Alec Lawless, founder and perfumer at Essentially Me Artisan Perfumery, is to appear in the fourth episode of a BBC2 TV series "The Victorian Pharmacy" scheduled on Thursday 5th August at 9pm. On the progamme he works with the three presenters to create a new fragrance using traditional ingredients. The perfume will also be available to buy exclusively from Essentially Me from the same date.
Here's what Alec had to say about the experience:
"For the TV documentary I looked at late Victorian recipes for three perfumes and decided to use many of those ingredients with the addition of some oils from India. As I was going to call the fragrance Empress of India I decided it should contain the finest quality aromatics in fitting tribute to the traditions of perfumery in a bygone age.I chose classic Orientals for the base: sandalwood, vetivert Bourbon, frankincense, vanilla, opoponax and patchouli. For the heart: tuberose, jasmines Sambac and grandiflorum, rose Maroc and orange blossom absolute. Citrus top notes of neroli, bergamot and mandarin were complimented by rose Otto, orris root and coriander.As for the purposes of the television I had three apprentices, I got each to experiment with one of the accords before assessing them as a group and blending them in just proportion to produce the finished fragrance. It was quite engaging and even the guys on sound and camera came to check it when it was finished."
More details from the BBC website can be accessed here. And also on BBC iPlayer.
The corresponding perfume, "Empress of India", will be available exclusively from Essentially Me from 4th August in a 56ml bottle, either as an Eau de Parfum (£65) or Eau de Toilette (£45). There will also be a special edition sample size bottle of Eau de Parfum.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This Month's Popular Posts on Perfume Shrine
-
First things first and if you think you have a lucky bone in your body, do drop a comment regarding the Advent Calendar that Tauer Perfumes ...
-
When testing fragrances, the average consumer is stumped when faced with the ubiquitous list of "fragrance notes" given out by the...
-
Andy Tauer of Tauer Parfums is having his Advent Calendar again this year for the length of December, countring down till Christmas. For the...
-
There is a huge market of marketing all things French to Anglosaxons and in that respect the title of today's post is in part taken off ...
-
“She is the embodiment of grace. She flows like water, she glows like fire and has the earthiness of a mortal goddess. She has flowers in h...
-
Iris Nobile by the Italian brand Acqua di Parma (makers of the famous Colonia and the Colonia Assoluta) is celebrating with a special editio...
hi Elena.. how cool is this? I watched an episode just last week, and i have to admit to thinking how cool it would be to see old perfume bottles featured. This is of course even better! can't wait to see this episode (on my BD, no less..).. and BTW: very nice article you wrote in the latest Basenotes magazine! cheers, Wendy
ReplyDeletewendy,
ReplyDeletethanks, it's indeed super cool. And doubly thanking for the compliment on my article.