When Gorilla Perfume Got Personal

One of my biggest olfactory milestones was joining Lush as a temporary Christmas Sales Assistant in 2007. I worked up, got permanent and passionate about cosmetics and perfume, then sadly had to wave farewell last year and give web design a serious go. I still to this day miss my Lush days.

So, maybe you’ve heard of Lush before, you know, “that smelly soap shop.” Smelly in the best possible sense mind you. When Lush launched Gorilla Perfume into the shops up and down the UK & Ireland, more fragrant wonders were added to a brimming array of tasty delights. These fragrant wonders weren’t a familiar bar of soap, or straightforward moisturiser, this was perfume. Perfume that had a point. And perfume that got personal.

Henry Street’s Gorilla Perfume Party

I was kindly invited along to Henry Street’s Gorilla Perfume Party to experience and try out all of the Gorilla Perfume range. On the day, Dublin was enjoying some cracking weather. The sun was shinning hard, not a cloud in the sky. As I made my way into town however, the sky was changing, the smell of rain was coming—you could say, the weather was turning. I was excited to no end. The smell of baked tarmac was giving off that familiar urban summer odour, and the sprinkling of rain was dashed from a hot bus that flew by.

On the evening, there were the current shop offerings from the likes of Karma, Vanillary and Breath of God to the affectionately named B-Sides such as Dear John, Superworldunknown and Cocktail. There’s the early year perfumes of Icon and Ginger. Not to forget about the exclusive Gorilla Perfume offerings of The Smell of Weather Turning, the fractured components of The Smell of Freedom: Old Delhi Station, Fire Tree and Oudh Heart. And duo parts of Breath of God: Inhale and Exhale.

There was a lot on offer as well as cupcakes, rooibos tea, chocolate delights, arm and hand massage and personal consultations. I opted for the tea and consultation. I wanted to be sold perfume and so, stepped out of current perfume and previous Lush shoes, and stepped into Joe Consumer shoes.

Personal perfume

I asked for some help and Emmet, the Gorilla Perfume Top Banana (knowledgeable Sales Assistant), asked me how I was keeping.

He sat me down, face to face, and told me we were going to play a smell game. There’d be a set of questions and I was to take my time, think about what the question was and choose the answers that come to mind naturally, without force and without dwelling on it.

Question 1. If you could pick only two smells in the world, because the rest would be taken away from you, what would they be?

I love food so much, I opted for fresh coffee and garlic.

Question 2. If you had your own perfume, how would you want it to smell? Forget about ingredients and notes, rather, imagine what you want it to say.

This one was tricky, I’ve often thought about my own perfume from time to time. I said, like me, or the person I want to be. I want it to smell self-assured, confident and grounded. Someone who is happy and with ambition and determination.

Question 3. What name would you give this perfume?

Too hard! I actually couldn’t think of one on the evening. However writing this up, I’d say “Deep Down Smile.”

Emmet paused for a bit, went off to the glasses of perfume, and brought back three for me. “Now, you can close your eyes or keep them opened—” I closed them, “and imagine some alpine mountain. Really high up, there’s a log cabin, it’s only you, and you step in through the door and shake the snow off your clothes and dust some out of your beard.” I smiled. “You sit down, and a hunky barista hands you a cup of warm, smooth coffee. Now smell this.” He places the glass under my nose and I inhale. It’s smooth, sweet and really slightly coffee-like. I smile again and feel content and happy.

I open my eyes again and Emmet is smiling too. He’s a guy who really enjoys this process. He tells me at this point, this is when we name (what was Dear John) the perfume I stated in my earlier response. So for me, Dear John becomes Deep Down Smile.

Other personal perfume profiles

He goes on to tell me about a lady who came in one day and was looking for a perfume too. He walked her through the same process. She tells him how her life isn’t exactly where she wanted it to be at the moment. Her job is hard, her boss isn’t pleasant. Boyfriend, friends the lot! Through the same methods, she really took to Karma. He tells her the sun oils of orange and lemongrass should make her imagine positivity and encouragement. I can’t recall what she named Karma for herself, but she came back a month later and informed Emmet of a new job, a happy social circle, a better life.

This really impressed me, and it was Emmet’s idea, to transform perfume on people. To make it them. They’re not wearing Lust any more, they’re wearing Skin Hungry because one lady wanted to feel heat, passion, scratch marks and…

Karma transforms one wearers outlook. She’s not wearing Karma anymore, it’s something much more personal, it becomes her personal odour. The idea is great. Because we know the perfume isn’t doing anything at all, but it’s allowing us to alter our mood and feelings into something else we wish we could feel. The perfume ultimately becomes whatever the wearer wants it to be and so, they change their state of being in a way.

Dear John isn’t Dear John any more when I wear it, it’s Deep Down Smile. I hope to wear it now with an attitude that is more confident, more happy, more warm and more smiley. And if that hunky barista chooses to make himself known I’ll be ordering a box of Dear John at some point.

Oh and a bottle of The Smell of Weather Turning was also purchased because the weather in Dublin that day couldn’t have turned more quickly or more differently if it tried.

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What do you think?

Do you believe perfume can change your life? Would the smell of something positive make you more positive? Would Skin Hungry be a literal aphrodisiac?

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