Press
New York Post: COVID-19 Survivors Regain Smell Thanks To ‘Magician’ Perfumer
They had a nose for nothing this past year, but now some COVID-19 long-haulers can finally stop to smell the roses — thanks to a legendary perfumer who’s leading them on a $650 “fragrance journey.”
Perfumer Sue Phillips, who has created scents for Tiffany and Burberry, is helping virus survivors who’ve lost their sense of smell.
“A piece of my life was missing, and I’m elated that something dormant for more than a year is triggered. Now [my sense of smell] is on full blast,” said Tammy Farrell, 51, after her hourlong session at Phillips’ eponymous fragrance boutique on the Upper East Side.
Farrell lost her ability to smell when she came down with the coronavirus in March 2020. The Long Island mom of three kept waiting for her nose to kick into action but, despite sniffing garlic powder and walking past fragrant bakeries, she had no luck.
“I figured I’d suck it up for a few weeks, but then weeks turns into months and months,” said Farrell, a customer success manager. She eventually sought out neurologists and had brain scans and blood work done, but everything turned up normal. “I couldn’t smell anything, and no one knew why. You just can’t help but cry,” she said, adding, “I couldn’t smell my favorite candles or my husband’s cologne. I couldn’t enjoy eating — it just became fuel for my body, not pleasure.”
When her daughter alerted her to a gas odor in the basement and Farrell couldn’t smell it, she knew she needed help. “When you can’t smell gasoline leaks, it’s a huge problem,” said Farrell. “I didn’t have any more options.”
Phillips, who has owned her custom perfumery for 12 years, launched the scent therapy healing program earlier this year.
“When smell is out of reach, it affects many realms of life, including eating and taste. People get very depressed … It’s devastating,” said Phillips. “People say their life is not worth living. Smell is such a big part of life’s pleasures.”
According to a study by the American Academy of Neurology, some 51 percent of people who lost their sense of smell due to COVID had not regained it five or more months later.
Starting at $650, clients get one meeting with Phillips (she also offers a Zoom option, where she sends smell strips ahead of time) and a custom fragrance to take home.
She blends scents using ingredients such as lavender, musk, amber and vanilla, which are divided between top, mid and base notes. The client then smells individual scented strips to help arouse the dormant sense.
It sounds simplistic, but Phillips said she has helped 20 people regain at least some of their ability to smell since the new year.
Last Thursday, as she went through various notes with Farrell, the perfumer gave specific commands: “Smell with your brain — try to absorb the aromas with your brain … your brain is fogged up.”
Suddenly, Farrell began to cry. “It smells lovely,” she said of a balsamic vanilla-scented strip. “It smells very rich. I haven’t smelled anything this strong, ever. This is a dream.”
The night after her one session, Farrell said she detected the taste of pepper in her dinner, and she’s committed to doing her “homework,” which includes smelling their own perfume, flowers and fruit throughout the day with a meditation-like focus.
Days later, Farrell said she had smelled garlic, albeit faintly, for the first time in over a year, although she lamented she still can’t smell bacon or popcorn.
Even doctors working with COVID survivors are open to the therapy. “I think it’s interesting and exciting. There may be some opportunities with some stimulation with different scents,” said Dr. Yosef Krespi, an otolaryngologist at Lenox Hill Hospital who noted that two-thirds of the COVID survivors with longterm smell loss are women. “It’s like training or rehabilitation of . . . the nerves located at the roof of the nose. There’s an opportunity for ‘physical therapy’ [and] the re-learning of those scents.”
“I’m still in shock that it works,” said Phillips’ client Marissa Karen, a 27-year-old Google account manager from Soho. She lost her sense of smell after contracting COVID last March. “I went to a million different doctors, six or seven ENTs, a neurologist, and went on oral and nasal steroids to reduce inflammation. I left every doctor hysterically crying.”
She met with Phillips last week and could smell again after one session. “It’s associating smells with memories,” said Karen, who does her training with lemons. “I associate it with going to a lemon farm I went to in Sorrento in southern Italy where I had a lemonade and limoncello tasting.”
Added Karen: “You don’t realize how important smell is until you don’t have it anymore. I can walk outside now and smell the spring flowers blooming.”
Link: https://nypost.com/2021/04/27/perfumer-helps-covid-survivors-regain-smell/
This Is The Biggest Trend In Fragrance Right Now
Fragrances weren’t always marketed to men and women specifically. And as new generations welcome and help shape a more fluid world, the fragrance industry is moving right along with it.
History Lesson
In ancient Egypt, perfume was used as a way to honor the gods in religious ceremonies; the Romans and Greeks applied jasmine and scents from other flowers to cover their body odor. “Even in the Bible it said you should put scent on yourself to cover body odor, but there were no stories about gender,” says fifth-generation perfumer Ben Krigler of artisanal fragrance house Krigler.
