Press

Indie Fragrance Founders Redefine Relevance

Traditionally built on luxury and seduction, custom fragrance marketer is looking at new ways to reestablish the category's relevance.

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We Talked To A Perfume Expert About How To Find Your Signature Scent

Sue Phillips is the CEO of Scenterprises, a fragrance expert and self-described scentrepreneur at The Scentarium in New York City.

We've always loved the idea of having a signature scent — there's just something so romantic about the concept. That said, we've had a tough time actually finding one... anyone else having trouble with this?

Sue Phillips is the CEO of Scenterprises, a fragrance expert and self-described scentrepreneur at The Scentarium in New York City. She's created custom scents for many a celebrity, including Jamie Foxx, Katie Holmes, Laurence Fishburne, Zendaya, and Susan Sarandon — so it made a lot of, uh, "scents," to ask her for some tips on finding your signature scent.

Read full article here

Sue Phillips CEO Of Scenterprises

Sue Phillips CEO of Scenterprises - available for speaking engagements and corporate events

Schneps Communications Events invites you to an Evening Honoring Power Women in Business. Come and join us for a Scentertaining evening honoring women in business and starring Sue Phillips – Scentrepreneur and President & CEO of Scenterprises™.Sue is an industry leader – having pioneered the concept of custom scents – empowering thousands of individuals to create their very own personalized scents which express their individuality and lifestyle.Sue will also touch on the subject of scent as a branding tool for your business and or brand – how to embrace your customers with the enticing aromas of a beautiful perfume that reflects your company’s philosophy and brand identity.Whether you’re in fashion, retail, entertainment, event planning or any other type of business, perfume can be a powerful marketing tool to increase your brand awareness and customer loyalty.Sue has been nominated for a Power Women in Business Award by Schneps Communications and has a career spanning many years in high profile companies and is recognised as one of the world’s foremost Fragrance Experts.
Tickets are available at:
$175 each
$200 at the door
$1650 for a table of 10
$1800 for a table of 12
To book contact:
CALL LORI ON: 718-238-6600 X110

Schneps Communications Events Invites You To An Evening Honoring Power Women In Business.

Schneps Communications Events invites you to an Evening Honoring Power Women in Business. 

Come and join us for a Scentertaining evening honoring women in business and starring Sue Phillips – Scentrepreneur and President & CEO of Scenterprises™.
Sue is an industry leader – having pioneered the concept of custom scents – empowering thousands of individuals to create their very own personalized scents which express their individuality and lifestyle.
Sue will also touch on the subject of scent as a branding tool for your business and or brand – how to embrace your customers with the enticing aromas of a beautiful perfume that reflects your company’s philosophy and brand identity.
Whether you’re in fashion, retail, entertainment, event planning or any other type of business, perfume can be a powerful marketing tool to increase your brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Sue has been nominated for a Power Women in Business Award by Schneps Communications and has a career spanning many years in high profile companies and is recognised as one of the world’s foremost Fragrance Experts.
Tickets are available at:
$175 each
$200 at the door
$1650 for a table of 10
$1800 for a table of 12
To book contact:
CALL LORI ON: 718-238-6600 X110

