The Fragrance Foundation UK

One of my strongest scent memories is of blooming lilac in springtime in my hometown Buffalo, NY.
We had a large lilac bush outside my childhood home, but lilac bushes are everywhere in Buffalo.

There is a dramatic blossoming event that anyone who has witnessed will remember.
The reason it’s so extraordinary is that Buffalonians will have just come out of a very long, grey, and cold winter (as always) and the blooming flowers mark the beginning of the new season.
The lilacs are so pungent, wafting through the air, and with the warm spring temperatures everyone’s windows will all be open.
I have such a strong memory of this springtime olfactory event, that no lilac interpretations in perfumery have accurately represented it for me.

I wasn’t physically the strongest growing up.
My great grandmother always brought me to the Chinese doctor and I could never forget that smell of the medicine- it was pungent and unbearable but had this really interesting after taste, I was told that was the smell of patchouli.
Who would have thought this has become one of my favorite ingredients now?

Stepping into my greenhouse I revert to childhood self. 
Spicy tomato leaf, pungent tagetes, damp earthy compost.
Its internal temperature affecting the notes from sweet to aromatic to musky.
Dependent on season as much as time of day.

The smell of a temple in the jungle during the monsoon season when monks were praying while burning incense sticks.
It was during a trip in Angkor Wat, Cambodia: the heavenly aroma of incense blended with the green humidity of the surrounding jungle, and the creaminess of the flowers offers – jasmine and frangipani- a perfume in itself!

My favourite scent memory is a fragrance that I wore on a holiday to see my family in Hawaii, named ‘Beach Walks’ by Maison Margiela.

The scent beautifully captures the beachy and sunny smells of Hawaii, and every time I smell it I’m transported in my mind straight back to that happy place.

My favourite scent memory is the smell of pine trees at Christmas as it reminds me of being together with my family, decorating the tree, and cosy Christmas evenings!

One of my favourite scent memories is a combination of sandalwood and incense…it reminds me of a folk festival I used to go to every year where the shops and stalls carried this lovely woody, smokey scent. More recently, these two notes remind me of a trip to Mysore in India back in 2014.

I grew up in a small town in Northern France where there are many forests, and the smell of woods always brings me back to this which is a very special scent memory for me.

A rather clever friend of mine gave me a ‘Scent Library’ from Penhaligons when I was a young teenager.
That single product completely transformed my perception of scent and has informed the rest of my career.