On March 5th, Team Karen Dubin and Karen Adams of Sniffapalooza presented Voluptuary: An Afternoon of Sensual Pairings which featured the multi-sensory pairings of fragrance from Euphorium Brooklyn, food from Chef Tessa Liebman, photography from Tal Shpantzer, and a short film debut.
Chef Tessa, Tal, Stephen, Karen Dubin, Tom Blackie and Henri Meyers
The event was conceived by Stephen Dirkes, perfumer, filmmaker, multi-media artist, and the founder of Euphorium Brooklyn as the launch his latest fragrance collection, the Voluptuary Trio Set.
MAISON 10 Mission Statement
Held at the NoMad retail concept store and gallery, MAISON 10, which highlights 10 highlydesirable items across 10 different categories for a period of 10 weeks i.e. a total of only 100 items. The fragrance category includes Parfums Quartana, Sulékó, Kelly+Jones, and Raw Spirit to name a few. Co-founders and Partners,Tom Blackie and Henri Myers were in attendance and provided Domaine Carneros sparkling brut and rose to help celebrate the occasion.
Fragrance and Art Display
Tal Shpantzer photography and Euphorium Brooklyn displays
Karen Dubin, Founder of Sniffaplooza, greeted us and introduced the framework for the afternoon’s event, directing our attention to the fragrance and photography stations while Chef Tessa Lieberman’s culinary creations wafted in the air around us.
Stephen Dirkes and PÉTALES
Stephen Dirkes began by giving us background on Euphorium Brooklyn’s origins and how the Voluptuary Set was conceived with a focus on sensuality and decadence. The back stories set the tone for the afternoon’s pairings.
Stephen Dirkes and Chef Tessa with Suedois
SUEDOIS (suede) is a soft leather scent. As it was the lightest of the three, it was presented first. This fragrance has notes which include Indonesian sandalwood, raspberry, raisin, labdanum, vanilla cream, and tonka musk which paired seamlessly with Chef Tessa’s Suedois Cream Puffs with its Ylang Ylang Profiterole Shell and Tonka Bean and Sandalwood Bavarian Cream, and Raspberries.
Tal Shpantzer and Chef Tessa with Petales Pavlova
PÉTALES was inspired by Tal Shpantzer’s striking portraits, The Petal Series were featured prominently throughout the gallery. This is Stephen’s much touted floral, and my favorite in the line as it is truly unique. From a culinary standpoint, its notes of orange blossom, black pepper, honey, ambergris, indole, and galbanum, could have been a challenge. Petales Pavlova was Chef Tessa’s answer to both the fragrance and the photography’s compelling dark mystery. Highlighting the animalistic notes of the fragrance with long pepper in the grapefruit curd along with orange flower water which Tessa dusted with rose petal powder and mixed with rose pink edible glitter which gave the effect of petals shimmering in the moonlight which is part of the story of the fragrance.
Chef Tessa and CHOCOLATL
CHOCOLATL might have been the easiest to pair due to the gourmand nature of the scent. With its dark Mexican cocoa, vanilla, honey, prune, and caramel, one almost feels encouraged to take a swig from the bottle. For this Chef Tessa conjured up a Mexican chocolate meringue base with red wine and Piloncillo stewed prunes with a creme fraiche. So rich and decadent.
The afternoon’s presentations concluded with Stephen introducing a special sneak peek screening of Voluptuary #535, the short film he created in collaboration with Tal which will be premiered at La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival 2017.
We spy Perfumer Rodney Hughes in this shot.
Thanks to Sniffapalooza it was a truly delicious way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Hernando Courtright, New York City Senior Events Contributor and ÇaFleureBon Ambassador (who joined ÇaFleureBon nearly seven years ago; first post was an Event Report Sniff & Sip report on Jo Malone Sensory Pairings, May 10, 2010
All Photos by Hernando of CaFleureBon unless otherwise stated. Some Contributions by Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief. For those who would like to experience the trio, Twisted Lily is offering for the Voluptuary Set launch at a special $100 price
Thanks to the generosity Euphorium Brooklyn we have a Voluptuary Set (3x8ml) for a registered reader in the CON USA (you have to do this folks) and leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Hernando’s virtual tour, if there was a confection you would have loved to taste and which fragrance appeals to you the most. Draw closes 3/15/2017.
We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS FEED…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume