Welcome to our first Adorebeauty Forum Special Guest - Renee Griffith, creator of Renee fragrances! :clapping:

Renee will be our guest on the forum for the next week, answering any questions you may have on her fragrances, the process of creating a fragrance, fragrance in general... anything you'd like to ask her! Just post your questions in this thread and Renee will answer.

This thread is now locked. Thanks to everyone for your participation, and thanks especially to Renee for sharing your expertise with us!

I've been looking at your Fragrance on Adore for some time now and i'm not really sure what to purchase. I'm chasing a fragrance with a stronf musk smell, i'm currently using The Body Shop white musk Edt.

So if you could recommend me one of your fragrances i'd be delighted.

I'm so glad to hear someone else is a lover of Musk scents. Often people associate Musk with being old fashioned and musty.
I wanted to change that perception and so have created my own version of Musk which is a rich and intense but more modern.

Here is a fragrance pyramid of my Musk to help you.

Top Notes - Citrus, Fresh
Italian Bergamot, French Lavender, Sweet Orange

Heart/Middle - Spice, Floral
Rose de Mai, Exotic Spices

Dry Down – Sweet, Wood, Musk, Amber
Sweet Vanilla, Cedarwood, Smooth Sandalwood, Tonka Bean Amber Guaiacwood

Musk has just been released this week and is available from Adore as a 30ml EDP as well as a gorgeous 8ml Perfume Oil in a roll on glass bottle.

I hope you like it!

Hi Renee!

Can you tell me a little bit about your Amber fragrance? I am a lover of the "oriental" fragrances!

Thanks and welcome to the forum.:)

Me again Renee

I can't seem to find the Musk perfume and roll on perfume you are talking about. It is probably staring me in the face but i just can't see it. A little direction please. And is it actually called "Musk"?

The Renee perfumed oil only came into the store late today, so it's not on the site yet. It should go up tomorrow. I tried the Jasmine roll on perfume oil and it's beautiful! (but very strong. Only a tiny bit needed) Love the idea of a roll on oil. The small bottle is so convenient and easy to have floating around your bag....

Hi Renee,
I am a fragrance junkie. I have hundreds and even though I know that frgrances go off in time I don't mind because it gives me a great excuse to buy more. I absolutely love your snow peach fragrance. I am a lover of anything that smells sweet. Can you recommend another from your range that is on the sweet side?

Hi Luisa

Amber is a scent that will definately suit a lover of Oriental style fragrances.

For this particular fragrance l was inspired by some time l spent in the Middle East where l visited the Arabian souks and spice markets. Amber recreates a sense of a heated humid evening in Arabia walking through a dimly lit baazar filled with eclectic craft and an abundance of colourful, aromatic spices sold by the scoop mingled with the smell of freshly cooked flat bread and sticky, sweet pastries.

The top notes of ginger, cardomom and lime leaves give an initial zing and are a surprising diversion from traditional vanilla based amber scent. These top notes quickly subside to unearth a warming, mellow amber base with cinnamon, clove and aromatic spices. It is quite an adventurous scent, definately not for the faint hearted.

Hello PinkCupcake,

How appropriate your alias is for a girl who loves sweet scents!

I thought you might be interested in a few tips on how to best preserve your fragrances;
Most of them are common sense, however for others interested to know how to protect your precious essences it's best to;
- always store your fragrance in an upright position (even unopened boxes of fragrance)
- keep your fragrance away from sunlight especially direct sunlight and excessive heat.

Often you will notice a darkening of the juice if the fragrance if exposed to light for long periods. Some commercial scents try and overcome this tendancy by adding UV stabilisers which keep the colour constant.

- Finally, larger bottles of fragrance often represent better value in terms of $ for ml, however the optimum lifespan of a scent is probably not as long as the time it takes to use a large bottle. And so while the optimum lifespan of scents do vary (depends on the individual composition of the particular fragrance) it really is best to buy fragrance in small quantities, hence our 30ml bottle, which also happens to double as a pretty nifty purse size!

In terms of other scents on the sweet side, l think my new Jasmine might be a good one for you to try. Its heady sweet jasmine combined with orange blossom which is common to Snowpeach, but has a lovely round amber base with vanilla and tonka which give it that element of sweetness.

Thank you Renee. I am going to purchase the fragrance you suggested now. It's ingredients sound divine!

Also what inspired you to create your own fragrance range? How did you get started and what was involved in becoming the success that you so obviously are? I have heard it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just to create a scent, is this true?

