Niche ENNICHED?

Photo credit: Wedding Inspiration website

In my last article about niche perfumery I discussed what NICHE meant. It was back in 2012 when a lot of bloggers, perfumers and perfume magazines were discussing the future of niche perfumery, its meaning and some of them were even discussing that at some point niche as it was presented could not be considered niche perfumery anymore.

Two years ago I said that opinions about the subject could be divided in 2 groups: the extremists or purists who think that niche means ONLY exclusive small perfume brands offering unique fragrances; and the generalists that find that everything you can offer to a certain niche can be nominated niche (I am in this group).

At that time I also explored the crucial elements that defined niche and from them I extracted meaning of niche perfumery:

-   Small

-       Specialized

-       Market segment

-       Specific

-       Marketing strategy

All lead to the common meanings that niche perfumery was 1) A specialized market segment in perfumery, or 2) A marketing strategy created to sell perfume (according to the needs, interests and wants of a group of people).

Three years later I feel that it is time that we talk about niche perfumery again and reevaluate it as it is today. The reason to do so is the fact that niche is no longer behaving at it was before. 

Once niche perfumery was ENNICHED by the market some brands started to behave like  mass production companies. 

From starters a question just popped out of my mind: Maybe we need to change permanently the name of this category of perfumery from NICHE to INDIE? 

Let's find out!

According to the Fragrance Foundation - the organization giving the FIFI AWARDS - the INDIE perfume award category (USA) is given to a fragrance launched by a brand not distributed or owned by a large company and sold in under 50 stores in the USA.

In this case we can exclude all the brands that were sold to equity groups or larger companies. But does that mean the ones not following in this category are still behaving like a niche brand?

The French perfume brand Annick Goutal was one of the first independent niche brands to be acquired by a group. Being previously owned by the investment group Starwood Capital was bought by giant Korean Cosmetic brand Amore Pacific in 2011. I remember the criticism years ago and the long discussions about quality of the raw materials and how AG lovers felt somehow betrayed by the brand. That was just the beginning...

Recently many other niche brands owners followed the path of Camille Goutal (the daughter of the founder of AG brand). UK private Equity Company Manzanita bought Diptyque and Byredo; Le Labo was bought by Estée Lauder Group who already owned Jo Malone, Frederic Malle and Tom Ford Beauty...etc etc...

Is there a back fire of these operations?

According to specialists in branding if the original niche brand does not retain its identity, its niche market is ruined or it is no longer enniched. If the parent brand gives credibility to the brand acquired  - great! If not, it is doomed to failure. In fact, it is the personality of the Indie and the power of the parent brand that will show a rebrand, an integration, an extension etc... A brand should encompass its niche market both functional and emotionally, and if still does after being bought, values will be maintained or even improved.

You see, brand values offer a promise. It is a set of attributes that its consumers experience by using their products. A deviation of this "promise" will eventually harm this loyalty.

But what is happening to the brands who did not have the fortune to be bought by bigger groups? Are they still behaving as they promised? Are they still using the same marketing strategies as in the beginning?

For many years niche perfumery sold the idea that it does not follow trends. Fact is that this promise is no longer there. As an example let's examine some facts of the market:

How many niche brands ran to launch its very own OUD fragrance because it was a fever - A RAW MATERIAL TREND no so long ago predicted by companies such as Seven or Mintel? A trend that is coming back by the way for my misfortune.

How many brands launched a perfume around a rose, leather or patchouli note this winter because it was predicted to be the next good selling product for 2015/2016 autumn and winter seasons? Check P&F article here.

Check the latest new launches for this winter and you will see that niche perfumery perfumer and brand owners are starting to follow trends like any other brand:

The Different Company - Kashan Rose EDP (Rose)

Parfums de Nicolai - Cuir Cuba Intense EDP (Leather)

Tauer Parfums - Un Rose de Kandahar (Rose)

Maison FK - Masculin Pluriel (Leather)

Tom Ford - Patchouli Absolu (Patchouli)

To make the story short: Luckyscent is displaying nothing more than 16 new leather niche fragrances and 17 new rose fragrances.

