Photo: Susannah Compton of Florescent Perfumes
Profile: Smell is always on my mind. I guess I’m addicted to the surprise of scent—how it makes you feel, how it activates all of your senses and stimulates your emotional center. To me, smelling is an act of pure magic. I’ve always enjoyed how my mind processes scent and what it does for my sense of wellbeing.
Photo: Susannah Compton of Florescent age 4 with Dad and Grandpa
I was born in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma and spent most of my youth in Colorado and Texas, returning to Oklahoma to visit grandparents until my family moved back when I was a teenager. My time in rural Oklahoma was infused with the summer fragrance: cantaloupes, tomato vines, ripe plums and corn silk as well as wild skunks, burning brush, pond water and limestone. Oklahoma will always be part of who I am. However, Texas is where I learned to love perfume.
Photo: Susannah Compton of Florescent age 7
Growing up in the 80s and 90s oriented me toward scent. It was a time when everything smelled of something. I collected dolls, stickers, and art supplies that were scented like grape, peach, strawberry, cherry, sweet powdery vanilla and the like. I was programmed by Mattel and Hasbro toys to smell everything. While I had a taste for licorice scented magic markers, I also had the sense that perfume was a special thing from a young age. In an otherwise humble home, my mom displayed her perfumes like trophies on an art deco, mirrored gold tray. I dusted and polished her perfume tray as part of my weekly chores, and I would take the opportunity to smell each fragrance while I worked. I’d think about them. What was I smelling? Each did a different dance in my nose. I always started with Trésor, and I’d save the best—Diorissimo—for last. In high school I worked at an Aveda salon after school. I didn’t really understand the distinction at the time, but this was my first exposure to natural fragrance, and it made a lasting impression. During college I worked in restaurants and was introduced to a handful of chefs whose flavors and fragrances I hadn’t experienced before—Meyer lemons, fresh truffle, sourdough starter, unusual herbs and mushrooms, aged vinegars, funky cheeses. I helped prep ingredients before my shifts as a waiter, always volunteering to process the cilantro. I learned from these chefs and began to cook with a new outlook on flavor. I think these skills made formulating perfume less daunting.
Photo: Susannah Compton of Florescent in France during college
In college I took the opportunity to study abroad in France, and my attention was quickly consumed with all things fragrant—so many strange, intoxicating smells. I learned a whole new culture using my nose. I discovered French lavender, almond pastries, and clementines. I fell in love with the French pharmacies, where I would spend hours smelling every product. I try to approach any environment with the same level of awareness I experienced while in a foreign country—you can smell a lot if you stop and concentrate on it. When I moved to Washington, D.C. in 2006, I discovered the Whole Foods beauty section, and in turn essential oils and skincare brands that were using natural fragrance in their products. Rosewater was the first ingredient I became obsessed with. I used it in every way I could think of, from beverages to bathing rituals. As my interest in natural beauty products grew over the next few years, I was compelled to learn all I could about botanical ingredients. I already had a special love for plants and had been gardening in some form for years, so the idea of diving deeper into how plants can be used was exciting. Plus, I could not get over how incredible some of these essential oils smelled…so fresh, never cloying, whispers of scent. What was this rose geranium in my serum, anyway? Why the smell of vetiver did in that bath salt makes me feel so relaxed and clear headed? What makes sandalwood such a turn on? I had to know more.
Photo: Susannah mixing fragrance
Many of the ingredients used in natural perfume, such as rose oil, carrot seed oil, and frankincense, are also prized in natural skincare. I began collecting these oils, I suppose with the intention to make my own skincare products, but I just couldn’t move past their fragrance. I pivoted and threw myself completely into learning about natural perfumery materials and techniques. I was initially guided by Mandy Aftel’s book Essence and Alchemy, which I found by chance when researching how to use essential oils.
Photo: Perfume before being filtered
I quickly realized that the fragrance formulating process is something I love—the countless iterations, alternate pathways and possibilities, the disappointments and the delights. I enjoy puzzling it all out until it resonates completely. I’ve been in creative pursuit since I could hold a pencil—writing, painting, photography, collage—but when I began to design fragrance, I knew I wanted to devote my whole life to it.
Photo: Perfume materials and solid perfume
Taking up natural perfumery has opened the door for endless opportunities to learn, create, express, and experience. I work with natural materials because they bring me the most pleasure. Naturals are what drew me into perfumery. They have quirks, both charming and frustrating, and they’re expensive, but I love working with ingredients that come from all corners of the earth and reflect the terroir of their origin. No two rose oils are exactly alike, which gives me plenty to explore. Falling in love with an ingredient is what drives me to create a fragrance. It’s the foundation of my work.
Photo: Susannah teaching perfume workshop
On American Perfumery:To be an American perfumer is to follow the spirit of creativity and intuition. American perfumers are free from a lot of traditional influences and constructs, and there’s a generosity of spirit that is refreshing against the backdrop of a largely secretive industry. Most of the perfumers I admire and follow are not the authors of megahit global fragrances, but people like me sitting in a little studio somewhere, self-taught and taking fragrance to the next level in terms of pleasure and experience. Like many others, my introduction to American perfumery was through Mandy Aftel’s work. Thanks to the passion of people like Aftel, who are dedicated to teaching the art, I think American perfumers tend to feel more empowered to start from nowhere, with no industry pedigree. Personally, I hope that my work as an American perfumer helps sustain the idea that a pleasurable experience and ingredient quality are intertwined. Fragrance need not be overly complicated, especially if the ingredients are sumptuous and profound on their own.
Photo: Wayne Thiebaud – Cakes©
Favorite American Artist:Choosing a favorite American artist is like choosing a favorite perfume ingredient—it’s always changing. As it relates to Florescent, the painter Wayne Thiebaud was so influential that I named my fragrance Gâteaux after his painting called Cakes. I first discovered this painting in Paris at the Jeu de Paume while I was studying abroad. It was joyful and so American. Then by chance I lived nearby this painting in Washington, D.C. where it has a permanent home at the National Gallery of Art. It feels like it’s always been a part of me, like we’re old friends, and I’m grateful to Mr. Thiebaud for painting it.
Susannah Compton, founder and perfumer, Florescent
Thanks to Susannah Compton of Florescent we have a draw for a 15 ml of your choice of Gâteaux, Pretty Bird or Sundays OR a sample set of all 3 click here for descriptions. To be eligible you must be a registered reader(register here) in the USA, you must be registered or your comment will not count. Tell us what you found fascinating about Susannah’s path to perfumery and which Florascent perfume appeals to you and which you would like to win. Draw closes 6/21/2018
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Susannah Compton of Florescent is our 135th American perfumer in our series. All photos belong to Susannah Compton of Florescent unless otherwise noted.
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