Indie Scents At NY Elements Show Get “Less Snooty,” More Fun
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Featuring a cupcake-inspired collection and a fragrance called Hungry Hungry Hippies redolent of “freshly baked pot brownies,” the Aug. 20-21 installment of Elements Showcase in New York bared the sweet, playful side of the indie fragrance community.
In a departure from previous installments featuring hard-edged scents evoking smoke and booze, Elements Showcase in New York Aug. 20-21 was characterized by indie fragrances with a lighter, playful spirit.
“I think brands are opening up to fun instead of being so serious for so long,” said Ulrich Lang, co-creator of Elements Showcase and founder of Ulrich Lang New York.
"Indie scents are becoming a little less snooty,” he added.
L.A.-based Smell Bent, whose scents include Little Miss Panda and Horny Little Devil, aims to “delight your nose and your funny bone,” according to founder and “chairman of good smells” Brent Leonesio.
Participants included Alice & Peter, whose collection of “olfactory delights” housed in colorful cupcake-inspired packaging is designed to “put some childhood wonder back into your life so that you re-experience a sense of joy and playfulness,” according to the company’s website.
Showy Toffee presents as a “caramelized chocolate strutting arm and arm in a patchouli parade” with a head of lemon and freshly cut grass, a heart of rose, lilac, freesia and water flowers, and a base of amber, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, patchouli and white musk.
Other offerings include Fancy Choco, Cheery Cherry, Wicked Berry and Bloody Orange.
Alice & Peter acknowledges that its creations “may look scrumptious enough to eat,” what with their “evocative, whimsical shapes and savory, glistening colors,” but true mini-cupcakes were provided to Elements attendees who may have been tempted.
The “enticing perfumed delicacies” represent a new direction for the baker behind the brand, Histories de Parfums perfumer Gérald Ghislain, who exhibited petroleum- and mineral-inspired scents at last summer’s Elements show (Also see "Booze, Smoke & Bodily Fluids: NY Elements Show’s Hard-Edged Indie Scents" - HBW Insight, 22 Aug, 2011.).
For the Alice & Peter line, Ghislain teamed with designer Magali Sénéquier, his creative partner on Histories de Parfums as well as The Scent of Departure, a collection inspired by travel that proposes to “crystallize the spirit of 20 unique and international world-class cities through a perfumatory prism,” according to the project’s website.
Another exhibitor at the Elements show,Los Angeles-based Smell Bent, aims to restore excitement and joy to the fragrance market with scents including Little Miss Panda and Horny Little Devil.
Founder and “chairman of good smells” Brent Leonesio launched the brand in 2009 after stints as a fashion designer and shoe buyer. Born out of his nostalgia for a time when fragrance was fun, Smell Bent scents are designed to “delight your nose and your funny bone,” he explains on the company’s website.
The products are also affordably priced, appealing to a young and cost-conscious consumer. The brand offers a wide selection of 50-ml eau de toilettes at $45 apiece, plus samples, 4-ml edt travel sprays and 8-ml perfume oils for $3.75, $6.50 and $20, respectively.
One of Leonesio’s favorite offerings, Hungry Hungry Hippies, is a play on a gourmand fragrance. The scent is described as “freshly baked pot brownies dusted with cassia over an earthy dose of finely aged patchouli – not bad for someone who hates to wear shoes.”
Other offerings include a Leisure Cruise range of destination-inspired creations such as Brussel Sprouted, Chile Vanilli and Tok’Yo Mama, and a vo-cab-u-lary collection “to give you the words you need for all your favorite smells,” with scents called Dry, Floral and Woody, among others.
Also targeting the young and fun-seeking set, French company Stella Cadente presented its powdery-scented perfume Miss Me, housed in a bottle with faux pink and purple jewels adorning the top of the cap.
A brand representative sprayed samples of the scent on pink feathers for show attendees to sniff.
Meanwhile, Vegas Dream was on hand with an homage to the Las Vegas lifestyle.
Created in Grasse, France, the collection takes a run at gamblers with No. 777 the Scent of Luck and celebrates spontaneous Vegas nuptials with Romance on the Strip.
“We’re letting people live the Vegas dream,” founder Adrien Gautier told “The Rose Sheet” in no uncertain terms.
The brand’s Pool & Palms offers a “relaxing journey to one of Vegas’ finest pool parties” where the “mission of the day” is to sip cocktails and listen to the hottest DJ, according to a product brochure.
Marketed to “sensual and dreamy women,” Pool & Palms offers a fruity head of green apple, tangerine and jacinth, a floral heart of jasmine, rose and lilac and a woody base consisting of cedar, amber, white musk and vetiver.