Custom Fragrances With The Scentarium And Sue Phillips By Dapper Confidential

Custom Fragrances with The Scentarium and Sue Phillips

As I descended into The Scentarium in Tribeca on a rainy Friday evening, I wasn't quite sure what to expect for my "sensory journey". However, after two hours in a sumptuous perfumery, I left with my own custom fragrance and had learned about the history of scent itself with one of New York City's most fascinating women, Sue Phillips.
Sue, a South African former singer, actress, and Head of Marketing for Tiffany & Co. has created the first ever custom fragrance studio in the iconic Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan. With tufted leather couches, beautiful glass vials, and books that inspire her, Sue’s entire studio was a sensory experience. The Scentarium is all about customization and personalization, Sue took me through my scent personality quiz which helped me identify which scent families I preferred the most. I smelled over 17 different scent blends from The Four scent families to explore my own unique olfactory palette. Sue is a well of deep knowledge on the history of scent; teaching me the origin of the word perfume, which is derived from the Latin word, "per fumus," meaning “through smoke”, to how the iconic fragrance, Chanel No. 5, came to be (hint: it was an accident).
I preferred the Woodsy, Animalic, and Amber scent families the most and from there Sue helped me blend my own custom scent. The 4 scent blends I chose for my fragrance were Balsamic Vanilla, Mellow Musk, Smooth Amber, and Tonic Sport. Once you select your 3-4 scents, Sue gets to work blending your custom scent right in front of you! While she does that, you get to name your custom scent which is both fun and nerve-racking! My fragrance brought back memories of the small mountain resort town in the Rocky Mountains I used to visit every winter growing up named McCall, and my scent name was born. Armed with a name for my scent, Sue presented me with my fragrance in a matte black atomizer and velvet satchel. I learned the top notes in my fragrance were sporty, fresh juniper with herbal tonic and bergamot. The other 3 blends of Mellow Musk, Smooth Amber and Balsamic Vanilla built my middle and base notes which provided woody, sweet & creamy notes without being overly cloying. Because of the high quality of the perfumes at The Scentarium, the scents are rich and long-lasting. Since wearing my custom scent, I've gotten so many compliments and I can't sing Sue's praises enough!
A trip to The Scentarium with Sue makes for a luxurious gift for you or a significant other. Sue’s clients include Jamie Foxx, who crafted a custom scent for Katie Holmes birthday, Zendaya, and Action Bronson to name a few! I absolutely love my scent and can't wait to head back to The Scentarium to spend more time with Sue and blend more custom fragrances! To learn more about The Scentarium or book your own sensory experience, visit their website. Read the article in Dapper Confidential
The Bride Wore Satin And A Woodsy Scent

The Bride Wore Satin And A Woodsy Scent

Is love in the air or is that a personalized wedding perfume?

For some brides and grooms the answer is yes to both. In a quest to make their weddings even more memorable and distinctive, they are ordering up custom fragrances to wear on their big day, hoping to leave an aromatic impression with their guests and new spouse.

“Once a memory association is created from a scent — and is then connected with a person, place and event — it’s hard to associate it with something else,” said Dr. Pamela Dalton, an olfactory scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

“People are recognizing how useful it can be in recreating and triggering these emotionally potent events, and they want to do it with something that bonds them in a meaningful way to that experience.”

Just as no two weddings are exactly alike, neither are bespoke perfumes and colognes, with prices varying widely. Brides and grooms can each have their own fragrances created or opt for one designated scent. The cost can range from $90 to $35,000, depending on the ingredients used and services provided. One can have a therapy-like experience to discover your scent, or merely answer a handful of questions. Some sessions are one-time consultations, others are multiple meetings.

Several businesses offer individualized formulations that will be kept on file and the couple is given the honor of naming their fragrance.

 

 

 

Sue Phillips, the chief executive and founder of the Scentarium, in New York. (Peter Koluff)

THE SCENTARIUM

Sue Phillips, the chief executive and founder of the Scentarium, a perfumery in TriBeCa, says business has tripled from last year, with same-sex couples making up about half her clientele.

“The 90-minutes experience is about personalization and authentically reflecting who they are,” she said. “It’s how do you want that fragrance to reflect what someone feels on that special day?”

Clients are first asked to fill out a short questionnaire. Among the questions: Describe your dream house. What kinds of foods do you like? What is your favorite season? Ms. Phillips then places clients in one of four fragrance families: fresh, floral, woodsy or Oriental.

She has already created 18 fully blended perfumes, which showcase a full fragrance palette. Each is smelled, and placed in order of preference. Then the top choices are combined together. “I’m looking to create a complete character, something smooth and consistent with no jagged edges,” she added. “I don’t want one particular note jumping out over another.”