Thanks Renee,

What a rich and romantic description - I'm loving it already!!

I have a question :ashamed: Renee, why is it that different strengths of the same perfume can smell so different? I know yours are all parfum, but (for example) I used to have Chanel No.5 in both eau de toilette and parfum, and I found the EDT very flowery/powdery but the parfum was much warmer and richer. Why is that? Surely they should smell the same but just last different lengths of time on the skin?

FYI everyone - Renee's Jasmine and Musk fragrances are brand new, they will be going up on the site tomorrow - so if you're looking for them and wondering why you can't see them, that's why :o

Lol, thanks Kate! Was wondering why I couldn't find them. Thought I was loosing my knack at finding things on the Adore site!

The new Jasmine and Musk fragrances are now up on the site:
http://www.adorebeauty.com.au/adorebeauty/brand.asp?id=112&on=suppliers

Welcome Renee.
I love the sound of your range, but as I am not local to Adore I was hoping you could tell me where I could try your parfum in Sydney. I live in the metro west area. Do DJs or Myer stock them? Its so hard to buy a perfume you can't smell first!

Hi Renee and any forum members who can help,
I am wanting to buy the Renee Jasmine fragrance but I can't decide whether I should get the Parfume or the oil. Any suggestions?

Hi Renee,
After a weekend of extreme beauty shopping I decided that I just couldn't live without your new Jasmine and Musk oils. I have just purchased them both from Adore Beauty. I was undecided whether I should purchase the parfum or the oils. I decided to go with the oils as they are new and I am having a bit of a fad on oils at the monent. Hoping I am going to love both! If the Snow Peach is anything to go on they will be fabulous!

Renee, where can you buy your perfumes in inner-city Perth?

Also, I am considering purchasing either your Meditteranean Lily perfume or the Tuberose. If I tell you my favourite perfumes would you be able to help me decide which perfume might best suit me?

My longtime favourite is Paris- I have been wearing this since I was 17. I also love Vera Wang. I am very choosy with perfumes- there are many I like but do not like the way they smell with my skin. I also like Clarins Par Amour, although I have only tried the testers in department stores so I can't tell if I would like it over a long period.

One last thing- what is the difference between tuberose and other roses?

Many thanks!

:fish:

Hi PCC

I was inspired to create my own fragrances for my own wedding about 5 years ago. I am a great believer that scent and memory are connected and thought "what better way to create a fragrant momento of my special day than through a perfume" and so l set about learning how to blend essences and essential oils to create my own unique scents.

The scent l chose to mark my wedding day was Tuberose as to me it symbolises tropical holidays, beach sand and romance. Plus, during our engagement, we spent some time in Bali and witnessed a beach wedding which had magnificant carved Tuberose arrangements to mark the entry of the ceremony. It was really romantic.

On my wedding day I presented each of the girls with a vial of my homemade blend packaged in a white box with a ribbon (similar to the way Renee is packaged today) and the response l got was so overwhelmingly positive l begun to think my hobby and interest in scent making was indeed something Australian woman would appreciate - unique, inspiring scents.

Women in Europe love the idea of boutique perfume houses and so it seemed to me time that we too could enjoy the magic and romance of fragrance - dont you think??

PS Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Jasmine!

Hi Kate

Well it is true that you will notice a difference between an EDT and EDP of the same fragrance.

A couple of other factors that contribute to this are;

We all know that EDT has a lower percentage of fragrance compound than an EDP, but in many instances, the fragrance compound formula is actually modified so that certain ingredients that make up the fragrance are added or omitted or adjusted in terms of their proportion of that compound. This is for a number of reasons;
Firstly EDT is a less expensive product than an EDP so where they can, perfumers are mindful that the cost of the fragrance compound needs to be more economical so they may make adjustments to certain ingredients or lower their concentration to produce a more ecomonical compound without losing the style or too much of the scent's integrity.

The other reason is that perfumers want you to differentiate the experience between an EDT and EDP and so they may consiously decide to vary the fragrance slightly so that the EDT gives you a lighter, softer perhaps less intense version of the theme of the fragrance where as the EDP is richer, has more character and oomf, so you might notice the base notes of EDPs are heavier or more prominent which not only act as fixatives to improve staying power of a scent on the skin, but they also create depth and substance to a scent.

So really, when considering an EDT versus an EDP be mindful that it's not just a price/strength issue, but more of a variation of a theme thing too.

You could try them at Vivalino at 489 Darling Street, Balmain...not sure if that is close by, otherwise Adore offers 10ml sample sizes for $18.95 each which can often be a good way to experience a scent but also doubles as a fantastic travel size.

Good choice PCC - Perfume Oils are a fantastic way to experience a fragrance. Not only are they adorable, little things they are so convenient to use...just roll them on the skin. Alot of the time people are apprehensive about using oil for fear of it getting on their clothes etc, but this is a no mess application that is easily and quickly absorbed.

I also love them because they are so intense and have such great impact...plus you are applying them directly onto the skin which means you have zero wastage. Often when you spritz a perfume you loose part of it to the air.

Also, oil is a really compatible carrier to skin as it heats up with the warmth of the body which encourages the fragrance to develop and evolve even more effectively than perfume.

Dear Sapphire

Well....let's see, on the basis of the fragrances you love, l would definately say either Mediterranean Lily or Tuberose are your style of scent. Of the two though, my thoughts are Mediterranean Lily might suit you better, because while Vera Wang is based on Tuberose, it also has other white flowers as does Mediterranean Lily which features the Waterlily along with gardenia, jasmine and tuberose.

It's delicate like Paris and a little less obviously Tuberose. If you told me you love Fracas or Marc Jacobs then l would say my Tuberose is more your go.

The other thing l love about Mediterranean Lily is that it softens and drys down on just a hint of sandalwood and cedarwood which just gives it that little bit of depth beyond the bouquet of flowers.

Dont forget the new Jasmine either, this is also a lovely floral inspired scent that might suit you too as it contains ylang ylang, bulgarian rose and a hint of tuberose.

To answer your question about Tuberose versus other roses....its a bit confusing really, because Tuberose looks nothing like a rose really. Its a small waxy white flower (a bit like jasmine really) that grows on long stems. the tiny flowers form clusters of buds that open up to release the most divinely intoxicating fragrance.

It's often said you either love or hate Tuberose because it is so distinctive and in perfumery, trying to recreate the aroma can often result in a very metallic, cloying note that comes across as harsh, so l can understand some people taking a disliking to that, but in terms of the actual flower itself...the fragrance is heavenly and more intense than a tradition rose scent.

Renee, thank you so much- you sound so poetic in your descriptions of perfume- it really is a beautiful art.

I think I will have to smell your scents before deciding. Where are they available in inner-city Perth?

You can find our scents at
Harry & Gretel in Oxford Street
Lexi in Cottesloe and
Empire in Osbourne Park.

I hope you find something you like.

Today I received my Renee oils in Jasmine and Musk! I am absolutely stoked with them. They are too divine for words. Considering I hadn't smelt them before ordering I was thinking maybe I might not like them but I LOVE them. They come in the cutest little rollerball bottles and a little goes a very long way. The scent lasted on my skin for well over 6 hours and I can still smell it now. The only problem was that I couldn't decide which one to put on so I put one on each wrist Lol! I had people asking me everywhere what fragrance I was wearing and where they could get it from. I think I should start charging comission Lol!:p

Hi PCC

I'm so glad you love the Roll Ons and thanks for your positive feedback.

I just went to dinner with a friend of mine and gave her both of these as a Christmas Gift and she too loved them.

The good thing about having both Jasmine and Musk is that you have the perfect day/night combination of scents.

Best wishes.

PS I've been reading a few of your posts and l think you should consider changing your alias to BQ (Beauty Queen)...you must have the most amazing collection of beauty products.

I would just like to say what an absolute pleasure it has been having Renee as a special guest on our forum this week. Thank you so much for all your help and advice Renee. I am so glad you came on as if you hadn't I probably wouldn't have purchased your two new oils (which I just love).

I'm sure I speak on behalf of all forum members in wishing you a Merry Christmas and we hope you will pop back to the forum from time to time to keep us up to speed with your fabulous fragrance line.:hearts:

Thanks PCC

I have had fun this week, its great to be able to be able to hear direct feedback from fragrance lovers such as yourself.

Of course l will pop back and visit the forum, so if anyone has any questions in the future, l'd be more than happy to share what l know.

Wishing everyone happy, fragrant Christmas!

Best Wishes,
Renee

PS Thanks Kate for inviting me to participate. Keep up the great work!

The Renee candles are now in stock, for those who were interested :)
http://www.adorebeauty.com.au/adorebeauty/viewItem.asp?idproduct=9373