DAY FIVE OF NATIONAL FRAGRANCE WEEK 2024: PERFUMERS
To celebrate Day Five of National Fragrance Week, we asked STORIES Founder, Tonya Kidd-Beggs our burning questions all about perfumery!
Moisturise your skin prior to spritzing, this allows the molecules of the perfume to cling to your skin for longer. DO NOT RUB your wrists together after spritzing as this ruins the scent by dispersing notes in the wrong order and can actually make the perfume smell very different. Fragrance is made in such a way to develop over time from the first spritz, top notes are the first aroma followed by heart notes, and then the notes that last on skin for a longer period of time are the base notes. Spray on pulse points and allow to dry naturally – not forgetting the ends of your hair.
I remember every single perfume I have worn over the years, but of course now that I create scent myself, it must be STORIES Parfums. I have worn STORIES Nº.01 and Nº.02 for 6 years, and I am not bored with them whatsoever. I do layer them together on days or layer them with our scented body care. We are a fine fragrance and I created them in such a way that they complement and can be layered together.
I am mum to 4 and chose to be a stay-at-home mum but as my youngest, twin girls started to get a bit older, I went on pursuit of a hobby which took me to Grasse in the South of France. Fragrance was always something that connected me to those who were important to me. Fragrance connected me to my grandmother, who sadly I never got to meet. She was a businesswoman in Northern Ireland, she broke a lot of glass ceilings for women in her day. I grew up feeling I knew her because of the scent she wore. It was only after this transformative trip to the heart of perfume-making in Grasse, France, that I realised the power of fragrance to heal, release locked memories, transcend personal tragedy, and inspire happiness. I had trauma in my life when I was around 12 years of age and sadly, I lost my childhood memories prior. Even though in later years I went through counselling to remove the root of the trauma, which was 100 per cent successful, I still did not have those good childhood memories. This changed when I began working with fragrance. I quickly learnt that our sense of smell is the most powerful one we have. Closely linked to memory and mood, what we smell has the ability to stir us, move us and immerse us in an instant. Spurred on by this discovery, STORIES Parfums was born. Using the best raw materials and time-honoured traditional methods, I created each fragrance to capture a moment and unlock a memory significant to myself. Each bottle is a narrative woven together by a carefully orchestrated balance of notes; as our name suggests, it is a story in aromatic form.
My fragrance house was born as a testament of the power of fragrance and to the stories which have shaped my own life. Fragrance has always been a way for me to connect with who I am and what matters to me and by sharing my fragrances I hope to give people the space to stop and connect with either their past, their present or even dream for their future. The actual inspiration for each fragrance comes by working on how I feel on the day. I do not have an idea or a strategy where my perfumes are concerned. Everything comes to life as I work, much like an artist who paints a painting. It is an expression, an art, what I like to call the art of perfumery. I experienced significant trauma at the age of 12 and because of this, suffered a loss of my childhood memories. In later years, I went through counselling to successfully remove the root of trauma, and in fact went on to train as a counsellor to help others, but sadly I still had no recollection of my lost childhood memories until I started developing my first fragrance when quite extraordinarily, they began to emerge. My first two fragrances are inspired by my discovered childhood memories.
I blind test notes and choose the blend as I go. The wonderful moment when my connection to my memory happens occurs when the fragrance is completed, it is a story unfolding, my story. I bring together all I want, blind testing out of many notes, and break them down. I do work with a fabulous ‘nose’ who neither guides takes away or pushes notes in my direction but allows me to express myself completely, to create a composition of my story. She brings the ending to the chapter and balances all the notes but does not remove or add anything. This is how I love to work. I do not concentrate on any individual note, we make it work - and it always works.
Our Eau de Parfum caps are made from Zamak, a heavy-touch, luxurious material that exhibits an excellent combination of cost, strength, ductility, impact strength and finishing characteristics. Zamak is a family of zinc alloys with varying proportions of aluminium, magnesium and copper and is a 100 per cent recyclable material. This highly resistant alloy is 100% infinitely reusable and does not lose any properties during the recycling process. We want to make our packaging more responsible, so we are offering a 10% discount on next purchase if you return your cap to us along with its bottle. This initiative will support our commitment to recycle, reduce and reuse.
Our Glass Bottles are Refillable, Reusable and Recyclable, Refill your travel size at home. All our perfume bottles are refillable and can be supplied with a pipette for ease of transfer. Our 15ml and 30ml are the perfect size for on the go and can be refilled from our 100ml bottle.
We have implemented a responsible purchasing policy: We make sure that our suppliers have a strong commitment to environmental, social, and societal issues. In selecting them, we favour the respect and promotion of human rights. Most of the raw material suppliers that we have selected are ISO certified and often even ECOCERT certified. Our plants suppliers are eco-friendly, as they follow the harvesting guidelines for wild crafted plants.
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