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Uncommon Scents: Fragrance Innovator Sue Phillips Understands What Successful Women Want
SUE PHILLIPS IS THE QUEEN OF FRAGRANCES
Bespoke fragrances that free perfume from the bottle.
ERIN And Lily! ClevverStyle Erin And Lily Create Their OWN Scents
Beauty DIY: How To Layer Fragrances To Create Your Own Signature Scent
- Play Chemist Mixing and matching fragrances inevitably requires a little trial and error. But that’s the fun part! “This is all about experimentation,” says Carlos Benaim, Master Perfumer at International Flavors & Fragrances. “There are infinite combinations that you can create, and the only way to know if one is going to work is to try it.” Point being, get ready to spend a little time spritzing and sniffing. (Pro tip: If you feel like your sense of smell is starting to burn out, take a break and smell a tissue; its neutral scent can help cleanse your palette, so to speak.)
- Look for Contrast As a general rule, people are usually drawn to fragrances that fall within one olfactive category, says Sue Phillips, President & CEO of Scenterprises & The Scentarium. That’s why even if you have 10 different perfumes in your collection, they may all be predominantly floral, clean, or supersweet. "But if you mix fragrances that are too similar, they’ll end up cancelling one another out. You want to create contrast,” explains Benaim. The easiest way to do so is to layer lighter fragrances with ones that are a bit heavier or more intense. One pairing we like: Pinrose Secret Genius Eau de Parfum and Pinrose Garden Gansgster Eau de Parfum.
- Mix It Up Using Notes It’s not just about the predominant scent when it comes to finding complementary fragrances. The top notes (what you initially smell) and base notes (the scent that lingers after application) come into play as well. Look for a fragrance with top notes you love and pair it with a fragrance that has base notes you love, says Benaim. It’s obviously a matter of personal preference, but we found that the crisp and clean Etat Libre d’Orange You or Someone Like You Eau de Parfum mixes nicely with the green lime, neroli, and jasmine base notes in the Juliette Has a Gun Anyway Eau de Parfum.
- Embrace “Less is More” Phillips likens mixing and matching fragrances to choosing spices when you’re cooking: “Individually, each spice is amazing, but if you were to combine every single one in your cabinet, you’d end up with a blend that’s overpowering and not distinct,” she says. The same goes for perfume. Start with just two scents, and possibly adding a third. “But cap it at three,” advises Phillips.
- Test It Out Resist the temptation to use your skin as your canvas since our body chemistry can interact with the fragrance and affect the final result. To set up a proper at-home test, spray each fragrance on separate cotton balls, press them together, and then toss them in a Ziploc bag. Then, open the bag and take a whiff. If you’re into the mix you’ve made, then try it on to make sure it smells good on you “This is the easiest way to see if the scents mix well together,” points out Phillips.
- Vary the Proportions Once you’ve got a combo you like, you can fine tune the formula. “Something as simple as changing the amount of each fragrance that you’re mixing can make the blend even more distinct,” says Benaim. Start with one spray of each, then try two of one and one of the other, or three spritzes to two spritzes. One blend to try: CLEAN Reserve Amber Saffron Eau de Parfum and CLEAN Reserve Velvet Flora Eau de Parfum. Experiment until you find exactly what you’re looking for, and write down exactly how you got there so that you can recreate your new signature scent in the future.
- Birchbox.com - read the article
Scent Expert Sue Phillips Chats With Entertainment Reporter Whitney Ullman
Sue Phillips Speaks At Zurich International's ZURICH LIVE
ENTREPRENEUR’S CORNER By New York Lifestyles
By Judy Goss
One of the magical things about New York City is that anyone can plant their seed here and blossom into a tremendous success no matter where they are from in the world. Remember Frank Sinatra as he sang, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…”? I’m reminded of this as I listen to the light-hearted lilt of Sue Phillip’s South African accent as she unfolds her story in front of me in her captivating Manhattan Scentarium shop beginning from her remote upbringing in South Africa as a child.
ACT II After years of being in corporate America working as a national leader in training for the cosmetics industry, Sue eventually found her niche and second passion (in addition to singing and dancing) in the perfume industry. Don’t get me wrong—she still kept her hand in the entertainment industry by singing and dancing in the evenings at cabarets and such, but now her focus was on building her corporate career. And when she was eventually introduced to the fragrance world it took on a whole new light, or…sense, shall we say. But before her fragrance career began, Sue was promoted into color cosmetics from her corporate training position at Elizabeth Arden and started learning about eye shadows, lipsticks, mascaras and how companies are marketing these products to women. “What girl doesn’t want to know that stuff, right?” Sue said with a chuckle, then afterward Arden promoted her into fragrance marketing which instantly became her greatest passion. “With lipsticks and eye shadows you can immediately see the difference. With fragrance, it’s so intangible, you can’t see anything—but you can definitely feel the difference. It reflects who you are.” Sue opened up a whole new world for herself, leading to her next venture at Lancôme where as Marketing Director she worked on Chloe, Burberry, and Lagerfeld fragrances. She started to feel a “love and kinship” for fragrances, a much deeper passion than what she had felt with cosmetics and color. Lancôme at the time was very focused on cosmetics and skincare treatment and considered fragrance to be the “stepchild” of the company. But with Sue’s obsession for the potential of what fragrance could do for the public’s olfaction, she paved the way for Lancôme to eventually make their fragrance department a top competitor in the industry. While at Lancôme, little did Sue know that her career was about to take on an even more high-profile turn and propel her up into the top echelons of the fragrance industry.