About packing design trends. Niche brands are beginning to follow trends of massive production. How many niche brand went back to their designers and ordered revamped fragrance bottles because it was a trend in the mass production market? Also a trend pointed out not so long ago in the media - for those how follow the market you know what I am talking about!! Remember the trend of heavy luxurious flacons? Many ran to make their very own and the ones who did not have it till then, ran to remodel their design.

The celebrities - this is the most sensitive element to point out. French niche perfumery brand Etat Libre D'Orange invited Tilda Swinton to "collaborate" with the creation of this fragrance. Boom! It got an FiFi Award in France. The brand had used the face of Rossy de Palma before. The marketing strategy is to call the celebrity a "muse". Another tactic - announce out loud "this or that celebrity wears my brand" - strategy used by French niche brand Honoré de Prés using Jessica Alba to sell Vamp a NY fragrance.

So, are niche brands really telling stories as they say they do? Are niche brands reflecting the personality of the owner as they once said they do? A reflexion to be made by all of us consumers.

Does that mean that niche fragrances once ENNICHED are no longer loyal to their consumers? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it is the other way around.

How many brands were launched from 2005 to 2015? Ten years ago you had a small number of perfumers launching their brands and selling exclusive lines. But what happens when the market offers 10 to 20 new different niche brands in a year and regular customers begin to have the urge to try the new brands? Are they still loyal to the houses that once inspired them?

Today niche perfumery takes 10% of high end perfume sales globally. The market changed. 

Cosmetic Business Magazine pointed out on today's issue that Euromonitor is predicting 3 trends for the fragrance market  "Three trends are expected to take off within the fragrance market this year: the rising popularity of niche fragrances, fragrance personalisation and novel retail experiences."

The article also brings insights of niche brand Micallef on the subject that are interesting:
“Consumers will continue to look for an effective identity and ability to relate emotionally and personally to a fragrance. In line with this, industry players are formulating fragrances with alternative ingredients to meet such demands. We have seen fragrances formulated with sea salt and saffron, for example, which are still alternative ingredients. Naturally, big players are trying to tap into this lucrative part of the business as evidenced by Estée Lauder's recent acquisition of Le Labo and Frédéric Malle.”

Regarding the fact that competition in this segment is on the rise:
“In order to meet such a challenge, fragrance players need to sustain their niche intent and avoid commoditising the scent.”

Micallef talks about formulation of the fragrance with alternative ingredients. that was one of the elements of the marketing strategy used exclusively by niche brands in the past. Niche brands always highlight the fact that they use expensive or unique raw materials in their composition. True sometimes. But is today a practice that is exclusive of niche brands? what about the exclusive collections of Dior or Chanel? Mass production companies changed to fit the market. exclusivity of raw materials are now part of their marketing strategy to sell fragrances for a more exclusive public.

I bring my favorite perfumer Jean Claude Ellena to the picture. The man was one of the first perfumers to explain the background of fragrance production. In his book Le Parfum (French edition of 2007) where he defines niche in chapter VII – Le Marketing (in English - The Marketing), sections I – Le marketing de la demande (in English – The marketing of the demand) and II – Le marketing de niche (in English - The niche marketing) to check what this master perfumer has said in the past about this subject:

He mentioned that brands like Annick Goutal, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Comme de Garçons, Diptyque, Frédérick Malle, The Different Company were the precursors of the awareness of the immediacy, the “déjà vus” or stereotypes of mainstream perfumery and its lack of surprises. According to him, these niche perfumers (he gave us this name in the book) could be only discriminated by the system of distribution they have adopted, which was mostly, to sell their fragrances in their own boutiques, with a set of criteiras set by them to understand their commercial approach. In section II he defines niche as a marketing strategy: a non-use of advertising support; the perfumers are placed in front of the perfumes (meaning you know who they are), and most of all: the perfume must speak for itself; it has to have a very strong identification, more olfactive. A great deal of attention is given to the name of the brand. In his opinion, a niche perfume is not only a way of distributing and selling perfume; it is also the way the brand shows its difference. He also mentions the service given to its clientele: the places where these perfumes are found are relatively closed places, where clients receive personal attention. Their satisfaction is crucial. The complicity is crucial - the mouth to mouth is the best advertising of these products. As per the creation itself, perfumers are free to create with an olfactive independence.

