Tag: anniversary

Wedding Anniversary Scents [Part Two]

Following on from our feature on the first five wedding anniversary scents, based on the symbols traditionally used to mark their occasion, this week we are continuing the theme with a look at years six through to ten, each rendered in fragrant form.

Now, these scent suggestions aren’t merely for those celebrating to give each other as gifts (though of course that’s a lovely idea!) but as jumping-off points for some new perfumes everyone should explore. Which symbol and year takes your fancy in these fragrances…?

 

 

6th Wedding Anniversary – Sugar

Scent Suggestion – Memoize London Humanitas

According to weddingplanner.co.uk the reason sugar is the symbolic offering for a sixth wedding anniversary is because ‘…now your marriage is getting really sweet! Six years is the perfect time to indulge in some sugary treats or go out for tea and plenty of cake.’ Might we suggest a longer-lasting gift would be the sweetness captured in fragrant form (but definitely not tooth-rot-inducing)?

This emotional scent memory-capturing house evoke deep-seated fragrant connections to our innermost feelings, here swirling joyously fruity top notes of lusciously piquant passion fruit, juicy peach and fresh orange zest into a heart of powdery iris, addictive heliotrope, gorgeously waxy magnolia, rose and lily. The abundant bouquet of floral notes sits so perfectly atop the warmth of the base: amber crystals, musk, silky Indian sandalwood, Kashmirwood all dusted with icing sugar that feels as though it dances in the air.

£177 for 100ml extrait de parfum in the shop

 

 

 

7th Wedding Anniversary – Wool

Scent Suggestion – Electimuss Mercurial Cashmere

‘Wool keeps you snug and warm – as does the love you and your partner provide for each other’ offers the wedding planning website. They continue: ‘Some cosy clothing or throws make great gifts for year seven.’ Indeed. But make sure it’s not seven year itchy! We’d suggest investing in a scnt you could both share and adore (if you feel generous enough, that is, once you’ve smelled this…)

A fragrance to ride with us amidst a marriage’s moods, maybe? ‘The most popular of the gods, Mercury was adored for his irresistible charm and wit and the inspiration for this sensuous and seductive scent.’ With an alluring character, the cloud of cardamom-flecked iris swirls to the buttered warmth of tonka and amber touched by cashmere’s creamy caress. Especially good at granting you backbone and strength, we say: wear this fluffy, irresistible scent and feel better for every possible perfumed mood-swing!

£225 for 100ml pure parfum electimuss.com

 

 

 

8th Wedding Anniversary – Salt

Scent Suggestion – BDK Sel d’Argent

‘Salt provides flavour in every meal; here it represents the fact that your love is a necessity in your life, adding flavour. We have to admit we’re a little stumped for gift ideas for this one – try a set of luxury salt and pepper shakers, or cook a delicious meal for your partner (with just the right amount of salt!).’ Well, we think most couples have salt shakers by their eighth year together, and offer a more creative suggestion, here.

Cast away thoughts of old-fashioned 90s beach scents and allow your dreams to drift to this blissful, contemporary evocation instead. Close your eyes and imagine the salty kiss of warm skin, a sheer, breezy orange blossom shot through with the zesty, uplifting sparkle of grapefruit and crunchy green galbanum. It’s the scent of sunlight dancing on waves, somewhere fabulously expensive. Perhaps this could be your ‘second honeymoon in a bottle’ scent? Or, if you’re feeling truly moved to celebrate, why not book a romantic seaside getaway to accompany the fragrance?

£155 (at time of writing, on offer for £108.500 for 100ml eau de parfum harrods.com

 

 

 

9th Wedding Anniversary – Copper

Scent Suggestion – Commes des Garçons Copper

‘Like a 9-year marriage, copper conducts and generates heat. Gorgeous copper cookware would make a great gift for a 9th wedding anniversary – or if you are more artistic, perhaps a sculpture.’ Again, we’re going to go all out on a limb and say we think the majority of couples who’ve been married nine years probably have cookware coming out of their ears and would welcome more cupboard space. We’d go for this modern beauty, instead.

A scent like no other, the design house continued their exploration of un-tapped sensorial scents in Copper, with perfumer Alienor Massenet creating an ethereal gleam that feels like alchemy on the skin. Going from ultra-green sap-laden notes of verdant new shoots it segues into a brightness of blackcurrant softened by tobacco leaf and a tingle of ginger. As it warms further, the deliciously smooth base notes emerge – rich vanilla rippled with glowing amber and resinous myrrh. It’s quite a thrilling journey – just like the best relationships can be.