Cost: $125 for an 20- milliliter atomizer scenterprises.com

 

Read the article on the NYTimes.com

Criteo: How A “Scentrepreneur” Is Reinventing The Retail Experience

Criteo: How A “Scentrepreneur” Is Reinventing The Retail Experience

Personalization – both online and off – has occupied retailers and brands for years. While relevant offers help you connect with online shoppers and drive higher conversions, creating a personalized experience in an offline store is more important than ever.
How do you ensure each shopper remembers her visit? What makes your brand stand out? Sue Phillips, “Scentrepreneur” and founder and CEO of Scenterprises, has made it her job to answer these questions for fashion brands. Attended the Women’s Wear Daily CEO Summit, Phillips heard industry leaders discussing the issue in depth. And knew that she had the answer. “Every single presenter was talking about experiences, interactivity, customization, personalization,” she said. “It was music to my ears because that’s what we do.” A veteran of the beauty and fragrance industry, Phillips began her career at Elizabeth Arden conducting Beauty Training Seminars before joining Lancôme as Marketing Director of Fragrance. Next, Phillips joined Tiffany and Co. as Vice President of Fragrance Marketing to develop the house’s first iconic Tiffany perfume. Phillips went on to launch perfumes for Burberry, Lagerfeld, Chloe, and Trish McEvoy. In 2008, observing the rise of celebrity fragrances, Phillips smelled the next great opportunity. “I saw the saw that customization was going to happen. Today, it is the biggest trend in fragrance.” (Learn more: Making Underwear an Experience – and Other Examples of Experiential Marketing)

“Sensploration” and Digital Natives

Experts in the retail industry believe the next big trend in consumer goods is “sensploration” – when brands take shoppers on a multi-sensory journey to create a stronger experience and a better emotional connection with the product. At a time when omnichannel retailers strive to deliver personalization on every channel, that connection is important. Phillips delivers on both online and offline personalization by mixing individual perfumes for each and every client. Clients can visit Scenterprises.com or the Scentarium, an appointment-only perfumery in New York, and  create custom fragrances by answering questions on Phillips’ carefully constructed “Scent Personality Quiz.” 18 fragrances to create your custom blend  The results of the quiz have been so accurate that, out of more than 20,000 personalized perfumes, only one has ever been returned. “And that was because her name was Sean and we had made her blend lean more masculine,” Sue says with a smile, “But we fixed that and she was very pleased with it.”  

“A Fragrant Oasis”

Sue Phillips Scentarium in Tribeca But for Phillips and the lucky clients who’ve entered the New York City-based Scentarium, it’s the in-person “custom scent experiences” that takes personalization to the next level. “Retail is not dead,” says Phillips, “It’s just going through a transition. Brands have to turn the ship around and start to offer experiences. It can’t just be transactional.” Decades after her time as a beauty training director at Elizabeth Arden, Phillips has kept her best tactics and taken them to the next level. “I always incorporated beautiful sensory aspects to my training seminars,” she explains. “I would set up my schools with lovely ambiance – lovely music and beautiful visuals. The idea was that the trainees would be so motivated by the beautiful ambiance that they’d be motivated to go out and sell. And that stayed with me.” Outfitted with plush furniture, cozy fabrics, and eye-catching art, the Scentarium is a perfume-lover’s dream. Here, Phillips uses sensory strategies to sell custom fragrances. With Phillips herself leading most appointments and interviewing each client to get the right scent, it also builds brand loyalty through a unique, interactive and in-person experience.  

A Journey Through Scent

Moving into 2018, Phillips is strategizing on how to expand Scenterprises.com as an e-commerce platform and bring the Scentarium, along with her expertise, to a larger audience. Phillips plans to draw once again from her early days as a Training Director at Elizabeth Arden. Sue Phillips Scentrepreneur mixing custom fragrances “Now the question I get asked the most is, ‘How do you clone Sue?’” Phillips says with a smile. “But with my background in beauty training, we’re ready to expand. We’re so excited to be at the forefront of this amazing trend of interactive, personalized experiences.” Omnichannel retailers of all sizes planning 2018 marketing campaigns can learn from the Scentrepreneur. While in-store and online experiences go hand-in-hand, brick-and-mortar can still engage customers in ways that the online experience, simply can’t. And if done well, the result is the sweet smell of success.
Read the article in Criteo.com here