So what about English niche brand Creed and its advertising campaign for this last Christmas?

"Fragrance house Creed has announced plans to run its first print media advertising campaign to support its men’s scent Aventus.

The campaign is set to appear in a number of consumer publications including GQ, Esquire, Men’s Health, Big Black Book, Style (Sunday Times), Telegraph Luxury, Vanity Fair and FT: How to Spend It. Advertising will also be supported by ongoing PR to further drive sales in the run up to Christmas.

Chris Hawksley, Managing Director of The Orange Square Company and UK distributor for Creed, said: “We are seeing consumers return to quality brands they trust and we are seeking to capitalise on this throughout the Christmas retail period to create maximum awareness of both the Creed brand and this much- loved classic, while supporting the brand’s continued success.” Aventus launched in 2010 to support Creed’s 250th anniversary. The scent contains top notes of apple, blackcurrant, pineapple and bergamot; heart notes of juniper berries, birch, patchouli and jasmine; and base notes of vanilla, musk, oakmoss and ambergris." (extracted by Cosmetic Business website - article posted in 5 Nov 2014).

A niche brand according to Ellena does not advertise in magazines such as GQ. Well, it seems that things have changed in this segment. And what about the large number of online sellers of niche brands? What is the difference between sites selling niche brands on line and O Boticário lanching its Eudora website?

The final question that I raise for reflexion - as per marketing strategy called "mouth to mouth" does that include paying people to go on line in facebook, blogs, twitter and others to endorse brands being PAID to do so? I don't need to name the faces here, you all know who they are by now. Blogging was once a hobby, a passion...today it is leverage in one's bank account. The bloggers are not the issue here. I don't want to raise this discussion today in this article, but I do want to raise the question about the ethics niche brands have or have not when it starts to "support" the mouth to mouth opinion about how wonderful their perfumes are. Paying certain celeb-wanna-bes of facebook to promote this or that brand is a marketing strategy called ADVERTISING.

When money comes to the scene and profits are increasing brands, bloggers, consumers all change their behavior. Everyone wants a piece of this luxurious niche cake.

Trend Radar - Global Fragrance Market - PART I

THE SHIFT IN THE MARKET

According to Carlin International, a French communication company,  we are to see a shift in the luxury market. The main reason is that Generation Y has different cultural expectations regarding to luxury.
In my next posts I will bring the latest trends and try to show here what is already happening in the luxury market of fragrances.

You all know I am not a fan of Gabrielle Chanel as a person**, but the brand is definitely one step ahead of all other fragrance brands.

What is Chanel currently doing:

The newest advertising campaign for Chanel Nº5 brings back the most iconic moment of fragrance advertising of all times.
Marilyn Monroe five decades ago stated that she went to bed wearing nothing more than some drops of Chanel Nº5. At that time the story of the most seductive fragrance was published by the London Daily Mail when a reporter made the following observation "Marilyn Monroe never had trouble attracting men. Now it appears that her colorful love life may have been down to a simple choice - her perfume." 
Truth is that Marilyn Monroe was never paid to endorse Chanel Nº5 and she never appeared in any advertising ad for the brand. 
So why now? 
Many will jump and say that after Brad Pitt there is nobody more appealing than Monroe! 

The new campaign suggests that the brand recently got hands on the record of MM's being interviewed by Georges Belmont, the former editor-in-chief of Marie Claire Magazine, during the shootings of the film Let's Make Love many decades ago.

