$44.50
There were oohs and ahs for an Egyptian violet leaf absolute. Cis-3-hexanol drew coughs and frowns. It's a molecule with a sharp profile known to smell like fresh cut grass, or more like green apple-flavored candy in my opinion.*
Keapee Kristen dipping a blotter in one of our samples. (Photo: Keap / Claudia Cinquegrana)
This was the show-and-smell session at the Keap studio after my latest visit to our master perfumer, Ugo Charron. We were beginning work on a new scent planned for next spring. (By the way, we also have a new scent coming this October—more on that below!).
Since moving to a much smaller palette of only all-natural ingredients, we've been getting acquainted with the full 100/100** catalog of our fragrance house, Mane, and this session went deep into their vegetal and aromatic ingredients. We intend to give some healthy competition to Green Market in the green corner of our scent library.
Not Sure I Can Relate to That
While the violet leaf and Cis-3-hexanol enjoyed some consensus, most of the samples elicited wildly varied reactions. The star anise oil was, for some, a nostalgic (true or imagined) reminder of drinking pastis on a French vacation. For others: "Bleaugh!"
The parsley, rosemary, oregano, and fennel oils—so familiar to all of us—drew out particularly personal impressions. I spent at least five minutes trying to explain how this oregano reminded me of pizza in Paris. Not a city known for its pizza—but where the dried oregano, I suspect, shares some ratio of aromatic compounds (mainly carvacrol and thymol) with what was coming out of this bottle.
Were these impressions from my childhood in France and Italy relatable to the team? I fear not.
Common oregano plant in blossom (Origanum vulgare, Photo: Wikimedia)
But that is one of the beautiful things about scent, and perhaps a cliché at this point: it is intensely personal. So much so that we tend to overestimate our ability to predict what our loved ones will make of a fragrance—even when we're good at guessing their taste in fashion, music, art, or food.
To Me, It Smells Like...
Here is a paraphrased version of a conversation we witness often at pop-ups:
First customer (waving their partner over from ten feet away): "Ooooooh, you've got to try this! Doesn't it smell just like that cabin we stayed at in Japan?"
Partner (smelling, puzzled): "What? This just smells like… ants."
First customer: "It smells like ants?"
Partner: "I don't like it. I don't know."
This intense subjectivity of fragrance taste lays bare the futility of marketers' attempts to design fragrances that "appeal to everyone." And I find it a wonderful reminder of how unique each of us is, and how many mysteries we still have left to enjoy.
Have you and a loved one ever felt split over a scent, like that couple? Send me a reply with what it was and how your impressions differed!
Have a great week!
— Harry from Keap, Steward-Owner
** 100/100 is shorthand for 100% plant-based and 100% bio-degradable, which counter-intuitevly don’t always go hand-in-hand when it comes to aromatic ingredients.