Dublin S+S Meets Coty Training

Foreword

I was kindly invited along to a perfume training event this week by Fiona Cooke of Coty Ireland, having found each other on twitter a few months ago. Fiona was holding a training day for the many customers Coty work with. And in the evening, she hosted a similar event for journalists, bloggers and trade customers. She invited Odette Toilette (or Lizzie) along as her perfume trainer. Lizzie is known for holding her S+S (Scratch + Sniff) events in London—a monthly gathering of perfume appreciators, guest speakers and attendees curious about exploring their sense of smell. The events are held cabaret style around tables so everyone can get to know each other, all the while, there is lots of sampling, discussion and a few scent games to play and share with everyone.

It was quite serendipitous that at the same time I was trying to get Lizzie to come to Dublin to hold an S+S event, Fiona invited her to give some inspirational training to her customers.

I was delighted.

Training meets S+S

In the evening as I arrived at the Radisson Blu, I stepped into a lobby rich with perfume, floor polish and clean rugs. I made my way up to the function room and sat round the table with everyone else. There were beauty bloggers, style magazine journalists and editors and pharmacy people all excited and curious as to what we were going to be doing for the next couple of hours.

Fiona began by introducing Lizzie as a perfume lover. As simple as that. A person who truly has a passion for fragrance. She wanted Lizzie to share that with us and have us leave, inspired, tuned in, more aware about fragrance and it’s effect on the mind. In a way, the best thing about the evening is that I think everyone was going to pay it forward too.

Fragrance 1

Lizzie passed around fragrance sticks to everyone seated. We were asked to close our eyes, and breathe in.

What are you smelling? Can you imagine yourself somewhere? Maybe you’re inside, maybe you’re outside? Are you alone? What time of day is it? What is the weather like? Is it peaceful? How do you feel?

After a minute or two, I felt extremely relaxed and was verging into a meditative state. It helped that the fragrance was Eau de Gloire by Parfum d’Empire. It smells green, bitter, herbaceous, fresh. To me, the only imagery coming into my mind was a green, lush grassy field, wide, vast, expansive, nondescript. I couldn’t see the sky, as I was lying belly down on the grass looking out. It was day-break and there was that gorgeous, cool light. Can you see why I was feeling peaceful?

Everyone else though had a completely and different experience though:

1. It reminds me of the calamine lotion my mum used to put on me.
2. It smells musky, warm, orangey.
3. It’s kind of churchy. I’m being reminded of Italy, of cypress trees. It smells like something from Tom Ford.
4. I’m imagining an Italian man in a suit. A white suit. An older man.

Of course, there is no right or wrong answers, and this wasn’t the objective to see if everyone could. Lizzie wanted us to use our imaginations and appreciate a fragrance for how it works on each and every one of us.

Fragrance 2

There were no eyes closed this time, and as the fragrance sticks were being handed out, I could smell this one already. It was a fruity floral gourmand. Do not curl your toes or wince, this is the point.

Whilst I’d never wear this particular perfume, I know of a few others like it and tire of smelling it everywhere. I put my snobbery aside and followed Lizzie’s instructions.

Who is this girl wearing the perfume? What does she wear? Is she young? Mature? Is she vibrant? Who would she be at a party?

I could only picture a pink 2007 VW New Beetle and a pink flower in the dashboard’s vase. The girl was in her 20s, getting ready to go out with her friends. There was fake tan on the go, velvety tracksuits, nails, extensions NOT fake looking, but just, she was a girl who loved getting dolled up and going out.

Other responses were suitably mixed:

1. It reminds me of beach bum.
2. Is it Zsa Zsa Gabor?
3. It’s teenage and pink. Like Charlie and Exclamation!
4. It’s like sherbet marshmallow.
5. A person who gets driven by their mum.

This time round we were smelling Beyoncé Pulse. We were invited to move over to the cocktail bar at this point where mixologist and cocktail director, Alan Kavanagh of Total Cocktail Solutions, introduced us to his take on a Beyoncé Pulse inspired cocktail.