The Comeback Of Unisex Fragrances In Scents - Interview With Sue Phillips

Unisex fragrances have always existed, but there’s no doubt that the market is largely split into feminine and masculine scents. Feminine scents, like the classics Chanel No. 5 and Dior J’Adore, are typically light and floral. Masculine scents, like Terre d’Hermes and Thierry Mugler Homme, on the other hand, are woodsy, deeper, and longer lasting.
But, was it really always like this? The short answer, according to perfumer Sue Phillips of The Scentarium, is She explains, “the trend towards different fragrances for men and women started in the US in the early ‘70s. In the ‘60s, the flower children wore musky and patchouli oils in an effort to “commune” with nature, but once the ‘70s rolled around, men wanted to smell ‘like men.’ This brought about the rise of bracing, refreshing, sporty scents. Around the same time, a trend towards woodsy, amber, and mossy fragrances for men had started in Cologne, Germany, and with it, the birth of the term “cologne.” Interestingly enough, this took particular hold in the US, while European men remained comfortable wearing a range of fragrances, including florals.” “Thankfully, the trends are changing now and more and more men are not really asking for cologne anymore. They actually use the word ‘perfume’,” explains Phillips. Now, those trends are changing and we’re seeing more and more men, particularly millennials, wearing formulations that are light and floral. And the reverse has proven true, too, as women want to wear deeper, woodsy fragrances that have traditionally been viewed as men’s fragrances.

Unisex Fragrances Created by Sue Philips

Scenterprises Ozonic Blend

This scent blends the refreshing breeziness of the ocean and the crisp mountain air with notes of mandarin, bergamot, and geranium.

Scenterprises Tonic Sports 

The sportiness and exuberance emanating from the notes of bergamot, galbanum, juniper, geranium, lemon, coriander, and lavender will have you feeling invigorated from the moment you put it on. Read the article in www.dapperconfidential.com

Uncovering The Scent Of Yourself With Perfume Designer, Sue Phillips

Your favorite perfume has the ability to turn your day around, evoke a memory and finish off a look.
But even your favorite perfume isn’t truly yours. That Dior, Chanel, Marc Jacobs in your bedroom – they’re made for the public – mass produced and widely distributed. While they’re wonderful – they’re not unique to you.
The Scentarium
Sue Phillips, who started her career with Elizabeth Arden, then went to Lancôme, and then on to Tiffany as VP of Marketing – having grown within the industry ranks – realized there was an opportunity to go out on her own and tailor scents to your liking. “Being in the industry, and being a woman in an industry predominantly run by men, I felt it was very important to make a statement and to start doing one on my own,” she says. “Now, customization is everywhere.”
We met with Phillips in her “Scentarium” where she walked us through her formulation techniques and how our personality quirks would come to define our custom scents.

“For fragrance, much like in life, in food, in music, there’s a beginning, middle and an end,” she begins. “In food you have your appetizer, main course and dessert. In music, you have your overture, your main theme and your finale. In fragrance there’s a beginning, middle and end. So when you first spray a fragrance you smell the top note for the beginning and usually they’re the light, bright citrusy notes, and you can smell them from about 10-15 minutes on the skin. And then it mixes with your body chemistry and then come the middle notes: the florals, spicy and fruity. And then, after about two hours, the base notes begin to kick in and it should last for about 4-8 hours.”

The session with Phillips in her Scentarium (a magically-lit room filled with the potions, perfumes and scents of the world) is intended to be both engaging and educational, during which we build our perfume from beginning, to middle and end. We discover that the biggest difference between men and women’s fragrances is the base notes are much more prevalent and bolder in men’s. Where a woman’s fragrance is lighter, more floral letting the top agents do a lot of the work – the big base notes of men’s cologne define their scents.
She also informs us as we roam through her collection of bottles that one of the world’s most beloved perfumes – Chanel No.5 – was created entirely because of a perfumer’s mistake. Coco Chanel’s perfumer’s assistant, Jacques, put too much of the ingredient “aldehydic” (a powdery scent) in the perfume and with that, became the most profitable mistake in fragrance history. It will celebrate it’s hundredth anniversary in three years, and is still in the top ten best-selling scents every year.