£120 for 100ml eau de parfum harveynichols.com

 

 

10th Wedding Anniversary – Tin

Scent Suggestion – Elementals Metal

‘‘A decade of marriage is an incredible achievement. The use of tin as a symbol of a 10th anniversary comes from the fact that tin is durable, does not corrode and is used to preserve food. With metal, gift ideas can either be practical – home ware or cookware – or more decorative like vases, engraved goblets or candle holders.’ Yes, okay. Practical can be good. But to celebrate a decade of being together? Let’s try creative…

This soul-led independent scent house say the inspiration here was that ‘…Metal is about wisdom, true leadership and introspection. ELEMENTALS Metal sparkles with the brilliance of courage, strength and inner wisdom.’  There’s a metallic glint here, too, which so beautifully cuts through the ‘innovative marriage of pungent herbs and spices’ as they put it. We particularly love the beautifully balanced birch tar that simply swoons into the arms of white blossoms. Both emboldening and romantic, it’s the scent to reach for when you realise how far you’ve grown together.

€165 for 100ml eau de parfum elementalfragrances.com

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Scents for summer wedding anniversaries: Paper, Cotton, Leather, Fruit & Wood

One glance at social media or magazines is enough to know that Summer is all about wedding fever, and instead of following the usual path of suggesting fragrances for those getting married, or their guests, this year we thought it would be far more interesting (and relevant for more people!) to look at traditional symbols of the first five wedding anniversaries and match them to gorgeously summery scents.

It doesn’t matter if you look at these to purchase for yourself, or as a gift for friends and family you know are celebrating – whatever the reason (even if there’s no anniversary at all), these fragrances are stunning enough to warrant your further investigation.

 

 

 

 

So, how did the whole wedding anniversary symbol thing begin? It is thought that wedding anniversaries have long been celebrated with particular symbols pertinent to the year being marked. The tradition is thought to have begun in the Middle Ages, which the wedding venue Gosfield Hall rather solemnly remind us is probably because ‘…in those days, a lot of people didn’t live long enough to reach these milestones, so it was something to celebrate if they did.’ Nowadays the embittered cynics among us might ponder if the tradition continues apace because many marriages don’t live that long, so every milestone is worth noting. But let us banish such poe-faced reflections and focus instead on the always happy-making topic of fragrance, instead. Here are the first five such milestones, with descriptions of the symbols via weddingplanner.co.uk, and suggestions for the most suitable scents to celebrate…

 

 

 

1st Wedding Anniversary – Paper

Scent Suggestion – Diptyque L’Eau Papier

‘One year of marriage is symbolised by paper because a new marriage is like a blank sheet of paper and still delicate. It also helps that it offers budget-friendly gift ideas, as a couple in the first year of marriage might still be managing their budget after the wedding!’

What is the scent of paper? That’s how every Diptyque creation begins: a blank sheet, a pen, ink, ideas. Fabrice Pellegrin was tasked here with conjuring up diluted ink and artistic brushstrokes. Powdery mimosa and white musks are mistily ethereal, with a rice steam accord adding to the sense of paperiness and roasted sesame for the inkiness. Alex Waline’s pointillist label completes a modern masterpiece that couldn’t be more Diptyque if it tried.

From £90 for 50ml eau de parfum diptyqueparis.com

 

 

 

_JULIETTE_HAS_A_GUN_MUSC_INVISIBLE

2nd Wedding Anniversary – Cotton

Scent Suggestion – Juliette Has a Gun Musc Invisible

‘Traditionally your second wedding anniversary is represented by cotton. This is because the threads of you and your partner’s lives are becoming ever-more interwoven, like making cotton (cute, right?).’

‘A fluffy scent as comfortable and unfussy as your favourite old jeans,’ Romano Ricci promises with this powdery-musk bliss. ‘As appropriate at work as on a casual date.’ We’d wear this anywhere, to be honest, it’s simply sublime to snuggle up to, dreamily blending radiant jasmine absolute with almost nose-tinglingly soft cotton flower, resting on a featherbed of soul soothing white musk. Want a scent to wear every day, not only for an anniversary or special occasion? This could be your new go-to.

From £90 for 50ml eau de parfum Johnlewis.com

 

3rd Wedding Anniversary – Leather

Scent Suggestion – MEMO French Leather

‘No, that’s not why! Leather was traditionally used as a protective layer against bad weather, so the third anniversary is about security and shelter. Leather is also long-lasting, as your marriage will be.’

Deceptively nonchalant, this is a leather to wear when you want it to be your saucy little secret rather than up front and personal for all to see (and smell). The leather here is subtly slipped in to a bouquet of roses, with a background of lime, pink pepper, clary sage, juniper and a rounded, woody base. We see this being shared by couples who love a G&T, and enjoy communicating via exaggerated pouts and deftly arched eyebrows.

