New Perfume Review: MAIR Fragrances Remember When (Fred Cohen) 2016 + Remembering Bill Cunningham (March 13, 1929 – June 25, 2016) Draw

Bill Cunningham photgraphing Dita Von teese and Zac Posen Met Gala 2014

New York Times Fashion Photographer Bill Cunningham Photographing Dita Von Teese and Zac Posen Met Gala 2014 (photo New York Times Online)

I’ve been known to jump on the nearest soapbox and rail against wearing perfume only on special occasions, but I am also keenly aware of how strongly scent is tied to memory. Fragrance is the ultimate keepsake, calling up exact moments in time more perfectly than any picture or souvenir ever could, so while I truly am strongly opposed to saving perfume for use only on special occasions, I fervently believe that there are occasions special enough to deserve their own perfume. Galas, anniversaries  and birthdays are of course some of those times, and as we head into prime wedding season (and I work on details for the third of five weddings I am planning this summer!), I’d like to tell you about a perfume that I think would make a wonderful wedding or Big Event fragrance, right down to the name: Remember When

Mair Emenogu, of Mair Fragrances

Mair Emenogu, of Mair Fragrances

Mair Emenogu, of Mair Fragrances  worked in collaboration with Fred Cohen through 57 revisions until Remember When was  ready to be released. Mair describes the perfume as a soft citrus floral, with main notes of jasmine, bergamot, and amber  were sourced all around the world, but made in the US.. The jasmine and bergamot are there right from the opening, lovely and bright, but never overpowering, an aspect that is central to the vision Ms. Emenogu had when she founded her perfume company. “My vision in creating this brand was to create fragrances that do not overpower, but compliment the natural aroma of women and men. I believe that the person is the centerpiece, and everything else should be the accessory.” Such wisdom in a young woman who only recently created her first fragrance!

bill cunningham fashion photography

Photo: Bill Cunningham

The amber in Remember When is soft and sheer, but adds a bit of warmth and some depth to the fragrance. I detect a sweet fruity note after half hour or so, but it isn’t apparent on everyone. I took my sample of Remember When to a party last week; some of the ladies got the sweet fruitiness (possibly pear) and some got more of a white musk, though neither of which are listed in the notes, and I’d say there might also be some Gaiac wood in the drydown. Regardless of which notes their skin drew out, everyone loved Remember When.

bill cunningham  Ny times flower street

Bill Cunningham Street Photo

And while I do think it’s a perfect special occasion, I certainly wouldn’t limit it to brides. It’s equally perfect for any woman who wants a perfume to complement her beauty as she creates special moments she’ll remember forever.

DISCLOSURE I received my sample of Remember When from MAIR Fragrance, and am thrilled to be able to spotlight the work of this beautiful young entrepreneur, who created a company out of a compliment.

Tammy Schuster, Sr. Contributor

Bill Cunningham Socony-Mobil Building, NYC, ca. 1968-1976

Bill Cunningham Socony-Mobil Building, NYC, ca. 1968-1976

Art Direction: Michelyn Camen-  Remember When…as a New Yorker my whole life I wanted to feature and honor the fashion, celebrity and NY street photos by the iconic photographer Bill Cunningham of The New York Times  who passed away June 26, 2016 at the age of 87.

Editor’s Note: If you are in the New Orleans area, visit Mair’s pop up shop Saturday July 2 at The Hyatt Regency Storyville Hall 12PM  

On a deeply personal note, Tammy is on hiatus for health issues, so please send healing thoughts her way

mair remember when

Thanks to Mair Emenogu of MAIR Fragrance, we have a 100 ml bottle of Remember when for a registered reader in the USA and Canada (you must do this to be eligible)    .               

 Please leave a comment telling us  what you enjoyed about Tammy’s review if you have a fragrant keepsake, a memory or have ever picked out a fragrance to match a special occasion. Draw closes 6/29/2016

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 spilled perfume….

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21 comments

  • Bill Cunningham, NYC and The Times will never be the same againwithout you. What a wonderful life you led, and what joy you gave us all.

