Sniffing on the Left Coast: San Francisco Event + “Flower in their Hair”

 

Photo: Tama Blough

It seems sometimes that having an enthusiasm that is slightly off the beaten path can create a sense of isolation. We sit surrounded by the objects of our desire and wonder if we are alone in the world. Thank heaven for the miracle of the internet! It has brought people of all stripes together into communities heretofore thought unimaginable.

Diego Rivera created a series of murals for the San Francisco Institute of Art

So it is for those of us who love perfume. Thanks to blogs, facebook, online forums and the like, perfumistas have created a worldwide community, and frequently strike up online friendships that are very close. But as fun and heartwarming as online friendships are, there is still nothing like meeting (and smelling!) your virtual friends in person.

A couple of years ago I decided to put out the call for Bay Area people interested in joining me for a day of sniffing, and the SF Sniff was born. It has been a marvelous opportunity to bring perfume collectors together – I have had participants from Canada, Santa Barbara, Portland, and New Orleans along with locals. Each event has been interesting and along the way, I have made wonderful new friends. I have had the good fortune to strike up acquaintanceships with a few local perfumers, who have shared their art with us. On October 15th, the 4th semi-annual Sniff took place.

The day started with a presentation by Ineke Ruhland. Already the successful creator of an eponymous line of fragrances, she recently introduced the Floral Curiosities line at Anthropologie, and was happy to share them with us. She explained the different accords she uses, and let us smell the finished product plus the individual accords 

Photo:Tama Blough Ineke Ruehland  and Scott

 Ineke expressed that she enjoys talking to perfumistas, because we are genuinely interested in what she is doing. There were not many bottles of these delightful fragrances remaining on the shelves when we left. My eternal gratitude to Scott, the manager at Anthropologie, for allowing us to take over a display table on a busy Saturday.

Yosh  Han

Our group of about sixteen, with some new faces added to the usual mix, headed over to Barney’s.  Barney’s has been very gracious to us from the beginning, often scheduling perfumers to come in for the day, and creating special gifts for us. This time was no exception, with a marvelous presentation by creative perfumer Yosh.

 

She sprayed her creations into small glasses, explaining that it gives a better impression of what the scent would be like on skin, and explained her artistic and intuitive thought processes behind each scent. The highlight was her presentation of her newest fragrance Sombre Negra, as yet unreleased at Barney’s. Using an adorable paper moustache on a stick as a testing strip, she gave us all a laugh, and more than one of us put our names down for a bottle of the glorious, sensually smoky scent.

There are no local stores carrying our final presenter’s line, so I had to improvise a meeting place. Fortunately, we had perfect weather and were able to meet indie perfumer Shelley Waddington of En Voyage Perfumes out in Yerba Buena Gardens. Some of us stopped to get a snack or beverage, and it was fun to get some fresh air along with the beautifully scented air created by Shelley’s perfumes.

This was Shelley’s first presentation, and she was received with admiration and open arms by the perfumistas. Most people there were unfamiliar with Shelley’s line, and everyone was impressed and happy to have been introduced to a talented new perfumer. 

Downtown San Francisco has a pretty wide-ranging variety of perfume destinations, from the old-school offerings of Jacqueline Perfumers, to the high-end Chanel and Hermes boutiques, to the surprisingly intriguing perfume department at the iconic Gump’s, along with Neiman Marcus (and their full Guerlain boutique) and the small but mighty counter at Saks.  We had a couple of hours until dinner, so we split up and roamed in smaller groups to make sure we had each smelled what we wanted to smell, and made our purchases.

Dinner was as much about swapping as it was about food. The six remaining diehards commandeered a table in the  and got the stink-eye from neighboring diners as we dumped bag after bag of samples, decants, and bottles on the table and started rifling through.

One amazing Sniffer made little bags of samples divided by perfume genre to hand out, which we all thought was fantastic and generous. Never wanting to seem greedy, we nevertheless managed to empty the table without taking back anything we had brought.

New friendships were forged, old bonds strengthened, we smelled good, and were exhausted. Our noses could take no more punishment, so we staggered home, to build up our strength to get together again in the spring.

