I could tell how much Neil loves creating perfumes by his gentle enthusiasm when he spoke with me. He is knowledgeable and enjoys sharing his gift with others. He speaks plainly but in layman's terms, so that if you are just learning about perfumes you aren't left feeling inadequate.
He told me he considers all his fragrances to be shared fragrances. They have no gender specificity. I liked his term, rather than the term unisex. Often I cannot wear unisex fragrances, because they smell too masculine, but his shared fragrances are just that: fragrances that can be shared with your significant other. You could buy it for him/her and appropriate it for yourself.
He said to me:
You are being played by the market if you think a fragrance is only for men (or women.) It is a market ploy to get heterosexual men to wear fragrances. Chanel # 5 will smell differently on a man than a woman. A woman might bring out the floral or the aldehydes. A man might bring out the spices.
Of course, he is right. I think a woman might have been more apt to wear a men's fragrance in days past, than a man might have been to wear a woman's. But that is changing as the market is becoming more educated. I still find here that SAs are surprised if I say I prefer the men's version to the woman's of a fragrance, but at least they are learning to know me, and perhaps to broaden their own ideas.
Neil went on to speak about his custom blend or bespoke fragrances. He said:
I take their happy memories and put them in a bottle for them. We talk for about an hour, before we begin to do anything else, to explore the scents that will make up their fragrance. I want their happy memories to be evoked every time they use the fragrance.
[Perfumery] is all about memories: either about an existing memory or creating a memory.
He had a couple coming to see him the next day who were having a fragrance made up for their wedding day. They were each going to wear the fragrance, then every time they wore it again, it would remind them of the happy memories their wedding day held for them.
I thought that was great! I would have loved to have done something like that, had it been available at the time.
I feel his charge is reasonable: if you visit him in person, he charges $375. If he needs to travel, then the price is adjusted by time and distance.
Meantime, some of us have heard the story behind the bespoke fragrance for Ida/Chaya (d'Ida). He surprised her with it, after having her test it, just as PDI. She was, as you can imagine, pleased and touched.
One thing I love about his fragrances is that they are so well blended that they move gently from top to bottom, they are not strident. And they are long lasting.
Here are the notes for d'Ida:
Top: Blackberry, Clove, Elemi, Aldehydes.
Middle: Geranium, Gardenia, Ylang Ylang.
Base: Oakmoss, Vetiver, Jatamansi, Myrrh, Civet, Black Agar, Russian Leather
My overall impression on me is fruity/spicy. And spicy is something I love to wear. The leather entwines through it so deeply that it melds as part of it while being balanced by all the other notes. Somehow it reminds me of all the good that is Ida: sweet and spicy, deep and spiritual.
Ida has shared her story at another blog.
Velvetsky gave her review at her blog.
Karin
Originally posted 2008-01-16 10:23:48.
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