  • Tammy I hope you feel better soon. Would love to sample this fragrance, as I get older I am more in love with citrus, fresh, sheer florals. I prefer my fragrances a little more subtle and sophisticated these days and this sounds right up my alley. I like my fragrances to compliment me, not take over a whole room. I love the artwork with this one. Wonderful. I am in the US

  • Robert H. says:

    Wise beyond her years, no question! Two of my fragrant touchstones are the bottles of Joy (winter) and Maja (summer) my mom used to wear. A smiff of either of those and it’s as if she’s standing in the room looking over my shoulder. Love them!

    Tammy, many wishes for a speedy recovery, and Bill Cunningham…..no words. The NYT will never be the same. What a loss. In the USA
    -Robert H.

  • I agree with you about saving perfume for special occasions, I don’t do it either. There are some scents though in my collection I would only wear in an elegant type setting, simply because wearing them with a jeans a t shirt seems so unfitting for it. Know what I mean? I can’t say I don’t do it anyways from time to time. What I find most interesting about Remember is that it’s not meant to overpower but to compliment one’s natural smell. How unusual is it to hear of people making fragrances with the wearer’s natural scent in mind? It sounds like a great idea, but I can’t say I’ve come across that mentioned before. I would love to mention on that note, I really love the idea. For me, scents fall between one side, where they just take over and that’s all you’ll smell for a very long time, or some of them are so light, it’s like they don’t even want to be worn. It sounds very special and that a lot of thought went into it, especially considering it involved 57 samples.

    Will send lots of prayers, blessings and thoughts your way, Tammy. Wishing you the very best recovery. ❤❤❤

    The only fragrance keepsake I have is a rollerball of a scent that I don’t really find all too special, and it was not meant to become anything I truly treasured. I picked it up a few years before before a sudden trip out of state, just a blind purchase because at the time, I only had 2 bottles of perfume and I wanted something new. Fruity/floral/musk scent, not anything worth mentioning. I met my fiance on that trip, we’ve been together 3 years now but when I pull it out of my collection, it smells like the first day I met him and the first week we spent together. I don’t wear it hardly at all, but I like going back to it a few times a year just for those memories.

    Thank you for writing this article, I did enjoy reading it and it did make me think about my own memories tied to fragrance.

  • fazalcheema says:

    I am intrigued because Remember When doesn’t try to overpower but instead complements the natural aura of the wearer. I bought multiple bottles of eau sauvage extreme and vendetta uomo because my mother loved these two. I do remember buying Caron Noet de Noel because I think it is the signature fragrance of Christmas.
    thanks a lot for the generous draw. I am in the US.

  • Remember When is a lovely name for a perfume. There are perfumes and scents that remind us of people, places, and events that are long gone. Jean Patou Joy makes me remember a marvelous free-spirited woman from my early teens. It also makes me think of my first husband, who is with us no more. He went way out of his way to get me a bottle one long ago Christmas.

    I agree that perfumes are NOT for special occasions only. Tammy’s description of jasmine, bergamot, and sheer amber sound wonderful.
    Tammy, get better soon and stay positive!
    USA

  • Tammy’s review was thoughtful and descriptive, and I especially liked the photos and tribute to Bill Cunningham.

    Tammy, best wishes for a speedy recovery!

  • Tammy, I hope you feel better soon and I’m saying a special prayer for you! This was a great article and I loved the tribute to the iconic Bill Cunningham. My special day perfume was Sabi by Henry Dunay! I would love the opportunity to try Remember When. I live in the US and thanks for the draw! 🙂

  • susie frankel says:

    Hope you are much better Tammy.
    I was late to Bill Cunningham but his death and reading many sites from Google gave me a good idea what an icon he was for his long long photo career as well as a life lived on one’s own terms. . .M– thanks for using his photos this day.
    Getting up and choosing what scent is special enough!
    Remember When…and the amber intrigues me.
    I live in the US. thanks for draw.

