69. The Man Who's Scenting All of New York (w/ Principal Perfumer Frank Voelkl!)
Perfume Room
Emma Vernon
4.9 • 619 Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2022
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
*REQUIRED LISTENING* Frank Voelkl—Principal Perfumer at Firmenich, and creator of cult-classics like Santal 33, Glossier You, The Noir 29, and yep, even Axe— is in the Perfume Room today!! Frank shares what it takes to set a trend, actually setting it, and of course, what happens next (hint hint: copycats, dupes, etc.). We talk about why being a perfumer isn't all coming up roses (sometimes it's musk, and woody notes too hehe), Frank's most personal creations, fragrance family trees, how the fragrance consumer's desires have shifted over the last few decades, and artistically-speaking, when and why you'd use a synthetic note versus a natural one.
FRAGS MENTIONED:
Aedes de Venustas 16A Orchard, YSL Kouros, Paco Rabonne, Azzaro, Glossier You, Axe, Le Labo Santal 33, MCM Ultra, Chantecaille Tiare
FOLLOW PERFUME ROOM: @perfumeroompod (IG) @emma_vern (TT)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the perfume room. My scent of the day today is 16A orchard from Edis de Venustus, which was actually a fragrance I had initially tried in store and forgot that I had a sample of. |
| 0:21.8 | And I have that sample because when I recorded the episode with Liz Rendsstrom, |
| 0:25.8 | aka your favorite fragrance nostalgia queen, base note, bitch, |
| 0:30.2 | she had brought samples of some of her favorites, and 16A orchard was among them. |
| 0:35.6 | 16A is lovely. It is such a beautiful refreshing scent and it opens with |
| 0:40.6 | this zesty, pecan't vibe, almost like a little ginger zinger that somehow feels crisp but |
| 0:46.3 | simultaneously soft. And then as it evolves, you really get to the citrus iris heart. |
| 0:53.6 | Bergma, lemon, iris. and you know what it feels like? |
| 0:57.5 | It feels like a word that I have not said on the podcast in a while. Chalky. It is a chalky, |
| 1:03.7 | lemony scent, dare I say, lemon pez candy, which if you know anything about my taste, |
| 1:10.0 | you know I love. As an Iris lover, |
| 1:14.7 | give me chalky Pez perfume or give me death. This scent is lovely and fresh. And if you like |
| 1:21.8 | a zesty skin scent a la Glossier, you or Penn Halligan's Juniper Sling, you must try this one. |
| 1:29.1 | You will love. |
| 1:31.2 | And on a fun little side note, this scent is named after the address of the Aida Stivenustus |
| 1:36.8 | storefront on the Lowery side. |
| 1:38.6 | So not only is Aida Stavannustis a fragrance line, it is, as I mentioned, also a store. |
| 1:46.6 | And that store is one that has what we call table service only, aka, in order to smell the fragrances, you have to know their |
| 1:53.5 | name, point them out, and then and only then will the person working behind the counter |
| 1:58.6 | grab it and spray it for you versus the more typical experience |
| 2:02.4 | of perusing and exploring independently and or with occasional help. Now, the employees that I've |
| 2:09.0 | encountered at Edis devenous just are lovely. The service is great. And yet still, there is something |
... |
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