A Good Pre-Christmas Sniff at "First In Fragrance", Germany
By Bettina d’Onofrio
In April of this year a group of women, all members of the Beauty board, met at First in Fragrance in Bruchsal, Germany for a little sniffing event. Since it was so much fun and the pictures posted in the board along with all the reports did a good job to confirm this, I suggested meeting once again in Bruchsal.
I chose a few dates starting at the latter part of November. Purposely in a way because at that time in November the majority of companies would pay out the Christmas bonus to their employees. As well there should be a good number of new launches around in late fall. Given this I contacted Georg Wuchsa, the owner of First in Fragrance, and asked him if he would be willing to host a group of fragrance enthusiasts from our board once more. He agreed and we set a date for this little event, November 22nd.
The day came closer and new fragrances were released and found their way into his store. Among them the Six Scents Series 1. I read about these fragrances in a Symrise publication. As well I noted
that they were already released in the US and so far only Colette in Paris had all 6 of them. Finally they arrived just in time at FIF, along with the Sinfonia di Note fragrances from Italy, the new Mark Buxton fragrances and the Linari EdP's.
Not to mention the other inventory FIF has. A good number of people do know the vast selection that can not only be found in the online store, but is as well nicely on display in the actual, physical FIF
store. All this was more than enough of a good reason to drive down to FIF.
With the day coming closer the weather changed and just right for this weekend the forecast was: snow, storm, bad weather, the possibility of icy roads. In one word: chaos which could affect each and every one of the group. Regardless if they were close to FIF or further away like we were and that was a good 360 km northeast of Bruchsal. So what should we do: cancel the event? There was no way we wanted to do that. Finally we agreed we will go ahead and try to meet as planned and just hope all people who committed to come would be there.
Friday, November 21st came and the weather was more like April than anything else. Rain, sunshine and on top of that a big storm went through. I could not make it down as planned by train as there
were some of them already cancelled or heavily delayed. Good that there was Plan B for me which was to get a ride with a board member who lives not that far away from our home.
Around 5.20 pm, 2 other women and I were about to leave the store. Our heads all filled with fragrant impressions of this unforgettable day. We were about the last ones to leave.
Georg had saved a surprise for us for this moment. He handed each of us a goodie bag filled with a full size bottle of Gianni Campagna, large samples of L’Artisan fragrances and samples of exclusive skin care. And on top of that a nice t-shirt. WOW!!!! That was some surprise!
It was hard to say goodbye since there were so many fragrances left which need to be discovered. But that is one good thing because then we have a reason to return to First in Fragrance for another good sniff
Right here I want to give a big THANK YOU to Georg Wuchsa and his excellent team Dirk Hauch, Beate Humbert, Sevtap Schuhmacher and Andrea Walker.
Not only did they provide outstanding fragrant expertise, they also were outstanding hosts and made us feel at home and very, very welcome. Each and every one of us enjoyed the day and we had lots to report in our post in the beauty board. We share one thing in common after this Saturday: yes, we would like to return!!!
My secret wish at the end: I would like to be “locked” up in this store for a whole weekend and sniff all the beauties in there one by one. Okay, I know it is a wish
If you ever happen to be in Germany, I can only recommend to take the time and pay First in Fragrance a visit. You will not be disappointed.
And FIF is not the only place well worth a visit. Take the chance and drive to Heidelberg which is pretty close and visit the castle there and stroll along the old town.
Thank you!
Bettina d’Onofrio is a member of Sniffapalooza and lives in Germany!
Well, Frankfurt Kitchen! What an unusual name for a fragrance.
Frankfurt Kitchen! Let’s say it that way: it is a different fragrance to
what I usually have in my collection and to what I prefer or like to
sniff and smell. Highly concentrated as it is my first impression
was “furniture polish” and the smell reminded me of the polish my
mother used to have at home in the late 60’s. A very popular brand
back then in Germany.
But don’t let that impression, if you happen to sniff this one, mislead you.
You just have to wait a while that awaits you with a combo of fruitiness,
resin , a touch of coffee and notes which reminded me ofapricot and orange.
