Eau de Bangs
I don’t know what you got up to yesterday, but I can guarantee it wasn’t as exciting as my day. I was off in lovely Stroud in Gloucester, concocting my very own perfume. The lovely folks at Essentially Me, who produce natural fragrances and run courses on how to make your own, invited me to come play with their wonderful array of aromas for a day and create my own scent – I wasn’t very well gonna turn down that gem of an offer, was I?
So, off I went to Stroud (not before a getting ladder in my tights just before I left the house, a major tube disruption and various black cabs’ inability to take debit cards, but hey, we made it there in the end), which is a glorious pocket of the country I must say. Essentially Me’s workshop is in a lovely old mill, tucked away amid winding roads. There, I was introduced to Alec Lawless, master perfumer who talked me through how we would go about making my perfume.
Basically, all perfumes have top notes, middle notes and bottom notes – you following so far? The middle notes are the strongest, so we worked on blending that part first, then building the fragrance around that. How did we do it? Quite simply really. You smell, smell like your life depends on it! Never in my life have I been more happy to have the trademark Bangs family big nose – I put it to work. The best part of the Essentially Me experience is that you’re working with all natural fragrances – so whereas perfumes we buy off the shelf use synthetic ingredients, if an Essentially Me perfume says it contains jasmine, there really is jasmine in the bottle. What was interesting was that I didn’t realise how used to the synthetic smells of regular perfumes I was – experimenting with the different scents as I made my own, I smelled so many aromas I was completely unfamiliar with.
After a couple of hours of blending and mixing, I came away with what I decided was the perfect fragrance for me. Sultry, mossy base notes, mixed with jasmine, white blooms, chypre and woodland middle notes with lavander, floral, fresh and radiant finishing it off as top notes – it’s a fresh, natural and most importantly for me, not overpowering perfume.
The experience itself was truly fantastic, made all the better by Alec and his wealth of knowledge of the subject. It was great to learn about all the different scents, the endless possibilities in creating your own and ultimately, to come away with a fragrance that’s all mine.
Check out the Essentially Me website to see how you can do one of their one day or five day courses (they make fantastic gifts!) or buy some of their ready made perfumes – and if you mention Bangs and a Bun, you get 10% off the courses and merchandise – bargain!
Many thanks again to Alec and his business partner Sian for a really wonderful day. A huge thank you also to Cirencester Cupcakes who provided the awesome bespoke cupcakes you see pictured above (with the Bangs and a Bun logo on! How cute?!)
Follow Essentially Me on Twitter at @emperfume and Cirencester Cupcakes at @happy_food
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Tags: Essentially Me, Making Perfume, Perfume
