I visited a unique exhibit at Longwood Gardens today, Making Scents The Art and Passion of Fragrance. It got me thinking about the connection between Fragrance and Fashion and of course the natural part of fragrance so we arrive at the topic for How Green is Your Closet?
Fragrance is generally the last thing we put on as part of our toilette and the first thing others notice about us. Interesting thought. Scents evoke emotions and memory and can define personal image and style. Nature provides the scent and sometimes technology is used to enhance them or give them longer life. Each fragrance includes a base note, middle note and top note.
The exhibit at Longwood is interesting. It explains the rich history of fragrance, fragrance makers or "noses", and bottle design. Various plants are designated as "I'm Fragrant" and the viewer can actually test a smell. Visitors are invited to make their own signature scent, combining a variety of options for base, middle and top notes. Once combined the scent is delivered on a scratch and sniff paper. Great fun. As the season commences, different scent options will be revealed so this is an exhibit that will change over time and offer up new reveals with each visit. You may want to get a season pass.
Garden Botanika, an online body product store, allows customers to design a custom scent as well. For $32 you can be your own "nose" and develop a highly personal scent. I gave this a try and got many compliments on the result - now if I could only remember the formula;)
Fragrance can be used in your closet in sachet form or as a pomander ball to infuse your personal preference into your clothes. Orange and clove pomander balls are easy to make and are great for you or to give as gifts. Used in Victorian times to mask odors with citrus, pomander balls also act as a natural air freshener and repel moths. Great smell, no bugs, good deal!
17 comments:
I have had tickets to Longwood Gardens for the past few months, this exhibit sounds really cool! I will have to go soon so that I can see it. I don't know how well I would be at making my own scent though! I am very picky when it comes to perfumes, and if i smell too many I get a headache. I feel like I wouldn't be able to find the perfect combination, but I'll find out when I go!
I live near long wood gardens and enjoy visiting during the winter season. I think this would be a lovely exhibit for my mother to experience because she loves perfume and candles. This is right up her ally. I on the other hand am extremely picky when it comes to scents. I often have to move on the train or in the movie theater if I am surrounded by someone with strong or musky perfume. I only have one perfume in my room that actually has some dust on it. I just always forget to wear it especially after I turned 20 and became allergic to everything.
This exhibit sounds like it would be very interesting and fun. I find that I am always wanting to go places like the art museum, or the aquarium, but they only catch my attention for about an hour or so. The hands-on portion of this sounds like it would be informative and fun. I have been wearing the same scent for the last few seasons, but my all time favorite is what my mom wears - Fracas. In my eyes, this scent is classic (made in France - not a new American collaboration) and reminds me of being a child. Unlike other scents that are reminiscent of being a kid (vanilla, cupcakes, anything involving food) this has real memories attached to it. I love when I go home and visit for the weekend and smell it.
Fiat Luxe designs felt soaps that are made from all natural and local ingredients. Once the soap is done the consumer can just cut a whole in the wool and add a new piece. I thought about this because of your discussion of pomander balls. I use these felted soaps inside of my clothing drawers because they make the fabric smell amazing. Also, for those interested in interactive exhibits, I was told about Monell Chemical Senses Center on Penn's campus. This center is always looking for volunteers (which are paid) and conduct some really interesting experiments involving taste and smell.
Check our Fiat Luxe at:
http://www.fiatluxedesigns.com/
and Monell at:
http://www.monell.org/
This exhibit sounds really interesting. I am even more intrigued because my own fragrance is down to its last few drops. I'd love to experiment and create my own fragrance. I'd like to make something personal and unforgettable. In a previous class we had a discussion solely on fragrance from its ingredients to its packaging all of which I found fascinating. It would be interesting if this exhibit not only enabled you to be your own "nose" but designer as well when it came to its packaging. As of now I wear Daisy by Marc Jacobs. I love the scent and its packaging, but it's everywhere! I will have to look into this more in order to achieve my signature scent for something a little more personal.
My high school science class actually did an entire project on scent science. I remember being enthralled by the detail that goes into creating the perfect scent. Personally, I try to avoid common scents like Ralph Lauren or Vera Wang. I look for obscure perfumes so that they smell especially like me.
To be honest, I am not very interested in scents. They usually give me a headache and overwhelm me. That doesn't mean that I don't like to smell nice though. I wear a very plain vanilla perfume. I was told in my Analysis of Product class that it is not very sophisticated, but it fits my personality which I believe is the most important part of any product that I buy. My vanilla perfume is simple and comforting and who doesn't love smelling like cake all day!