The recorded tape reveals a conversation that goes like this: "You know, they ask me questions. Just an example: 'What do you wear to bed ? A pajama top ? The bottoms of the pajamas? A nightgown? So I said, "Chanel No.5", because it's the truth… And yet, I don't want to say "nude'. But it's the truth!" 

MARILYN MONROE & CHANEL Nº5

...humm...they only put their hands on this now? I find this hard to believe. 

What really made Chanel bring MM back to the scenario?  

Let's understand why Chanel marketing machine is sharper than ever!

I think the marketing managers of Chanel brand recently LOOKED FOR the records in their old archives to search something to use in the new advertising for this incoming Christmas (when most financial market radars are watching closely which brand is going to sell the most in this particular season).

Why? Because they are aware of what is trendy now!

According to Carlin, the concept of time regarding luxury brands has shifted to incorporate iconic value and the importance of time in their advertising and product developments. As generation Y is in an intersection trying to balance their style of living fast with their soul searching. In this case we are about to see a revival of myths and legends. 
As the experts of Carlin explains "Time matters to this generation!" 
We have also learned that NOSTALGIA is in full gear as a trend  - read here).

Chanel happens to have lost grounds to other brands lately and it is desperate to regain that title. The launch of a Coco fragrance flanker, Coco Noir, was a step into nostalgia.
Also, Brad Pitt was a previous choice for Chanel Nº5 advertising after a research that pointed him as the most desired man of the last decades. They paid him 7 mi and he was there selling Chanel in that crazy monologue, that later became a joke in the internet. Chanel once had the most iconic personality/celebrity of all times endorsing the most sold fragrance of the world. Marilyn is globally known. Everybody thinks that her statement of going to sleep naked only wearing Chanel was THE SEXIEST thing ever said by a celeb...plus icons and legends are now trendy, so using her is Chanel's ultimate marketing strategy to sell A LOT this Christmas!

But what is an iconic product or iconic brand? How we define that?

In marketing an iconic brand is one that is recognizable all over the world and it is not shaken by economical or political convulsions. They have a cultural and emotional significance. They are rooted in our culture and consciousness.

According to H B Holt, a Harvard Business School professor, an iconic brand is the one that go way beyond the products benefits and features. Iconic brands appeal to a certain set of values and attitudes and are life style driven.

All iconic brands seem to fulfill 3 requirements:

Create an identity myth; involve multiple story tellers; and weave powerful brand stories.

Icon means image and in the modern culture icon means a symbol. 

So Marilyn Monroe was and still is a sex symbol. She represented an image of a certain type of woman - The one who was desired by all men. She was considered a GODESS.

If you want to know why she became an icon it is very easy to explain. First of all she died young and carrying with her the mysterious truth of her death. Till today there is a pending question whether she committed suicide or was killed. As she died young, we only have the image of a beautiful sexy young lady. We don't know how she would have aged. Not only that, she married or had love affairs with other iconic celebs such as Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brandon and JFK. And the cherry on top: she had the bombshell mix of naiveté and sex appeal. The dumb sexy blonde.

What Chanel is bringing is an icon of culture and Chanel is not selling Chanel Nº5! It is selling an attitude! Chanel is selling a myth.

But Chanel is not the only brand tuned in the trend. Paco Rabanne is also a brand on the rise. This very successful and iconic brand of the 70's and it is now launching "Invictus", a fresh-woody sporty fragrance for men, which is not only bringing a shirtless sexy Australian rugby player, but also mythical "Greek Gods". 

