Darren Alan of Darren Alan Perfumes

Profile: I was born Darren Alan White on March 11, 1971 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My scent journey started quite young. I remember as a child, I would smell everything regardless of if it had an apparent smell to others or not. I was the weird kid that enjoyed smelling the wrapping paper on his Christmas presents as much as I enjoyed opening them. And there was always lots to smell. I spent many summer days in my grandparents’ garden learning about plants and flowers. They had a huge back yard with a vegetable garden, fruit trees, flowering bushes such as lilac, honeysuckle & hydrangea, as well as flowers galore. My grandmother spent many hours teaching me about plants and flowers, telling me their names and letting me smell and experience each and every one. My nose was in heaven!

 young Darren sitting at table with his mother Sandra

 My mother had a flower garden as well and is an amazing cook. She taught me all I know about cooking, herbs and spices…how to balance flavors and add certain ingredients into a dish not so much for their own flavor, but to bring out the flavor of something else…this eventually became very useful knowledge for perfumery! My best friend growing up was (and still is) my sister Kimberly. Although she is four years my younger, we were best friends and ardent nature adventurers. We would go on long walks in the woods and discover all types of strange plants that we had never seen before. Sometimes we would run into the rogue wild blackberry bush that was heavy with fruit and we would snack on fresh berries in the warm summer heat. My mother started selling Avon at one point and had bags and bags of tiny samples for her customers. Samples of lipsticks, and eyeshadows and yep, you guessed it… PERFUME! My sister and I would test out these tiny vials and I was in my glory as I would mix together my own custom scents from these samples. In my mind I was creating such masterpieces! I’m sure if I were to smell them today, they would have been quite horrid. But as a child they sparked my creative imagination. I never thought of perfumery as a possible career, I just always enjoyed fragrances and mixing different smells together.

 young Darren and his sister Kimberly with flowers

 As I grew up, my love of fragrance continued to be present in the background. While it was something I always privately enjoyed, it wasn’t something I thought of at the time as a skill to be developed – unlike music. I grew up in a very musical household. My grandfather was a musician and had conducted his own orchestra. My mother trained classically as a singer, and I grew up taking piano lessons. I can’t remember when I started taking piano lessons…it feels like I never was not taking them.

 Darren performing the role of Frederic in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance”

When I reached my High School years, I branched out my musical skills and tried my hand at singing. I joined the school choir and performed in the school musicals, and this became my new passion. I started studying private voice and discovered my love for opera. I decided I wanted to share my love of music with others by performing and teaching music. I enrolled in the Music Education program at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA with a major in voice. After graduating I went on to perform with the Pittsburgh Opera and took a position as adjunct faculty at Point Park College (now Point Park University) teaching private voice while working on my Masters Degree in Voice Performance and Opera at Duquesne. I continued singing and performing with the opera as I took on a position teaching elementary school music and chorus at a public school here in Pittsburgh. I am now still teaching middle and high school music and chorus at the same school district and every day is an adventure and a joy!

 It was around the mid 1990s that I started to get back into fragrance. While I had always enjoyed wearing fragrance, I started to acquire a small collection of essential oils and started reading books on Aromatherapy. At this time there was not much information available online about Aromatherapy or Perfumery. I kept learning and smelling, and I took a correspondence course on Aromatherapy with the Tisserand Institute. My passion for fragrance had been revived. I soon realized that my passion for Aromatherapy didn’t lie in the therapeutic aspect of it so much as it did in the scent alone. Most of my aromatherapy blends ended up turning into natural perfumes, yet there was always some aspect that was lacking. Although the Internet was still in its infancy at the time, I stumbled across a website called The Good Scents Company. It was a veritable font of perfumery knowledge and I felt like I had hit the jackpot! Bill Luebke, the founder of The Good Scents Company was selling perfumery raw materials at the time. I called him and asked what beginner aromachemicals I should purchase to study perfumery. He was so kind and generous with his time, and he set me up with a starter kit of around 100 materials. He eventually became my mentor and spent countless hours on the phone with me, guiding me and deepening my interest in the sourcing and evaluation of raw materials for perfumery. I am forever grateful for his knowledge and inspiration.

