experimental formula
marketing and branding

interesting

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to work on another fragrance theme that keeps me busy for quite a while. I have been working on it previously, but put it aside because there was something missing, or better said: It was not totally right, yet. Travelling is inspiring and coming back from Saudi Arabia I knew what I had to do there.

Now, when thinking middle East, Saudi Arabia, Souq et al. , many of us, me included, think oudh.  And sure: Oudh is a big thing there, from super cheap to super deluxe, with the real thing being hard to find, for sure not sold in your average perfume shop in the middle of the Souq. I was blessed and was given a gift that is out of this world. A tiny bottle of the real thing, 30 years old, from the inheritance of a collector. I wore it and could indeed feel how the world changes. Amazing.

With this in mind, it happened that I was given a ride downtown in Riyadh and we were discussing perfumes and guess what: “Clean would be nice. And powdery. And easy to wear.”, I heard.

The next logical question of course is: What means “clean”, what means “easy to wear”? And I learned that clean means clean. No dirty patchouli, no oudh, no birch tar, no jasmine, no …. and the list goes on. Clean means gentle citrus, hints of neroli, maybe, some powdery notes ), some traces of freshly washed white fabric…. and the list goes on.

So there you go.

And to be honest: Long before heading for Saudi Arabia, I was working on a scent that runs under “clean” in my ever growing Excel file where I store all formulas, the failures and the zick-zack forth and back. Is there a need for this ? I am not really sure. Generally speaking: These days there is no need for any (new) perfume anymore.  There are enough perfumes out there to keep even a devoted perfume lover busy for years just smelling and wearing samples of many of them.

And -I know that many of you won’t like that – I learned a while ago that there is no need to always offer everything everywhere. So here’s the irony: One fine day I might present a dark rich attar (or so) for folks here, in thewest, and I might present a nice bright eau for there. Funny.