On Slow Perfume
I have very strong opinions when it comes to perfume.
If I see a brand pop up out of nowhere with 8-10 bottles on their initial release or a brand churning out bottle after bottle in a short period of time and everyone on the socials is talking about it……..the less likely I am to check it out.
Deep pockets have never impressed me.
Creativity and risk taking does.
Am I potentially missing out on something by having this POV?
Perhaps. But I doubt it.
The most intriguing and inherently beautiful perfumes I have ever smelled are from the brands that take a slow approach to creation.
My SOTD is Mito Extrait de Parfum by the late Vero Kern.
It smells of verdency and spring blossoms.
Though, as far as I know, this concentration is no longer in production you can still find her Voile d’Extraits at places such as Luckyscent and Campomarzio70
Her commitment to sustainable, high quality and unique fragrances for discerning and conscious clientele is the epitome of what I believe perfume culture can aspire to.
Wearable, ephemeral art.
Her career spanned 20 years in the aromatic realm. First as an aromatherapist, then as a trained perfumer.
It took 5 years of formulation before launching her first 3 extraits de parfum.
It then took several more years to release her eau de parfum strength of those same fragrances. If memory serves, they weren’t merely dilutions of the fragrance concentrate, they were tweaked or re-worked versions of the perfumes themselves.
The bottles pictured are her design. Opting not to have her perfumes housed in mass produced bottles, she enlisted a traditional glassmaking business to create her signature flacons.
To find such dedication to a vision is rare.
Vero was the type of creatrix to interact with her fan base personally. I was fortunate to have received a couple of comments from her on one of my social media accounts. I was actually shocked when it happened because I had never experienced that before.
Given the state of the world today, with AI and corporate greed, I think it is vitally important to support independent creators
There are multiple brands that I can think of off the top of my head that follow slow perfume creation.
Maybe this will become a series. Let me know in the comments if you are interested in this type of content.