Darren Alan Perfumes Chypre No.1 by Rachel K. Ng, Senior Contributor

In 2005 I started a small business called Pure Skin Formulations, LLC. I was making handmade skincare and personal care products scented with essential oils. I also had a small line of perfumes branded under that name. As my business grew, I continued to study perfumery. I took classes and workshops and studied some of the great perfume formulas such as the famous Chypres by Coty, Guerlain and Millot. I became obsessed with vintage style perfumery and as I smelled some of these vintage gems, their fragrance triggered the realization that I had smelled these growing up. These were perfumes worn by my grandmother and mother!

 Darren hiking with his fiancé Vaughn

As my perfume business grew, it became difficult for me to continue making the skincare products while still teaching music full time. During the pandemic in 2020 the supply chain issues became an insurmountable challenge to contend with, and I shifted my efforts away from skincare and began to focus solely on fragrance. I rebranded my fragrance line under the name Darren Alan Perfumes and here we are. I am constantly still learning…I still take perfumery classes and workshops. As a professional educator of over 25 years, I realize that one never stops learning, and my inquisitive mind is never satisfied. I enjoy sharing my passion for perfume with others, which is why I offer perfumery workshops and classes. I have a Young Perfumers Club where I give free perfume making workshops to teenage students and to see their eyes light up when blending their first perfume is a joy to behold!

My style of perfumery is a mixed bag of neo-vintage and fragrances inspired by nature. While I do not consider myself an entirely natural perfumer, many of my fragrances are comprised of mostly natural materials and inspired by the smells of nature. I often take inspiration from nature walks and hikes, which can be seen in some of my creations such as “After The Rain” and “Hekate”.

Darren Alan Evaluating Bergamot Essential Oil in Front of Raw Material Shelves

On American Perfumery: My thoughts on American Perfumery echo my thoughts on America in general. It is a place of great opportunity where everyone can pursue their passions and with hard work, can shape their own destiny. As an independent perfumer, I feel lucky to be living in the USA and pursuing my perfumery here. There are a lot less restrictions here in the USA in terms of buying raw materials, ethanol and licensing. It’s a bit like the Wild West to be honest! While I do follow IFRA standards and cGMP guidelines, the lack of restrictive oversight I feel offers more opportunity for new perfumers to enter into the world of perfumery.

 Philip Glass in Florence Italy via Wikipedia By Pasquale Salerno  

Favorite American Artist: My favorite American Artist is American musician & composer Philip Glass. I am enchanted by his music and impressed by his use of serialism and minimalism. Listening to his music reminds me that there is beauty in simplicity, and I quite often listen to his music while composing perfumes, as it helps to quiet and free my mind for creating.

-Darren Alan of Darren Alan Perfumes

 

Jonquille Photo by Rachel K. Ng

Thanks to Darren Alan of Darren Alan Perfumes, we have a drawing for one 50ml bottle of Jonquille

Notes of Bergamot, Galbanum, Jonquil, Narcissus, Mimosa, Angelica Root, Ambrette Seed, Vintage Musk Accord

Or

 

14 piece discovery set from  Darren Alan for one registered user in the USA only. To enter, you must be a registered reader. Please leave a comment with what you found fascinating about Darren’s path to perfumery and which you would choose the perfume or discovery set. Drawing closes 1/12/2024

Darren Alan of Darren Alan Perfumes is 175th in our American Perfumer Series, which officially began with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes on July 11, 2011.

All photos belong to Darren Alan unless otherwise noted.

Please like CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery and your entry will count twice (be sure to leave that in your comment).

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Editor’s Note: Darren Alan Perfumes Jonquille was chose as a top 10 perfume of 2023 by Senior Contributor Rachel K. Ng

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