We have an amazing draw for you! Three winners will win one of three prizes:

 

 

A sample set of Ineke’s Floral Curiosities line

 

 

 

Generous samples of En Voyage Peche Noir and Carmel Boheme

 

 

 

A huge bag of beauty , skin care and perfume treats courtesy of Barney’s.

 Leave us a comment telling us about your experiences meeting other perfumistas, or a perfumer you would love to see give a presentation.  Draw ends October 25, 2011

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume

 -Tama Blough, Editor

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28 comments

  • Tama and SF Sniffa Perfumistas, thank you for your gracious hospitality. Your enthusiasm was such a joy and I am so glad for the opportunity to get to know all of you in person.

    You captured the experience of the CA perfume community and of this special day so well in your article, Tama!

    Many thanks for all your hard work and for being the welcoming warm heart that makes it so much fun for everyone to gather around.

  • Knit at Nite says:

    Tama, it looks like outstanding day was had by all- excellent job organizing and reporting on the sniff-tivities. I was sorry I couldn’t make this event, especially since my appetitie to sniff Ineke’s new line was whetted at the May sniff.
    I discovered the on-line fragrance community in Sept 2009 and participated in my first meet-up in July 2010 in Boston, followed by two more in SF, and will be attending the one in New Orleans next month. There’s nothing like it for a fragrance fan. I seem to planning future vacations around perfume sniffing; it’s that much FUN.
    Best to you!

  • Tama,

    i am so sorry I missed the event but so happy that there will be more future events to attend and I look forward to the Spring!!
    Congratulations to Shelley and I hope this is just a kickoff to more perfume events for her!
    We are sooo lucky to have the extraordinary perfuming talents of Ineke and Yosh and even more fortunate that they are so sharing of themselves for these events!
    I thank you Tama, for your elegant ability to organize, coordinate and invite!

    LOVE!!
    Ragna

  • Sounds like it was a blast and well organized. If i lived closer i would have been there. Thanks for reporting back. Of course love Shelley and her Envoyage creations and would love to sample the others from the Ineke Floral curiosity line. Fun Fun Fun.

  • How Fun!!!! I am oh so jealous. I have not had the pleasure of meeting any of my perfume pals yet, but hope to change that soon. I would love to have Dawn Spencer Hurwitz come to Detroit and visit (wouldn’t even have to lecture-would love to just chat-are you listening Dawn?)

  • Tama, thanks so much for you organization and just being a cool chick to hang out with! I always learn something from you. Now, I’m a new fan of Shelley’s work. Hope to see you soon!

  • Knit at Nite – you’ll come to the next one! I am so jealous you are going to the New Orleans vent! Say hi to Leonard for me.
    Ragna, sorry to miss you, too! We’ll get together soon.
    Claudia, we had a ball. I think you’ll like the Floral Curiosities.
    Candice, I would love to hang with Dawn!
    Karen, I am sop glad you came! You are a cool chick to hang out with yourself!

  • Tama, that was a very encouraging and community-spirited post. You’re light years ahead of us here in Miami, as we’re just getting started building the perfume community. We have about two dozen signed up so far, and I will refer back to this article as a guideline as we move forward. I’m happy to read everyone had such a wonderful experience!

  • Heidi Schroeder says:

    Like Ragna, I had planned to attend but didn’t make it. I’m really looking forward to the next opportunity. Tama, I enjoyed your excellent write-up and pictures. Thank you for doing all this! I’m hoping that Shelley, Yosh, and Ineke will repeat their appearances. I would love it, too, if we could get Neil Morris out to the left coast.

  • I’ve never met any other perfumistas, but perhaps there will be a Chicago meet-up someday!

    I would personally love to see either Mark Buxton or Bernard Duchaufour give a presentation. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

  • I have met some perfumistas here in Spain, and I have made a pair of good friends thanks to our chats about perfumes on discussion forums. Even though we live in different cities, I had the chance to spent a day with one of these friends in Madrid and we went to try niche perfumes in several perfume shops. It was a great experience!

    I would love to see a presentation by Jean-Claude Ellena!