What a cocktail he produced too. I can’t begin to tell you all the methods, ingredients and preparation needed to make this cocktail, but boy did it smell and taste fantastic. There was pear liquor, lemon zest and vanilla pods used in the mix. He added to this a Blue heart-shaped Curaçao ice cube, reflecting the colour blue used in Pulse’s advertising. In time, like a perfume’s dry-down, the ice cube would melt, releasing beautifully scented and flavoured rosewater, colouring the cocktail’s liquid and ultimately (importantly) adding the Curaçao ;) To top it off, a spray of Pulse onto the base of the glass to linger on the hands of those who drink. Stunning.

Fragrance 3

Lizzie introduced us to the game “Consequences.” One person writes down questions on a sheet of paper. Players each answer one question and fold over their answer so the next player can’t see the previous. At the end it reads a story where every player has had a say. We did this in three groups of five players.

We each took time to sniff the perfume on our sticks. It was manly, peppery and woody. It was smooth and simple.

I was the last player in my group, my question read, “When is he most happiest?”

Now, I thought about this, and thought about this, and thought about this. Time was up and I was holding back. I wrote my answer down quickly and passed back to Lizzie. She read through all the groups and was shocked at ours! “Were we conferring?” She asked. She laughed, shocked and began reading out.

Q. What does he do for a living? A. He is a woodsman and enjoys chopping wood…[more q and a's] Q. When is he most happiest? A. When he is chopping wood and exploring the forest.

The room erupted into laughter, I was mortified. I thought to myself, “Shit, this is sounding like a shared fantasy!” At any rate the coincidence was hilarious and everyone had a little giggle at our ideal man.

Some other groups had these to say as well:

1. A man who sails in his spare time.
2. He has a woman in every city.
3. He lives in an LA plush apartment, with white walls and white shaggy rugs.
4. He has a hairy chest.
5. He wears his wife’s underwear.

Turns out our ideal man was David Beckham and his fragrance Homme. I yelled out, “Jesus Christ!” at this point. I would never have put David Beckham in a fantasy or near my nose. I was pleasantly and rightfully smacked in the face.

Fragrances 4, 5 and 6

For our fourth and final fragrance/s, we were each to match three fragrances to a peace of fabric; silk, feathers and velvet. And to add to that, match this then to a type of woman, a Sassy, Temptress or Ice Queen.

I thought No 1 was a Temptress and linked her to silk, it smelled refined, esteemed, posh almost. No 2, smelling cold to me, was the Ice Queen and she had velvet. And No 3, smelling more playful and cutsey, was Sassy and associated her to feathers.

As it turns out everyone had mixed ideas and reasons as to why. It was truly fascinating to hear what some people think! Everyone’s brain is wired so differently and even though we can’t put a word as to why we feel this smells like it belongs to that, we just instinctively think so. I really liked this part of the evening.

Lizzie presented us with her impressions. No 1 was Diorissimo by Dior, it has Lilly of the Valley and she thought it was like the Ice Queen as a result, then, associated this to ballet and silk slippers. No 2 was Calèche by Hermès. Containing aldehydes, rose, jasmine, ylang ylang, cedar and sandalwood, it smelled leathery and velvety, she was the Temptress. No 3 was Coty Guess Seductive, smelling seductive, and playful too, it was Sassy and linked to playful feathers.

Thoughts

I had never been to a fun, fragrant experience like this one. Whilst I’ve been to launches before, this event was much more personal and connected the attendees in a way I didn’t think it would. People weren’t as apprehensive as I thought they might be. There was even that feel of everyone trying to share their thoughts to the point of talking over each other! And you could see lots of smiles, nodding and “ah-ha!” moments throughout the evening.

I want to take a minute to really thank Fiona, Lizzie and Alan, for putting on such a thoughtful, enlightening and fun evening. And to the other attendees for getting into the spirit of the evening like I did too. Having had time to reflect on it now, I walked away even more aware to stop and smell the roses and perfume longer. To question more than I normally would. Most of the time, I play a game of identifying ingredients in a perfume, I forget sometimes to appreciate how it’s making me feel, what it’s making me imagine, or think. So to Fiona, Lizzie and Alan, thank you for helping me to walk before I run.

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What do you think?

Would Dublin be game for a regular S+S event? Was Coty a good sport for pushing the envelope of perfume appreciation? Any thoughts on some of the attendees associations on fragrance, and mine also?

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