ACT V For most people, reaching the pinnacle of an entrepreneurial career as a world-renowned consultant would be good enough, but as a visionary Sue realized seven years ago that fragrances had a different future and she wanted to be leading the pack. She noticed consumers were getting tired of having to choose premade perfume types or a celebrity’s choice of perfume that may or may not fit into their personality and scent preference. So Sue capitalized on an evolving future of customized scents for everyone, perfumes that people could create themselves—bespoke fragrances, as Sue calls it. As the world exploded into customized industries from vacations to interior design, Sue awakened her industry to the beginning of tailored perfumes with her picturesque haven of a perfumery called Scentarium located in Downtown Manhattan. The shop hypnotizes the soul with its charm and beauty, enrapturing all the senses with glorious scents, music and exquisite paintings her mother created for her as one of the most talented artists in South Africa. Scentarium clients range from celebrities (Jamie Foxx and Katie Holmes are fans) to six-year-old girls to 80-year-old birthday parties. Also in the mix are Fortune 500 companies who request team building conferences and celebratory events like AOL, Bulgari, COTY and hundreds of other corporations who have hired her to set up fragrance bars at their events for their employees to experience the art of custom perfume creation.

THE FINALE Looking back Sue exclaims “If you had told me that growing up in South Africa I would land up being in NYC singing, dancing and working in the cosmetic industry then eventually developing a fragrance for Tiffany, I would have said you’re crazy!” I have a feeling the curtain is not even close to coming down yet on Sue’s ventures.

The Daily Glow Visits The Scentarium
Here's How To Create Your Own Custom Fragrance At The 'Scentarium'
A Custom Scent For Fall
Sitting here in the recent Autumn chill as the days of Summer draw to a close and the early hints of Fall appear – I thought I'd create myself a bespoke perfume for Fall to cheer myself up and make me feel special at this time of year. So – here is my perfume recipe: Earthy Mossy Perfume Blend (Deep notes of oak moss with woods, leather and rich florals - it’s like an Enchanted Forest! Honey, jasmine rose, bergamot, sandalwood, sweet resins, patchouli, Labdanum styrax – sensual and sophisticated). Rose Floral Perfume Blend (An exquisite exotic, modern, desirable rose floral with wild rose and Turkish rose otto. This rose blend is fascinating and attractive and not your grand-mother’s rose. It includes Moroccan rose violet, cognac, clove and violet. Crisp Green Perfume Blend (The aroma of fresh cut green grass, with green leaves, green grass, prairies and meadows, and a hint of sweet Hyacinth, green lemon, green teas. Crisp and natural – modern and fresh.) My creation is warming, sensual and comforting yet fresh, with beautiful rose and violet florals surrounded by freshly cut stems and held together with a deep earthy note. Perfect for Fall. To create your own Fall scent, why not purchase these Perfume Blends from Scenterprises' web site and create your very own custom scent for Fall. (Full instructions supplied with the blends) Purchase blends here. Alternatively, you can use Scenterprises' unique on line design service and create your very own fragrance on line. Details here .
Sue Phillips offers one to one Custom Scent Experiences where you can learn all about the art of perfumery and create your own custom scent with the guiding hand of Sue. Book a Custom Scent Experience here.
Design Your Own Fragrance - Some Inspiration
- Firstly mix the Crisp Green with the Breezy Ozonic - this will produce an exciting, fresh, sporty clean scent which is perfect for a relaxing weekend.
- Secondly, mix Crisp Green with Breezy Ozonic with Fresh Floral - this will produce a fabulous feminine powerful scent ideal for the office to keep you feeling and smelling delectable all day.
- Thirdly, mix Crisp Green with Breezy Ozonic, Fresh Floral and Earthy Mossy - this will transform your scent into a warm, sensual and exotic evening perfume - soft and enticing to allure those gentlemen!!!