It is a fragrance not easy to describe so I recommend trying it and
experiencing it. Really it is a kind of experience based on the
metamorphosis the fragrances will run through after you
sprayed it on.
One of Georg’s team members provided expertise in the neighboring
room where another table was set up. Again this table was filled with
fragrances as well. The Neil Morris fragrances were among
them and Zephyr was my personal favorite.
Well, off to the second floor were the Six Scents Series 1
was literally waiting to be discovered. A distinct group of six prominent
artists and perfumers developed a limited edition series of fragrances to
help raise money which will be donated to a selected charity.
The series is limited to 2000 flacons each and the bottles are
numbered individually.
No. 1 was on my list. Not only was the name “Urban Tropicalia” tempting. I was curious to know if the notes, (at this time unknown to me-the name was tempting enough), would back up the name. Yes! They were.
Green notes in the opening followed by a fine fruit cocktail that is enriched with accents of sparkling Champagne. I did smell cassis too and then later on the finest apricot note I have smelled so far showed up. Really nice and fruity, just like ripe apricots that were freshly picked and would be presented in a bowl ready to eat. Apricots with soft skin and its typical smell and underneath the more fruity smell along with the great taste once you bite into this fruit. A mouth watering apricot note. Very, very yummy.
Next to the Six Scents I spotted the Ex Vinis line. I did not want to overload my nose right away so I tried Fragranza Nr. 6, Piper Officinarum. The Ex Vinis line, if I recall this correct, is inspired by the world of fine wines and the world of fine fragrances. The impression of the smell is appreciated by the wine lover as well as by each perfume lover. Both worlds are marked by aromas, and the passion to find and cherish them. After an opening in a citrusy way (I would say bergamot and lime), fine flower notes followed (lily of the valley and roses) and some remarkable piment, the dry down has very nice notes of sandalwood, some patchouli and I detected hints of vetiver.
Since I was tempted to try the Linari’s again I did not spend more time on the other 5 scents of the Ex Vinis Line. All I know if the rest is as nicely composed as this one is, they are well worth trying. The Linari EDP’s: well with 2 of them it was love on the first sniff. Notte Bianca: a fragrance with grapefruit, bergamotte and orange (I just go overboard for any of these) in the opening which later “play” with Anise, some wood accords and tonka and finalize in a dry down of soft musk and a good amount of amber. This fragrance is really my favorite. It is sophisticated and graceful at the same time.
The other one I like a lot of this line is Eleganza Luminosa: bergamotte, orange and grapefruit provide a fresh and sparkling opening, followed by jasmine, iris and I would say roses, rounded up at the very end by, what I think, smelled like a soft amber note along with patchouli and sandalwood. Okay, I know I said the Notte Bianca is my favorite. It is hard for me to decide which one I like better.
It is a real head to head race to use this expression and literally translated.
In the same room the Sinfonia di Note was presented. Since I had the chance to smell them during the Florence Sniffapalooza I could concentrate on the other treasures waiting to be sniffed. Yet I can only recommend to try each and every single one out of this line. You can probably tell by now that it does show that I have a “weakness” or let’s say certain passion for the Italian lines.
After that it was about time to give my nose “a break”. In the downstairs kitchen I met a few of the other women and we chatted. Of course the main topic circulated around fragrances and we each shared what we smelled so far and gave our recommendations to one another. For us it was clear that we would like to repeat such a meeting. Within the first few hours we had such fun. And as you all know the more fun you have the more time flies. Not long after this break I noticed that I slowly got tired. I did not want to allow this so one more coffee and off I went. I did remain in the lower level and by coincidence I discovered a real beauty. A fragrance yet unknown to me and never heard of at all
Of course I will share this with you and maybe you discover the same beauty I did. The beauty has a name and the name is Ramon Molvizar – Musk Oriental Goldskin. Hat’s off to the man who created this beauty: the Spaniard Ramon Béjar.
