is no longer  what comes after a down pour;  instead, it's a reminder of a summer night in August I laid sprawled across my bed filled with  emotion, inner peace, and late night thoughts.

Do you have any summer rain memories?

I am attaching a video by Carl Thomas called, Summer Rain. The song is not only good  R&B music but the lyrics are similar to what I write about in this post…It's such a sexy song that brings back such wonderful memories.

 " Storming Outside/rain she keeps me home Quiet conversations makes me warm/So Summer rain Whispers me to sleep and wakes me up again/Sometimes I swear I hear her call my name to wash away the pain/My summer rain…"