  • Its wonderful to see the community grow and spread! I am lucky, I smell Havane from Shelley on my husband everyday and in all the years I have known him, its by far the best he has ever smelled! I wish I could have been on either coast or even better both so I could sniff everything. Sounds like a great party that smelled awesome.
    I have never met a perfumer in real life but I would have to say that Cafleurebon has put in me in very close proximity to some of them. I would like to hear a lecture from Andy Tauer. I know very little about him but it seems like he would be very interesting.
    Thanks. xoxo
    I loved you dinner swapping anicdote. That would be the icing on the cake for me. I always feel super compelled to re-gift samples of goodies that won’t work for me. Precious little gems. I must say that what ever is in that Barneys New York bag has me highly intrigued.

  • Anya, my first Sniff had 8 people. This one had 18, but I had 32 last time. Just set a date and go!
    Heidi, wouldn’t Neil be fun? I think my little event will have to grow a bit before that can happen.
    Lisa, just put out the call and see who wants to join you for sniffing! Either of those perfumers would be fun to see.
    Isa, no glad you got to meet some perfumistas! and yes, JCE for sure!
    Feliciag, oh, yes, Andy!! I love him to pieces. He keeps coming to OTHER parts of California. Grrr. The dinner swap is definitely fun!

  • I’m so far away- never had a chance to be near such a meeting..so sorry
    I would love to see a presentation by Isabelle Doyen
    I would be thrilled to meet Andy Tauer- alas, I’m too far away

  • Tama you did a great piece
    I have been fortunate to meet everyone.of the perfumers except shelley
    I wonder if DelRae would participate as well as Juilie Eliot they are right there
    I have had the distinct privilege of meeting many famous owners of perfumeries and noses and if not meeting
    interviewing them
    I would like to interview so many
    Isabel Doyen Christine Nagel Pierre Boudron Michel Guichard Olivia Giacobetti and Carlos Benaim
    would be at thé top
    As well as going back in time and interviewing Germaine Celliier Edmond Roudniska and Ernest Daltrow
    There is only one that it would be difficult to meet and he is particularly important to me personally as he has been a friend in fragrance for 6 years always supportive and that man is of course our Honorary Contributor Michel Roudnitska
    I will meet him one day and I will be very happy

    want to meet in person because he has been in my life do long
    And that is our Honorary Contributor Michel Riudni

  • I would love to meet my three favorite perfumers at the moment: Jessica Buchanan, Ineke Ruhland and Laurie Erickson. Meeting a perfumer face to face would be so different from just reading about them. I think their passion for their artistry would really shine through. Thank you for this draw!

  • This is awesome. 🙂 I want more articles like this. 🙂

    I found great company to talk about perfumes (and sniff them!!). It is Ines, blogger from Croatia. We regularly meet and it is fiesta! 🙂

  • Irina, Andy is far away from EVERYbody, unless you are Swiss.
    Michelyn, I hope you get to meet Michel one day, you have been lucky to meet so many
    brigitte, you are right – the perfumers I have met have been very giving.
    Bellatrix, I’m glad you like the article – I am so happy you have found a sniff companion.
    Masha, Andy seems to be in high demand!

  • Sounds like another awesome event — I know that when I came up in May, I had so much fun. Would have been fun to meet Yosh & Shelley, and see Ineke again… and of course gracious host and pal Tama. Hugs to you for putting so much effort into this labor of love!

  • I have spoken to Yosh Han several times about scent and memory. I told her that when my mother smelled Yosh’s Stargazer she immediately became more lively and started remembering all the times she and I had planted and maintained daylillies over the years. Yosh gave me several samples for my mother and has always been as kind as she is talented. I would love to enter the drawing. Thanks for a lovely article.

  • Joe, we missed you! Next time…
    sara, what a lovely lovely story! Yosh is talented and a real dear.

  • Tama, thanks for an interesting article. It sounds like a great time. I met Dawn Spencer Hurwitz at Sniffapalooza, and she was very lovely.
    This made me happy as I am a big fan of her perfumes. I would like to be entered in the draw. Thank you.

  • I would love to see a presentation by Keiko Mecheri! She is one of my favorites. I have had some of the best online experiences meeting other perfumistas, and would be enthused to meet such lovely souls IRL. Thanks so much for the article and the draw!