NICK YOUNGQUEST NAKED

Here the marketing team is mixing the image of a six pack successful young man (fit, rich, sexy, beautiful) with a sort of epic saga and an allegory for victory and references to Hercules, a demi-god and the son of Greek Zeus . And why Nick Youngquest? Besides being gorgeous, he has no problem to photograph naked for gay magazines. The answer is YES if you are asking about photos with front nudity... but you know...my blog is about fragrances...not porn...so I can't really publish them here...but I think you will enjoy googling them...Paco Rabanne, the iconic brand, is bringing the image of a virile champion full of testosterone and with an attitude of this Generation Y which is being opened when sex is concerned and being cool regarding the same-sex relationship issues. Nick has no problem whatsoever with his sexuality and his profession. He came out of the closet and he is respected by his teammates in the locker room. 

 


"Paco Rabanne is turning a sensational new page for men’s fragrances. With Invictus, Paco Rabanne is exploring a new dream – the fantasy of victory – a new hero – the champion – and a new scent territory – the sensual freshness for men. The perfume is named after the demi-god of Invictus – a contemporary hero, the ultimate masculine ideal, a magnificent specimen of manhood. His virility is raw, almost animalistic. He is what men aspire to and women desire. Beyond his physique, it is his triumph that makes him desirable. This victory not only gives him wings; it is an aphrodisiac. He also has a sense of humour, making his smile his ultimate weapon". Extracted from Business Today.

OBS.: The Pew Research Center poll has recently shown:

The new survey finds 70% of millenials in favor of same-sex marriage, which is far higher than the support among older generations. And since millennials make up a larger share of the adult population today, the overall trend has also changed, with a 49% majority supporting gay marriage, as opposed to 33% of the population in 2003. In 2003, millennials made up just 9% of the adult population. Today, 27% of adults are in the millennial generation.

Additional interesting reading: Selling the dead, by The Telegraph. Read about posthumous advertising royalties and commercial transactions involving delebs.

FLORIS RECEIPT OF PURCHASE BY MARILYN MONROE

Photo credit: Floris brand

Additional interesting info: Chanel Nº5 was not MM's only choice for frangrances. Truth is that the bombshell also had a secret love affair with FLORIS. In 1959 she ordered 6 bottles of a perfume called Floris Rose Geranium under the name of her secretary, Miss Dorothy Blass. Fragrances were delivered to her hotel room while she was filming Some Like It Hot. It is also known today her passion for rose geranium, cedarwood, citronella notes.

** My personal opinion about Miss Gabrielle Chanel was that she was a social climber and a prostitute. She was a Nazi collaborator and a promiscuous antisemitic woman. IMO she should have been arrested, tried and convicted for attempt of murder of her Jewish partners, The Werthemeir family, with intent of stealing their shares of the company she owned in partnership with them by using her influence with Nazis and try to send them to concentration camp. As everybody knows from all biographies ever written about her and proved to be true, she tried to send them to a concentration camp to be exterminated - read as "attempt to murder or assist to murder". She IMO would also have to face trial as a spy and nazi collaborator during the occupied France. In that case it would have been a pleasure to see Miss Chanel have her hair shaved, her clothes taken off and be left out for public humiliation like the French did to ALL FRENCH WHORES who slept with nazis at that time, which it did not happen because she was also at that time helped by one of her many sexual clients - Mr. Churchill. So, as much as I like Chanel's fragrances I despise the woman who created this brand. I only wear the perfumes knowing that because a Jewish family was also a part of the Chanel Beauty Brand.

Stay tuned for more trends as I will continue to bring them here to you!

Perfume Trends - fall & winter 2014 - PART IV - Gardenias!

According to IFRA UK part of the nostalgia trend is the blooming of floral bouquets with white flowers such as jasmines, tuberoses and gardenias. I have been wanting to dedicate one entire article for gardenias since I started this blog and it never really happened, so now it is the perfect timing.

Photo credit: + Q Perfume Blog

Gardenias are tropical and subtropical flowers and they bloom beautifully in Brazil for the same reason that we have good coffee and the reason is that gardenias and coffee are in the same family - the Rubiaceae.

I have many gardenia bushes in my garden and they give flowers many times a year, usually on spring and summer when the temperature rises up.