£230 for 75ml eau de parfum harveynichols.com

 

4th Wedding Anniversary – Fruit & Flowers

Scent Suggestion – edeniste Love Lifeboost™

‘At four years your marriage is blossoming and ripening, so it is represented by fruit and flowers…’

Having worked with top neuroscientists to prove the efficacy of the way our brains react to the scents, this one proffers ripe cherries, green leaves, radiant jasmine and tuberose with a duo of roses feel like a wearable giggle of delight, the smooth, woody dry down a hug that keeps going. We also adore the the description the house gives this scent, saying it’s ‘A gesture of scented self-care that twists the traditional ideals of love…’

£68 for 30ml eau de parfum in our shop

5th Wedding Anniversary – Wood

Scent Suggestion – Cochine Tuberose Absolute & Sandalwood

‘Wood is the symbol of a five-year marriage because of its source: trees. Trees are a symbol of strength, wisdom and time – all things a solid marriage has. Trees also have roots and at 5 years your marriage is now deeply established.’

Passionately luminous, this glows with happiness! Exclusively created with master perfumer, Maurice Roucel, this is the scent of exotic and unforgettable nights. Feminine, alluring and intriguing tuberose notes combine with rich leather and sandalwood in this intoxicating, utterly addictive fragrance. Inspired by travel and long summer evenings in the tropics, our unique fragrances capture the very essence of romantic escapism.

£110 for 50ml eau de parfum in our shop

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

 

Happy Birthday Chanel N°22!

Incredibly, the iconic fragrance Chanel N°22 celebrates its 100th birthday this year – born one year after the legendary N°5 and creating its own enthused cult of olfactory aficionados (of which our Co-Founder, Lorna McKay is a firm member!) Sparkling with way ahead-of-its-time modernity, it seems only fitting to re-explore, and fully appreciate this so-prescient perfume once again…

The story of Chanel herself has become legend. After growing up in an orphanage, Gabrielle Chanel – born 19th August 1883, in Saumur – went on to open her first Paris boutique, selling hats, at 21 Rue Cambon in 1910. She made her name selling clothes that were not just beautiful and stylish, but comfortable, freeing women from tight corsetry through her innovative use of tweed and jersey, tailored with a nod to men’s clothing – including trousers. She’s also widely credited as first to introduce that essential in a woman’s wardrobe: ‘The Little Black Dress’.

Always an innovator, Chanel also designed costumes for plays (Cocteau’s ‘Antigone’, in 1923), and movies, including Renoir’s ‘La Règle de Jeu’. The clothes – and the fragrances – have been loved and worn by stars all over the world, and the silky effervesence of Chanel N°22 remains effortless, timelessly contemporary.

 

 

 

 

 

Chanel says: ‘Gabrielle Chanel believed in signs from the universe, symbols, and numbers. This year, 2022, CHANEL is pleased to present you with another major number: N°22, a fragrance created by Ernest Beaux and launched in 1922, one year after the legendary N°5. Though the two fragrances share the same olfactory characteristics, each one is unique in its own right.

An uncanny mirror effect that Olivier Polge, CHANEL’s In-House Perfumer-Creator, has interpreted as such: N°22 is like the surprising alter ego of N°5, so similar and yet so different at the same time. With its accord of tuberose, rose and orange blossom, N°22 is a sensual, seductive fragrance. A caressing trail, like an absolute of femininity. The singular history and craftsmanship behind the fragrance will make 2022 a year as exceptional as the last.’

Chanel N°22 £169 for 75ml eau de parfum / £300 for 200ml
chanel.com

Read more of Chanel’s remarkable history in our page dedicated to the house, here; in the meantime, we suggest those of you who already adore N°22 treat yourselves to a birthday gift in honour of the anniversary, and that those of you yet to fall in love with this legendary fragrance acquaint yourselves immediately…

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Left it too late? Last-minute gift ideas

That moment of mounting panic when you suddenly realise… you’ve left it too late to present them with a gift! Uh-oh. But hey, it’s okay – whether you’ve dropped the ball for Valentines day, an anniversary, birthday or any special occasion you absolutely meant to remember: we have the scent solutions!

Here are some ideas that you can ‘gift’ your recipient with immediately, no postage required – simply write them a lovely card and explain you’ve treated them to one of the following (with fragrant swag to follow). If they love to smell great, we guarantee they’ll be delighted…

 

Simply tick the ‘this is a gift’ box and give 365 days of fabulous fragrant activities with our Perfume Society VIP Cub Subscription for only £25, and they’ll receive the following exclusive benefits:

•  Six issues a year of our online/downloadable digital magazine The Scented Letter – (virtually) the only publication in the world devoted to all things fragrant…

• Exclusive competitions with fab fragrant prizes – including bottles signed by perfumers.

