Becky is a female personal trainer based in Horsham, West Sussex, but she leads a full life outside the gym too. Recently, she attended an event run by Brighton fragrance boutique, Soliflore, and shares more about it here…
I’ll hold my hands up – this is one of the bougier parts of my life. I lead a pretty privileged existence, but not an overly extravagant one, unless you look at a few specific things. Fragrance has been one of my hobbies since my early teens, thanks to inspiration from a key person in my life, and the ensuing development of my own interest. It’s remained as a key touchstone for me, and something that I enjoy as something that helps me to feel good. Recently, it’s also given me a surprising sense of community, but first, let’s look back…
Getting into perfume
To say that social media has promoted a boom in the fragrance industry would be an understatement. Many people can’t open an app without someone waggling a bottle at the screen and declaring it a must-have (normally with a price tag that makes it unattainable for many), but this doesn’t do anything to pull back the curtain on what’s special about fragrance.
Perfume ads have long been a laughing stock for how weird they seem – the concepts are often daft and overblown, but there’s a reason for that. The problem with fragrance is that it’s so subjective, and such an odd thing to try and sell via a visual medium – you really do have to experience it to decide whether you like or dislike it, and that’s something that still can’t be achieved through a screen or a billboard. So brands try to evoke a feeling, and yet can’t seem to move beyond a gorgeous celebrity swanning around a city at night in a gown, or an ageing actor navel-gazing on his hands and knees in the desert.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t an advert that got me into fragrance, but an actual human being. One of my greatest privileges is having an aunt who worked in the magazine industry throughout my childhood. It was a golden era, when freebies were passed out to journalists, because influencers didn’t exist yet, and I was often the beneficiary of products which were no longer needed.
I hooked on to a few then-new fragrance launches by major houses – D&G, Chanel, Dior, and Calvin Klein all graced my teenage dressing table. I fell in love with them and cherished them – these weren’t daily wears, but for special occasions, and a waft of Chanel Chance still has the power to make me feel 15 again.
A few years in, I was gifted a bottle from a new brand (and new brands were a rarity back then – now there’s one every week, but in the early Naughties, the fragrance industry was still dominated by the big, traditional houses, much like fashion was), and asked what I thought. I fell instantly in love with this creation which smelled different, but fabulous on my skin, and I began to wear it regularly. I was in my first office job, aged 20, when I walked into a room and heads swivelled. Someone whose taste I admired looked up and said, “what are you wearing? It smells incredible” and I was forever sold on the power of perfume to draw a compliment, and make you feel put together without relying on aesthetics. Scent and memory are inherently linked – how you look will change with time if nothing else, but you can smell the same way forever.
Developing a true interest in perfume
From then on, I paid more attention to what I was choosing. Another fragrance – coincidentally, I’d find out many years later, by the same perfumer – landed in my lap and changed my life for the better a few years on, and my taste started to become honed. I gravitate towards jasmine and rose-based fragrances, but I’m not averse to some amber and spice, particularly in winter.
Crucially, I learned how to shop for perfume. This is where I think the vast majority of people go wrong, and there is an art to it (plus a shedload of confidence normally needed). For me, shopping for fragrance is a playground experience. I can walk into a boutique and start exploring, and I’ll generally kindly bat away offers of assistance until I’m ready, willing to find my way around and then ask a sales assistant once I arrive in the neighbourhood of what I truly seek.
As I progressed, I banked knowledge and asked questions, to better learn my own taste and patterns. The language matters only when you need to make a request, I otherwise encourage people to speak a blend of their own terminology and that which the industry uses. And that is how I arrived at Smell Club…
Soliflore Smell Club
These days, it seems that everyone is an expert on fragrance. They know all of the words, they use them confidently, and they reference brands and lines that it sounds like everyone ought to know. I’m here to tell you that’s bullshit: I’ve never put my nose anywhere near Aventus, Love Don’t Be Shy, Santal33, or Portrait of a Lady. And many fragheads will then write me off as a total niche knob, but the truth is that I’m just not interested in them. They change their minds when they find out that I’m a Baccarat Stan, and tend to then pull a very different face!
When I got chatting to various other guests at a recent event, I tended to be met with the comment, “you really know what you’re talking about!” and I’d reply with, “I’ve been educating myself for over twenty years.” It’s just practice, and everyone starts somewhere. I don’t pretend to be an expert on everything, it’s too broad of a subject and I have a job.
One of my favourite places to shop for fragrance is Soliflore in Brighton. Owner, Sarah, is a fantastic curator, and occasionally runs events for her customers. Recently, this involved dinner at local restaurant, No No Please, attended by Nick, creator of Gallivant. He spoke about his range, we smelled the fragrances, and got to chat to each other about our experiences. It was such a comfortable, easy evening with people who share my interest, and don’t think it’s weird to bang on about it and be as excited as I am around these products.
I think that, in an age when we have been conditioned to believe that the digital realm offers connection and community, experiencing it in real life instead is even more important than ever. I didn’t want or need to make friends that evening, and I went in with few expectations. What I got was a wholesome, nourishing experience that reminded me what it’s like to be exploring a new interest, as well as learning from those who know far more than I do.
If you have something that lights you up in the same way, I’d urge you to chase this kind of offer down, and appreciate it for everything it gives you.