Gardenia perfumes are usually very feminine and rather opulent. It needs a wearer with a strong personality to hold all that together!

Now, don't run to buy a new trendy fragrance before checking this list:

The FRESH:

UN MATIN D'ORAGE EDT BY ANNICK GOUTAL

Photo credit: BRAND

Un Matin d'Orage EDT by Annick Goutal brings a fluid watery gardenia combined with Sicilian lemon, green perilla, ginger,magnolia, jasmine and champaca. Very green-y, very fresh but although it is an EDT it is still a beautiful white blooming bouquet like this trend is asking for.

THE GREEN:

Also by the brand you will find Gardenia Passion EDP, a more voluptuous fragrance combining gardenia with orange blossom, tuberoses, jasmines and vanilla. More classic and perhaps more fitting to this trend that recalls the past.

HOTHOUSE EDP FLOWER BY INEKE

Photo credit: + Q Perfume Blog

If you would like to try a fresh gardenia leaving French perfumery a little bit  to the side Ineke is your choice. The brand offers also an exquisite blend of gardenias combined with tea, green folliage, cypress, galbanum - enhancing the green and fresh side of it, with fig, frankincense , guaiac wood, musk and corn silk.  Hothouse Flower by Ineke - is a gardenia soliflower fragrance with a delicacy seen in many of the perfumer's compositions.

THE GOURMET:

GARDENIA GRAND SOIR EDT BY PG

Photo credit: Luckyscent

A mix of gardenia and sandalwood notes - different approach to the white flower because it takes distance to white blooming bouquets and it can be enjoyed by men too. Somehow he managed to include a fainted milky creamy gourmandise into Gardenia Grand Soir EDT (seems that PG has a sweet tooth fetich going on in his lab...), so it takes steps a little bit far from the trend white bouquets itself but it nails 2 trends in one - gardenias and kitsch gourmets (!).

THE VINTAGE:

OPARDU PERFUME OIL BY PUREDISTANCE

Photo credit: Brand

The fragrance that fits like a glove to this trend is OPARDU BY PUREDISTANCE - already reviewed here, click on the name to have a complete solo review. Not only it contains the Parisian aura of the 20's (an olfactive version of Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen), but also brings the white killer trio tuberose, jasmine and gardenia!

THE KINKY:

VELVET GARDENIA EDP BY TOM FORD

Photo credit: beautyenconter

Not the expected white blooming bouquet of a trio of white flowers, but when has Mr. TF delivered the expected?  In Velvet Gardenia EDP gardenias are combined with orange, jasmine, rose, muguet, tuberose, honey, plum, incense, labdanum, beeswax. A bit kinky, a bit animalic...not the gardenia perfume for brides, but maybe for the first soirée of the newly weds'... It is different, worth trying..if not to wear, at least to explore a different kick of a gardenia perfume. Hard to find these days...go to ebay or some perfumista in our community may still have one...

THE TROPICAL:

COCCOBELLO BY HEELEY

Photo credit: luckyscent

If you find gardenias + tropical coconut a very repetitive and dull association, think again. When Heeley comes into the picture nothing is dull. Here the tropical becomes hip with gardenias and coconut combined with notes of palm leafs, sea salt, vanilla Bourbon, Virginia cedar, sandalwood and benzoin. 

For more gardenia fragrances:

Black Gardenia by Michelle Bergman

Gardenia by Santa Maria Novella

Perfect Gardenia by Sarah Horowitz

Gardenia Petale by VC & A

Tuberose Gardenia Private Collection Estée Lauder

Vintage Gardenia by Jo Malone

Gardénia by Chanel Les Exclusifs

Cruel Gardenia by Guerlain

And velvety romantic gardenias with the soft voice of Nat King Cole!

Black Code in Fragrances & BLACK by PUREDISTANCE - TREND RADAR

In the beginning of this year this blogger has analyzed a bit of our fascination for the color black and how it is expressed in perfumery (click HERE to read the article if you missed it). Today I want to expand and explore this theme a little bit more.