•  Early access to tickets for all our events – meet with leading ‘noses’ and key figures from the perfume world, attend in-store events, workshops, etc. (Our VIPs are first to hear about these.)

•  A special member’s discount on our Perfume Society Discovery Boxes (normally £19 – but £15 to our VIPs)

•  Plus choose a FREE Discovery Box when you sign up (so they’ll get an actual present to look forward to)

 

For people who love print (we must admit to being partial – for longer features, especially), give them a year of fragrant reading with a Scented Letter magazine Print Subscription for £75. This multi-award-winning publication has been described as a ‘must-read’ by industry insiders and perfume-lovers, so we are delighted that in addition to our digital magazine we can now offer this print subscription of The Scented Letter, delivered to your door and starting with the current edition. (For autumn 2017, we look at Fashion, Fabric + Fragrance.)

Appearing six times a year this utterly beautiful magazine, featuring at least 60 pages on perfume news, features and much more is bound to take you ever-deeper into the scented world. Click here for a sneak-peak at our taster issue!

In addition, we feature all the breaking scent news, interviews with ‘noses’ and other creators, alongside fragrant features by leading fragrance writers – from Thomas Dunckley (The Perfume Candy Boy) to Persolaise, via Viola Levy and our Senior Writer Suzy Nightingale. (If you’ve signed up as a subscriber, you will continue to receive access to the complimentary e-zine version.)

NB We are able to ship The Scented Letter overseas; please contact us for prices here

 


Who doesn’t like filling out some kind of personality questionaire? There are now a great selection of Scent-matching Personality Tests you can take for FREE online or in-store, so get them to do the quiz now and offer to buy a bottle later. Genius!

Molton Brown invite you to ‘Embark on an illuminating journey to discover the ideal match for your unique self.’ The profiling system, was created in tandem with trend forecasting and innovation agency The Future Laboratory, and you instinctively choose from a series of images, at the end of which you’ll discover which ‘psychological perfume profile’ you match. Everyone we know who’s tried it has found it an incredible experience, and it’s brilliant at selecting scents you may easily have overlooked yourself.

Penhaligon’s offer a visual feast to explore while answering simple questions, all illustrated in their delightfully quirky and so-iconic way, with prompts to choose between textures, places to visit and favourite thirst-quenchers. It’s fun and quick to answer the test, and somehow they really do expertly pinpoint your perfume personality type. At the end you’ll be presented with a selection of samples to choose from, which you can either purchase online or pop into a store to smell, before splashing out for a full bottle.

Experimental Perfume Club are brilliant at taking the worry out of picking a new perfume, and their recently launched LAYERS Lab in Selfridges features a fantastically acurate in-store app that allows you to create your own bespoke perfume! We wrote about the concept in more detail here, but basically, the LAYERS App asks questions before recommending 3 possible formulae. You can either choose from the selection or customise the fragrance further with the help of their Fragrance Curator. Once you choose your final blend, your unique fragrance is created in front of you. And, for the ultimate bespoke touch, you can choose a name for your fragrance and a personalised label for your 50ml bottle.

 

If they are really into perfume and want to learn more, we’re pretty sure they’d love to have a go at making their own on a Perfume Making Workshop. It really gives you an insight into how a perfumer works, and a new appreciation for their creations, and a number of courses offer differing experiences that make perfume perfume-lover’s gifts.

4160 Tuesdays offer a number of options for perfume lovers who want to go that step further and have a guided session of making their own, from an afternoon or full day workshops, right through to five day workshops for the really serious, and more technical courses for the more experienced and those who want to start their own house. They can travel to you if there’s a large enough group (great idea for a party), or you can visit their beautiful new studio in London.

Karen Gilbert is a perfumer who offers online workshops, live presentations and studio based courses for anyone interested in creating fine fragrances, natural perfumes or developing your own range of scented bath and body products. Signing up to her newsletter also gives you access to top tips on where to buy the best ingredients and materials you’ll need, and there are even free online taster sessions to get those creative juices flowing.

Cotswold Perfumery have been making perfume for over 50 years, run by chief perfumer John Stephens, who now invites the fragrance obsessed to indulge their passions in various courses and one-day workshops. Running throughout the year in a dedicated teaching room/laboratory at the Cotswold Perfumery in the beautiful village of Bourton-on-the-Water; ‘as well as learning the skills involved in developing and making your own perfume (to take home with you), you’ll get a unique insight into the life and work of John, one of only six independent perfumers in the UK.’

Whichever of these last-minute gift options you choose, it’s bound to be appriated by any perfume lover. Why not print out an I.O.U voucher to put in the card, as a reminder they will get an actual gift later on? Or you know, gussy up some lovely word to write in their card, add a bunch of flowers and put the date one week ahead in your diary for next year?

By Suzy Nightingale