Tracy’s Scented Spaces Series
While on holidays with my husband I found myself inhaling the familiar aromas of one of the most perfect scented spaces—the beach. If I was to capture this famous aromatic delight in a bottle—I would begin with my vacation. When I design an aromatic experience I start with a technique taught to me by my mentor—Stephen V. Dowthwaite, it is called fragrance mapping. I start with a descriptive, images, photos and a story to capture the aromatic experience of a place or brand.
Ideally this perfect aromatic blend would be used in a great scent branding campaign. What comes to mind is the cocoon affect so many of you ask about. Cocooning is an aromatic trend, the aromas are unisex in character. Designed to create comfort, home, security within the consumer. This type of scented space adds to the sensory aspects to a brand for the blend truly captures the imagination. Specific studies suggest that by adding scent to a consumer space creating this cocooning affect: consumers linger on average an additional 27 seconds.
To capture this unique type of fragrance, I would create a beach accord something similar to my experience at Sauble Beach—I than would customized it to the brand. The accords first part would begin with TOP NOTES—aromas that one first smells when entering the space. These scents capture the concept of the fragrance design—fresh, airy, light, bright, and sunny. The second part of the design would be the MIDDLE or HEART NOTES—water—now this is difficult—almost as hard as baking bread—for this is an interpretation or a feeling. As difficult as this can be, this part of the blend becomes as I call the “guts” of the experience. My scented space was at Sauble Beach off Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. Fresh water does smell different than salt—this scented space captures elements of suntan lotion, algae, moss, and bacteria notes from fishing. Finally at the end of every great scented performance you will find the BASE NOTES—the core—the last aroma to leave your experience. Base notes are the secret, for they offer the defining sensory experience. If you have stayed long enough in any scented space and you reach base notes—than you are there for the finish. The beach has base notes of dunes, wet wood, dry dirt, drift wood and the elements of sand.
Each accord is created separately, each element is added, this creation can take weeks or sometimes months. I normally like to stay in the space I am creating because I than will be working off memory. In the end, once this is completed I will go back to my beach—and evaluate from the real experience. My difficulty will be the seasons for each week that passes the aromatic experience changes—fall is close and all these wonderful aromas will be lost when the cooler temperature arrive.
Scented spaces are around us each and every day—my goal—mission and purpose is to help each of you experience your world with your nose. Once you find these aromatic delights whether from the world we create or the aromas duplicated in a bottle—the experience draws us to the next level. For your next scented space, remember this—”the real great perfumers are not perfumers,” Lutens says. “They are the bees, the winds, the rivers and other things that carry and mix scents in space.”