Can we actually smell BLACK? Are we all synesthets? Are Black inspired perfumes really black?

Synesthesia is a disorder in which the signals from the various sensory organs are processed in the wrong cortical areas resulting in the sense information being interpreted as more than one sensation. People with this condition is rare - 1 in 25,000 according to Cytowik, 1989. That means that we are not all syntesthetes! 

That also means that only 1 out of 25,000 people can actually see black when smelling a BLACK inspired fragrance (or any other fragrance) and the rest of us, well... we are not exactly smelling the color black!

BLACK by PUREDISTANCE 

Photo credit: Puredistance

I received this month a sample of the latest fragrance by niche brand Puredistance and in fact, that is what inspired me to write this article. PUREDISTANCE BLACK is going to be officially launched this coming December at MiN NYC (Mindy and Chad's), but some of the lucky ones like me  have already received a preview!

SO, Puredistance BLACK is a concept created by Jan Ewoud Vos (brand owner) and developed by perfumer Antoine Lie (who has developed Wonderwood by Comme des Garçons also reviewed here - a fragrance that do remind me A LOT of Black).

“Deep beauty is best experienced in the dark.
 Envision. Smell. Feel.
 Don’t analyze. Today's trends to know everything
 (and to show everything) mute our magic feelings of intuitive beauty.
Puredistance Black treasures 
the beauty of the unknown.”

BLACK comes with an interesting proposal: the brand will not reveal its composition. That said, nobody will get info of the notes of this fragrance by press. Instead, Jan wants us to FEEL the perfume. If Black is about the beauty of the unknown, Jan wants us to discover this beauty by simply applying the fragrance and enjoy it as whole. He wants to send an emotional message to the wearers - feel the sensuality, embrace the mystery. Don't analyze it; be intuitive.

Illustration by Gabriel Conroy for Puredistance BLACK

In Jan's brief for this fragrance he brought David Bowie as Jan sees him as elegant, creative, mysterious) and Jeremy Irons playing Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune. The idea was to blend the delicate and sometimes fragile tone of Bowie's and the dark and noble tones of Jeremy Irons to construct a darker elegance to BLACK.

What do I FEEL/SMELL when I wear BLACK?

I smell a more luxurious and more elegant vibe of Wonderwood by Comme des Garçons.

Reviewing that fragrance I mostly did what Jan proposes to Black - I let my imagination flow:

"Rooty, burnt, fruity-floral, but in essence extremely woody, Wonderwood EDP is the sexy lumberjack fragrance. As natural and synthetics are the opposite, so is fire and lumberjacks to wood forests! And that is exactly what makes this fragrance interesting! In fact, from the development to dry down nothing new came along. Pretty known and found in many other fragrances, the notes of vetiver and cedar tend to overtake the entire base. You will find patchouli, Oud and other delicious scents in the composition, adding a sensual touch to this perfume, but do not expect extreme luxuriousness.

If you ever had fantasies about getting lost in the woods and finding a sexy sweaty muscular lumberjack out of nowhere...well, probably would never happen in real life! (unless you live in Canada...then maybe....). But once you spray Wonderwood on your skin, you will definitely encounter Mr. Wonderwood, the lumberjack".

In BLACK you will find the extreme luxuriousness that Wonderwook lacked. It is an exposed luxury, but a subtle close to the skin fragrance, with understated sexiness. You won't feel the lumberjack sweat all over you. You won't see muscles. (In fact Jeremy Irons attended "Walk in the Woods" to support the campaign agains selling the harvesting rights of public forests in Ireland - yeap - a man with many facets, including the elegance of fighting for Nature). So I can't evoke Jeremy Irons wearing a lumberjack shirt, cutting wood and sweating close to me, can I?

But what does BLACK evoke in me?

