HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS
MAKING SCENTS
46
“I’ve always been interested in perfume, but it wasn’t until I began researching what goes into it that I started to get a passion for making something that was pure,” says Virginia Di Somma, founder, curator and perfumer of The Olfactory, an all-natural, Auckland-based perfume brand. “I get stirred up when so called ‘natural’ brands are not transparent and make claims along the lines of being 95 percent natural. Why adulterate a pure product with 5 percent of anything synthetic and completely destroy its integrity? "The Olfactory perfumes are pure and unadulterated, made with the highest perfume grade essential oils available. Even our ethanol, made by a local master distiller in Puhoi, is food grade. My teacher in Italy used to joke that our customers should be able to drink the perfumes we compose, and while that’s true, and I’ve done it, I wouldn’t recommend it!" The perfumer admits that she had previously worn synthetic perfumes for most of her life, but now uses her old designer scents as air fresheners: “The ones I haven’t already given away I use in the bathroom!” she chuckles. "They may smell good, but I don’t want them anywhere near my skin.”
Virginia says essential oils are good for the endocrine system to better “govern hormones, memory, arousal and all sorts of things”. “Essential oils get absorbed into your bloodstream, and support the body,” she continues, “whereas synthetic ingredients are actually toxic and interrupt and block our endocrine system from doing important work. I had no idea that even most niche perfumes only contain between 2-12 percent pure essential oils. The rest are synthetic imitations, cheaper to produce and more reliable for high volume production." At $149-$585, The Olfactory’s offerings are most certainly at the higher end of the market. The Olfactory (cleverly christened in honour of the bulb in our brains that links smells to memories and emotions) not only offers scents crafted from the “purest ethically sourced essential oils on the planet”, but a bespoke service that speaks to your individuality; a unique, once in a lifetime scent that may mark a special occasion for both men and women, such as an engagement, wedding, anniversary or significant birthday.
V ERV E M AGA ZIN E .CO.N Z