According to fragrance expert Sue Phillips, founder of The Scentarium, scent was considered universal until 1921 when Chanel launched its now-iconic No5, and Coco Chanel marketed it to women. “This was followed by a slew of other ‘designer fragrances’ that were also marketed to women, such as Dior and Arpège, and suddenly ‘perfume’ became the fragrance name associated with women,” she explains. “The most famous American men’s cologne actually started out as a women’s fragrance under the name of ‘Early American Old Spice,’ but it flopped, so it was re-released as the new ‘Old Spice’ in 1937 and targeted to men, thus began the marketing of ‘colognes’ for men.” In the 1940s and beyond, “fragrance marketing and advertising became sexualized with the focus on attracting men or women in very traditional sexual stereotypical roles,” says Linda Levy, president of The Fragrance Foundation.
Turning Point
In 1994, things changed when Calvin Klein’s CK ONE hit the market with a bang. “CK ONE is a major milestone in fragrance history as it was a disruptor in the industry and the first fragrance to be marketed as unisex, or universal, as we currently have named this category at The Fragrance Foundation,” says Levy. One of the perfumers who created the radical scent, Alberto Morillas, reflects on the game-changing launch: “CK ONE moves beyond old codes of gender, sexuality and race, and embodies the idea of freedom. Calvin Klein anticipated a new cultural shift toward unisex fragrances and codes in its early stages, and leaned in at the right moment. The fragrance has been a best-seller since.”
Modern Minds
Today, there are many fragrances blurring gender norms, which Levy says is truly the current state of society and will be for the future. “These include but are not limited to Le Labo, Tom Ford, diptyque, Byredo, Maison Margiela, Atelier Colonge and Jo Malone, which are widely known. Some brands, such as Boy Smells and the Phluid Project, are making gender fluidity a major statement in their marketing.”
Krigler has also noticed a significant change in consumer behavior as more people are turning to the internet for fragrance education. “I can see it with our younger customers, and even our male customers: there’s less worrying about what is ‘for men,’ and what they can and can’t wear. They’re more interested in the notes and the ingredients, and how they will react with their body chemistry and their lifestyle. Fragrance is personal—it’s not about the latest trend or what marketing tells you is best.”
Love Notes
Regardless of gender, Phillips says “Americans generally like to smell fresh and clean, and those notes are typically found in the citrus family, such as lemons, oranges, bergamot, green grass and ozonic sea breezy notes. It harkens back to Americans’ obsession with cleanliness.” Globally, Krigler points to a desire for people to wear scents that make them feel closer to nature. “Fresh notes like bergamot and orange blossom are very universal, but also notes like patchouli, amber, sandalwood and tonka bean. And vanilla! This is one note everybody is crazy about these days. It’s very addictive and makes you feel comfortable.”
Future Focus
Picture a department store floor without sections for men and women, but rather one big celebration of scent. Experts predict this is the future, but they’re not sure how long it will take to get there. “I believe we’re entering that phase now, in fact,” says Morillas. “Many of the client briefs I receive stipulate a unisex approach to creation, and I find that many of my inspirations and reference points are now genderless, and linked closely to an emotion I’m trying to evoke, rather than using specific ingredients for gender codes. The more accepting a society becomes of discarding stereotypes, the more our narrative as perfumers changes as well.”
Universal Language
Three genderless scents we’re loving right now: one that stands the test of time and two newcomers to the scene this year.
Metro UK: Covid Survivor Unable To Smell Or Taste For A Year Has Breakthrough Moment At Perfumery
A Covid survivor who was unable to smell or taste for a year managed to regain some of her senses during a trip to a perfume shop.
Lyss Stern, from New York City, New York, lost her sense of smell and taste after contracting coronavirus in March last year and until today, has not smelled anything since then.
But after a long 12 months she has finally had a breakthrough, thanks to a visit to the The Scentarium in Upper East Side in New York.
Speaking to NBC New York, Stern said she was able to teach herself how to smell again.
She said the last year has been a struggle and despite having low points, she always hoped her senses would come back again.
Stern said: ‘It’s very frustrating, but I have to stay positive. I’m a survivor, it could’ve been a lot worse, so I had to put that into perspective.
‘However, I’m not going to lie to you, it’s very frustrating.
‘I do believe that over time, and hopefully with something like where I am today, and with the studies that I’m doing, we will eventually be able – even if it’s just a little bit – to get back a little of my smell and taste.
‘I’ll take whatever I can get back.’
Her ability to regain her sense of smell came while trying out various scents at the perfumery to see if she can detect anything.
With the help of owner, Sue Phillips, Stern tried out a long list different samples. While many smells failed for Stern, the odor of vanilla provided some much-needed hope.
From there, Phillips put together what few fragrances triggered a reaction to enable Stern to smell a fragrance.
‘Something beautiful. I’m gonna cry’, Stern said.
‘I fell very emotional because, not only to smell something, but to smell something that’s beautiful, as the first time to really be able to smell something It’s amazing.’
For Phillips, she said getting to that point made it all worth it for her.
‘This for me, this is what I live for’, Phillips.