A gentle touch of an elegant man who does want to take me to bed and will succeed doing so in the most subtle way. There is mystery surrounding this man. But once he does come close to you he will reveal his hidden soul. Could be Jeremy Irons, not as Claus von Bülow but as Dr. Steven Flemming in Damage - a member of the Parliament, elegant, well mannered, with a hidden secret of a forbidden passion.

Jeremy Irons & Juliette Binoche in DAMAGE

To evoke is not to see. To evoke is to provoke, to call to mind, to create anew specially by means of imagination. It is to feel, to bring out emotions. BLACK by PUREDISTANCE evokes lustful, hot SEX in me. As simple as that.

You won't see the color black in this fragrance, as you won't see in any fragrance inspired by the color black. Which brings us back to the questions asked in the beginning: 

Can we actually smell black?  The answer is NO. 

Are really black inspired fragrances black? The answer is also NO.

So how exactly one relates to the color black in black inspired fragrances?

Perception is a process by which the brain takes all sensation people experience at any given moment and allows them to be interpreted in some meaningful fashion. Perception implies individuality. Although it implies individuality,  similarities exits as people perceive the world around them (consistency), and sometimes we are lead to involve ourselves in perceptive illusions (I also wrote about this subject in the beginning of this year - read TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE if you haven't read it till now).

An illusion is a perception that does not correspond to reality.

Hermann Grid

A classic example of a visual illusion is the one presented by the Hermann Grid matrix of squares. Look directly to the grid and you will see in the intersections of the white lines gray dots that pop up and fade away after a while. Those gray dots are illusions of visual perception.

What factors influence human perception of things? Besides cultural and upbringing, Perceptual Expectancy is one of them. It means that humans have a tendency to perceive things in a certain way because their previous experiences or expectations influence them. Humans use what is called top down processing, which means that we use preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into an unified whole. That is one form of Perceptual Expectancy.

That said, when a black inspired fragrance is presented in the market it comes with a preexisting concept that is presented to consumers.

Words such as Black, Noir, Nuit, Night or Dark are included in the name of the fragrance  evoking the color black. Black bottles, black packages and the use of the color black in the fragrance's advertising are also perceptual expectancy tools to evoke the perception of the color black. When a brand calls its perfume Black Afgano (Nasomatto), Coco Noir (Chanel), Back to Black (By Killian), Polo Black (Polo), Armani Black Code (Armani) etc..., presenting a perfume in a black flacon, there is already a preexisting knowledge of the association of the color black. The obvious, presented in a very direct way. But there are more understated ways of influencing perception.

Black is also associated to mystery, power, sophistication, elegancy. Let's call it the Black Code. These associations are deeply rooted in our cultural perception of the color black. When the brand presents its fragrance as mysterious, sophisticated and elegant they are influencing you to think of black in a more subtle refined way.

So you cannot see black or feel black in a fragrance. You can only have the illusional perception of it. 

Maybe if you receive a fragrance such as BLACK by PUREDISTANCE  in a small transparent vial with no name marked on the juice and you don't know who created or which perfumer have developed it you might not think of the color black. You may say it is a woody slightly floral sensual fragrance. It might remind you of Wonderwood or any other fragrance alike...you might say it is oriental, classic, elegant; it contains musk or oud or any other note you smell in it... but you won't say it is the olfactive interpretation of the color black. Because the black color does not actually have a smell. But if you are a synesthete you might actually see the black color smelling a perfume because the signal that had to be interpreted as smell could be interpreted as more than one sensation and you might also get a visual.

Truth is that you associated situations, feelings, emotions, memories, desires, fantasies related to the black color and the smell of the perfume altogether. Just like I did: "A gentle touch of an elegant man who does want to take me to bed and will succeed doing so in the most subtle way"/lustful hot sex...

Perfumes create illusions and perfumers combine ingredients to create olfactory representations. It is up to the marketing department to create the perceptual expectancy. To understand how human perceive the world around them. To translate an olfactive experience into a Black Code.