  • “My vision in creating this brand was to create fragrances that do not overpower, but compliment the natural aroma of women and men. I believe that the person is the centerpiece, and everything else should be the accessory.”

    I completely agree with this statement! Remember When sounds very intimate and great. My fondest scent memory is my bottle of Cool Water, which always reminds me of my grandfather.

    I’m a Canadian reader and thanks for the draw.

  • Tammy, I hope you are finding ways to feel well and take care of yourself. I enjoyed reading about Remember When and the different facets it displays when worn by different people. “Soft citrus floral” are three of my favorite words for describing a scent. The pear/musk duality is fascinating.

    I have great memories of time and place when I smell my old bottle of Oscar by Oscar de la Renta. I very rarely wear it, but I love to hold the distinctively shaped bottle, take off the cap, and take a deep breath. Oscar was the first department store perfume I purchased as a young adult after starting my first full-time job. I wore it spritzed very lightly, and it made me feel very grown up.

    Oscar also brings back memories of living and working in the NYC area at that time in my life, so I enjoyed seeing the photos by Bill Cunningham. He was amazing in his photographic zeal, his energetic enjoyment of fashion and life. I watched the Bill Cunningham New York documentary film last night. Now that I live on the left coast of the US, Bill’s story made me nostalgic for people watching in the city.

  • baroness_octothorpe says:

    I love citrus frangrances, and one with a floral blend sounds lovely for the summer. Thanks for the draw!

  • Mair Emenogu’s quote of creating perfumes to compliment a person’s natural scent is such a fantastic point of view. It truly speaks to the types of fragrances that I fall in love with. I often have a hard time or require a lot of time to understand or appreciate fragrances that are far removed from humanity.

    Most of my fond childhood memories are based on scents that would not make a good perfume (garlic, red chili pepper flakes, Korean miso). Most of my earlier adult life is encapsulated by music. As an adult, I hope to continue creating scent and musical memories for my special life moments.

  • I wish Tammy health as I have grown fond of her unique writing style
    I love the idea that the remember when is light enough but present
    I remember reading about her in Cafleurebon American perfumery
    Very inspiring
    Beautiful review and wonderful tribute to Robert Cunningham
    USA

  • This sounds lovely! For me ambers really are the most wearable perfumes. I do have a keepsake perfume, actually. Back when I didn’t really wear perfume I visited Cuba and there was a tiny ancient perfume shop in Havana where everything was made in house. I tried everything and settled on a jasmine solifore. It came in an antique pottery bottle with a cork that they sealed with wax. Sadly the perfume has evaporated, but they bottle itself still sits on my jewellery shelf and smells faintly of jasmine to this day. I live in Canada, thank you.

  • Tammy, healing thoughts and prayers coming your way. This sounds so pretty, with it’s jasmine and citrus notes. I won a bottle of this back in the spring but missed out on claiming it as I was out of town for Easter. Maybe I’ll get lucky again! It sounds so pretty; I am iin the USA.

  • Sorry to hear Tammy’s under the weather – sending positive thoughts.

    Scents do evoke memories for me, but not so much perfumes, and I wonder if that’s because our bodies and brains change over the years, and process smells, foods, and styles differently. Like the above reader, music and art takes me back much faster and stronger. Interesting question and article! Thanks, I’m in Canada. 🙂

  • Diana Devlin says:

    I’ve loved perfumes since I was a child and I do have a fragrant keepsake – I have the first bottle of perfume I was ever given. It was Sweet Honesty by Avon in a cute teddy bear decanter. There’s still a tiny bit of the perfume left inside of the bottle and it always brings me back in time when I was first given it.
    I live in the U.S.

  • I enjoyed Tammy’s review and hope she feels better soon. I always wear fragrances, but for a special occasion I might kick it up a notch and combine it with a fragrance lotion. Many of my keepsakes are in my hope chest and, of course, smell of cedar. I love that special fragrance.

  • I had the pleasure of meeting Mair and smelling this scent firsthand. Between the bottle design and the softness that still lingers two days later, I can’t wait until there are accompanying products available. This scent will be in the Christmas packages for my friends.