Ellen Covey at the San Francisco Artisan Fragrance Salon (Photo: Yosh Han)

Washington-based Olympic Orchids  perfumer Ellen Covey was a participant in the Artisan Fragrance Salons in California that were held in conjunction with Artisan Chocolate Salons. Ms. Covey became intrigued with the idea of making a chocolate-based scent for the most recent San Francisco salon, and set it as a challenge for herself. What is interesting about this is that she didn’t care for chocolate notes in perfume. She says, “I generally don’t like chocolate in perfume, and don’t like working with chocolate as a perfume note, either. Ready-mix synthetic chocolate accords smell cloying, and cacao absolute is a pain to work with, given its tendency to separate out from other materials. My one previous attempt to use chocolate in a fragrance ended up with my disposing of the result and going in an entirely different direction.”

Ms. Covey persevered, and created California Chocolate, a sunny warm scent laced with sweet, tangy citrus notes and a seductive musk blend. On skin, the perfume is definitely gourmand, but not cloying, like bittersweet chocolate surrounding an orange cream center. Some of the earthy qualities of the cacao itself, as well as the anchoring patchouli, keep the fragrance from veering into something too candy-like to wear. When Ms. Covey presented California Chocolate to visitors at the San Francisco Artisan Fragrance and Chocolate Salons last March, she remembers the response: “As the day wore on, I became fascinated by people’s reactions when they smelled the California Chocolate glass [her scents were sprayed into glasses for people to experience]. The reaction was pretty much the same for everyone. They smiled! California Chocolate evidently came as a pleasant surprise to everyone who smelled it. A lot of people laughed out loud when they discovered what it was. Everyone, without exception, smiled. I have never seen a perfume make so many people laugh before, with good, spontaneous laughs of surprise to find that the perfume fit the image of what it was supposed to represent. I don’t think they were even really aware of their reactions.” The perfume was such a success that day, that with the Seattle salons coming up, she decided to create a scent for Seattle.

Notes: Wild orange, grapefruit, yuzu, neroli, white cognac, dark chocolate, patchouli, Bourbon vanilla, and gourmand musks.

Because Ms. Covey had already created a scent based on coffee, Café V, she took a different route: “I knew that a Seattle fragrance had to somehow have a cool, aloof, northern feel, like bittersweet chocolate eaten as an antidote to the dark days of winter, the incessantly dripping rain, and the giant, slightly sinister, evergreen trees that grow all over the Pacific Northwest. Inspiration came when I was testing a batch of silver fir essential oil, and inadvertently got a tiny dab of it in my coffee cup. The resulting coffee flavor was indescribably delicious. I immediately thought, ‘why not combine fir with chocolate?’, and that’s what I proceeded to do.” Seattle Chocolate is one of the more intriguing chocolate perfumes I have smelled. The sharp, resinous qualities of the fir notes are prominent, but the chocolate warms and softens them into something more loamy. The gourmand aspects of the scent come forward later, reminiscent of a cup of rich, bittersweet gourmet hot cocoa. The fir is present still, but has been relegated to the outdoor scent that clings to your sweater while you are inside warming up. As I write this, it is the day of the Seattle Salon, and I hope Ms. Covey’s customers get as many smiles from their custom perfume as the California customers did.

Notes: Fresh fir needle, pink pepper, green cognac, silver fir, fir balsam absolute, dark chocolate, vanilla, poplar bud, oakmoss, patchouli, woody notes, and “gourmand musk”.

Artistic breakthroughs can come from pushing one’s own envelope, and I think Ms. Covey has done an admirable job of creating fragrances based around a note she found difficult. They each have very distinct personalities, and are fun to wear. They are available on the Olympic Orchids website.

Disclosure: I received my samples from Olympic Orchids. 

Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes is offering two US readers their choice of California Chocolate or Seattle Chocolate, with one winner for each scent (one reader will win a 30 ml spray EDP and one reader will win a refillable travel spray). Please let us know in the comments which appeals to you and why. This is a USA only draw. Draw ends May 10, 2013.

We announce the winners only onsite and on our Facebook page, so Like CaFleureBon and use our RSS option…..or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

-Tama Blough, Senior Editor

Note: Ms. Covey also introduced a lush, all natural tropical scent at the Seattle Artisan Fragrance Salon called Tropic of Capricorn. It is also lovely, and worth a sniff.