“This is all about you and your DNA and what matches your personality” she says.

Upon arrival, we take the scent quiz. “I do the scent quiz for several reasons,” she says. “It’s to determine your olfactive personality. It’s a lifestyle quiz: it has nothing to do with fragrance, I’ll be able to tell from the answer whether you like fresh, floral or oriental.” And that she does. After collating our answers she’s able to direct us in the path of our preferred flavors and intuitively points out what these answers mean for our taste profile.
There lay 18 different perfumes with which she uses to create our scents. Each of them are individually hand-made by her with an array of flavours falling into eight different categories: citrus, fruity, oriental, ozonic, chypre, woodsy, lavender and musk.
Phillips’s title is that of Perfume Designer – rather than perfumer (which involves a little too much chemistry and not enough personal interaction for this entrepreneur), which means that she can deconstruct your favorite perfumes into these 18 different flavor profiles and explain them back to you. For this reason, she has been commissioned by an array of corporate companies for events that invite an audience to participate in perfume deconstruction or creation.
Using scent strips, we co-ordinate our formulas. She informs our decisions based on how robust or round the collection of aromas are to her. If our top note is too sweet, she adds a musk, if bottom is too spicy, she adds a lavender note, all while keeping in mind our tastes and likings from the quiz.
“Isn’t it amazing how out of these blends you can find something that totally fits your personality, and out of these 18 we can find millions of scents.” - Sue Phillips.
Phillips’s “Scentertaining” experience is really just that – a funw ay to understand what your nose likes and why it likes it. Your personality is fully reflective in the vial of liquid you walk away with. It’s no wonder that her Scentarium has played host to guests such Katie Holmes, Zendaya and Jamie Foxx among others – this really is a most unique and fun experience for anyone that loves fragrance. Read the article in www.swaay.com

Give The Gift Of Fragrance This Holiday Season.

Are you wondering what to buy your nearest and dearest this Holiday Season?

Then look no further! Scenterprises' Create your Own Fragrance On-line Gift Certificate is the perfect Holiday gift. 

Using the coupon code supplied with the Gift Certificate, the person receiving the Gift Certificate will be able to shop on line at Scenterprises and use the fun and interactive on-line quiz to actually design their very own bespoke scent on line! Beautiful, personal and unique.

This gift is suitable for both males and females and for people of any age.

Why not spoil the person you love with a Gift Certificate today. (all Gift Certificates are valid for 6 months from date of purchase).

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Scent Event With Sue Phillips - House Of Fragrance

On December 3rd 2018, there will be a Custom Scent Event with Sue Phillips, House of Fragrance at La Perfumarie, 155 Lafayette Street, SoHo, NYC from 3 pm to 5 pm. Discover how to influence your moods, your confidence, and your sensuality and create your very own bespoke scent with exclusive perfume blends by Sue Phillips at a custom scent group workshop. $145 per person, includes a bespoke scent.

Reserve Your Place Here

Perfumarie Igniting Olfactory Encounters - more information

Perfume Gifts For Christmas

Looking for a scented gift for your loved one? Sue Phillips Perfume Blends are the perfect Christmas gift whether you're looking to buy for a man or a woman, and for any age. The Perfume Blends come in exclusive, twist atomizers that are unique to Scenterprises. Available in 8 ml (1/3 OZ) and 20 ml (2/3 OZ) sizes, the blends can be used on their own, or you can buy 2 or 3 and then they can be used to create a unique, personalized perfume by layering them in different ways. Beautiful, finest quality and only available from Scenterprises. The atomizers are also available in various colors, so just select when purchasing. Share the gift of fragrance this Christmas. Also available as a Gift Certificate.

BUY NOW