I think this exhibit sounds very fun and I would be interested to discover what kind of scent I would end up creating. I would however be skeptical about making a custom scent online because I would not know what it smelled like first. I usually find that fragrances have to grow on me before I end up liking them, so I like to wait a little while before making any fragrance purchases.
I have never been to Longwood Gardens before but it has come up in conversation recently, so I hope to make a trip out there soon. I have heard of people making their own scents before and even watched a TV show where they explored the world of making the perfect perfume scent. I always thought it would be so fun to make my own scent and now I can. I am very picky about what I would like to smell like, and scents always wear away over time and I can't smell to many at once. I would be a little nervous about putting together a custom perfume blend online because I can not smell and feel everything. However, in person this sounds like such a fun idea.
This exhibit seams very interesting. I love perfume and their different scents and find it intriguing how we can usually identify a specific scent with a specific person. I have created my own scent before in a store back home. It is called Bath Junkie and you can create everything from soap to lotion to perfume with the help of specialist that will mix and match the scents of your choice for you. You can also add color and other things to make it more a representation of you. I really like this idea and would love to visit the exhibit at Longwood Gardens if I get a chance.
This exhibit seams very interesting. I love perfume and their different scents and find it intriguing how we can usually identify a specific scent with a specific person. I have created my own scent before in a store back home. It is called Bath Junkie and you can create everything from soap to lotion to perfume with the help of specialist that will mix and match the scents of your choice for you. You can also add color and other things to make it more a representation of you. I really like this idea and would love to visit the exhibit at Longwood Gardens if I get a chance.
This exhibit sounds like a great way to spend a day. The thing i love most about fragrances and scents are the memory associations that I have made with them over time. Every once in a while I will smell something that reminds me strongly of something in my past. The perfume or deodorant that I used in middle school makes me remember things that I haven't thought of in ages. I've also noticed that department store smell a certain way around Christmas time or during the beginning of spring. I like the idea of scents enhancing shopping experiances.
This exhibit sounds especially interesting because it is so interactive. It's also interesting that it covers so many aspects of fragrance, from its history to bottle design, and the fact that the exhibit changes over time. Garden Botanika sounds particularly interesting to me. I've always wondered what it would be like to create my own scent. With customization for fashion products, such as t-shirts and shoes, becoming more and more common over the internet, it only makes sense that fragrance customization would also become readily available.
I live close to Longwood Gardens so I have experienced many exhibits there in the past. I wish I had been able to experience this unique opportunity however, and I was glad to see this post recapping what could be found there. I recall learning about the base note, middle note and top note of fragrance in Analysis of Product last year, and it was one of my favorite topics. I have even considered looking into perfume branding and merchandising as a career path. I would have loved to mix my own scents in this exhibit because often times I find myself near plants and flowers with great smells that simply cannot be found in stores! Maybe one day the perfume industry will be solely based on the luxury of walking through gardens and creating your own personal scent (here's hoping!).
I've never been to Longwood Gardens, however this exhibit seems really cool and I really hope I get a chance to go before I go to Greece. I love the Garden Botanika site. The idea of creating your own personal scent is very appealing and unique. I would love to be able to do that especially since I haven't been able to find a scent that I really really like lately. Regarding the sachets I have always used a lavender sachet in my closet at home, but have been thinking of using some here at school. Orange and clove seem like a really good scent that would be a nice accent to the overall mood and feeling of my closet and bedroom. I am a believer that scent means everything when you enter a room and that scent can evoke positive emotion and memories, and these two products are definitely things I am interested in.
Perfumes are one of my favorite accessories. I love trying and experimenting with new scents. Perfume is something that triggers memories and reminds me of specific people. I would definitely agree that fragrances can define a person.This exhibit is definitely something I would be interested in visiting. I would very much enjoy creating my own scent especially from natural products.
I really enjoy the idea of perfume/scent being the last thing we apply and the first thing people notice. I am a strong believer in the fact that smell/scents evoke strong emotions and are linked to memory. Since the natural reaction is such a natural reaction, it got me thinking about the type of smells we should be attracted to. Possibly the most attractive and emotion evoking smells would be the most natural based both in scent and production/material. Keeping that in mind, it would be interesting to see how a 'Nose' would apply that idea when creating the different notes and how each layer of scent is received.
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