Like I wrote before it happened by coincidence. One of the women asked me to have a sniff on the paper strip she had in her hands. Lucky me I did so. I could not believe this heavenly smell. A mélange of sandalwood, amber , musk with some divine floral notes make this one really special. Soft, softer, the softest fragrance I ever smelled in my short “fragrance life”, a real unique character.
This is clearly a must have for the future. By the time I smelled this beauty it was almost time to go. In the early afternoon a few board members had already left. They wanted to be home before some tacky weather could set in. There was still snow in the forecast for the weekend.
We met at 5.20 am last Saturday morning and prepared ourselves with a good cup of java from a
bakery and a big bag of rolls for the drive. After almost 5 hours of drive time we arrived at FIF. We were so excited and none of us wanted to walk in first into the store.
Glad we finally did. 2 ladies were already in there and highly engaged in sniffing'. We were greeted byGeorg and his team of additional 4 perfume experts and the ladies who were already there. Right after Georg took our coats, we received name tags with our screen name and our first name. Georg then guided us straight into the kitchen where he served us excellent coffee and where we could warm up for what did lie ahead of us. Each and every single woman was kind of “armed” with a list of
fragrances she wanted to buy. Fragrances she wanted to try and of course there was still more than enough we did not even know about and we did not even know it would finally be welcomed in our personal collection at home.
The kitchen turned out to be the meeting place every time someone would take a break. There was always a little crowd who sat down over a coffee and a piece of any of the yummy cakes and who chatted about the fragrances, what they discovered and what they wanted to try. About half an hour after our arrival the whole store was filled with 15 fragrance enthusiasts. We were in fragrance heaven. A whole store filled with the fine fragrances, scented candles and
selected room fragrances to ourselves. Not to forget the exclusive cosmetic lines FIF has in stock.
How often in a lifetime does this happen??? Not that often if at all. I guess the majority of us was clearly focused on the fragrances and the candles.
And in addition to all the goodies for our noses, George and his team provided catering for us. Already set up in the kitchen was a buffet of homemade cakes his team prepared for us. All of them were so good, but the apple-almond cake was (that is my personal opinion) to die for. Later on they served an excellent cheese platter with various, very tasty, cheeses along with several kinds of breads and continued in this way to keep our taste buds busy. So as you can see in a way it was a multi sensory event. Noses engaged in sniffing and the taste buds engaged in savoring the food that was served.
After the second cup of coffee nobody could stop us and we spread out into the store over the two floors and sniffed. On the second floor the team had set up the Six Scents series, the Ex Vinis fragrances. In a separate room on the same level the Buxton line, the 4 Linari EDP’s and the Sinfonia di Note line was presented.
In the lower level two rooms offered all the fragrant treasures that FIF has in stock. When I say allfragrances, I mean all of them. Really all of them, no exception! Name it and you will find it there in the store or online. Okay, one exception. Georg Wuchsa’s personal collection.
In the lower level perfume bottles were set up on two tables, paper strips were laid out, cotton swabs and of course coffee beans were available too. The armoires in the rooms were filled with the finest fragrances. Again this was fragrance heaven for all of us. People were sniffing’ in this room as you can see it on one of the pictures. Georg and his team were around and would always be there to answer questions and to provide their excellent knowledge and expertise. Amongst us we discussed notes in fragrances we tried and gave recommendations to each other as well
One fragrance that just got to the store was the new Washington Tremlett Iris Absolute. The Iris lover who I am had this one very high on the list.
The Iris lover who I am had this one very high on the list. I like both of the rose fragrances of this line, Black Tie, which is supposed to be a male fragrance but IMHO very wearable for a female as well. The other one is My Fair Lady, to me the softer rose Iris Absolute is another well composed fragrance out of this line. A nice iris that is surrounded by jasmine and lily of the valley and becomes powdery in the dry down on a bed of soft musk, some tonka bean and some vanilla. At least that is what I smelled and how it came out on my skin. The other new launch of this line is Neroli Absolute. I cannot say any about it as I did not try it.
One other fragrance that was kind of introduced to me by another board member is Frankfurt Kitchen by Social Creatures. There are three fragrances in total in this line. Frankfurt Kitchen, Rebel Ambush and Utopia.
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