Scent is the first sense we develop after we are born, according to Psychology Today. Scent affects our brain in so many ways, including calming us, helping us pick our mates, and aiding us with memory recall. This is why scent is such a personal experience-- with a well-crafted scent, we are reminded (and vividly brought back to!) grandma's kitchen, a boyfriend's favorite cologne, and fresh cut grass at our favorite park!
In the past, I’ve called myself a fragrance development magician, with the creation of scents being a sort of alchemy. Call it what you will-- magic or science, but there is a whole process behind creating special scents that I know my customers will love. In order to ensure that my customers like my fragrances, which is the most important thing to me, I do all sorts of things to create a quality experience. After trials of testing and thorough research, I work to produce unique scents that will not only pay homage to fandom books, but also be beloved by customers.
Despite my best efforts, there are times when the fragrance and the customer don't match up well. When that happens, it really comes down to the customer’s nose as scent is a personal experience. I can have one customer tell me that they LOVE a candle fragrance, another tell me they can hardly smell it, and then a third person say they don't like the fragrance at all. Nothing about the candle changes, but the customers’ noses, and ultimately their brains, decide what's going on with the scent.
This also happens when I am working with authors on custom fragrances because of authors’ personal preferences. I never get my feelings hurt when an author picks one scent over another because I know that each sample is good, but certain scents may resonate more with them than others. I do my best to help them understand how amazing it is to have a scent to relate to their book and have their book or story in the minds of readers twice over with their own personalized candle fragrance. Think about all of the discussions and recommendations for their books that can be made based on their fragrance being burned regularly! I don’t know many bookmarks that can do that (no offense to bookmarks of course for they serve an important purpose to us, readers)! :)
What are some of your favorite fragrances that bring back fond memories for you? What are some scents that you absolutely LOVE that someone you know doesn’t also love?
*Check my blog out next week for a new post on scentmosphere, which is the smell of your surroundings!