Kindred Noses Gather At Sniffapalooza
Perfume Lovers and Makers
Pass the Fragrance Bottle;
A Hint of 'Animality'
NEW YORK -- Last Saturday, Tyler Mayo, manager of the women's fragrance counter at Barneys New York on Madison Avenue, opened the posh retailer 90 minutes early. Perfume makers were on hand from as far away as Paris.
"I tell them they're going to meet an incredible number of fragrance enthusiasts, the like of which they've never met before," says Mr. Mayo.
Ann Gugliotti, a 35-year-old deputy court clerk from Youngstown, Ohio, was one. When her overnight bus arrived in New York at 9 a.m., she skipped breakfast and headed straight to Barneys. When she walked in, "Sniffapalooza" -- a gathering of self-proclaimed perfume fanatics who met on an Internet message board -- was in full swing.
About 60 scent aficionados were training their refined noses on some of the world's newest fragrances, produced in small batches and stocked only by high-end perfume counters. Perfume makers were fawning over them, doling out free samples, spritzing their wrists with expensive new scents and waiting anxiously for their opinions. The perfumers' goal: to so impress the group that these enthusiasts will send words of praise about their products wafting across the Internet and among friends.
The Sniffapaloozers descend on New York's finest fragrance counters only a few times a year, but they share observations year-round in Internet reviews and on message boards. Many of them are educated professional women who aren't especially interested in high fashion or other luxury goods. They are olfactory snobs. Many disdain big brands such as Ralph Lauren, Estée Lauder and Jennifer Lopez as "too synthetic," driven by image marketing rather than scent. They prefer hard-to-find niche perfumes concocted in small batches from pure, high-quality ingredients and sold for as much as $300 a bottle. L'Artisan Parfumeur Inc.'s Fleur d'Oranger 2005, for example, was made from a single crop of Tunisian orange blossoms.
Many niche, or "indie," perfumers lack the marketing budgets that propel major brands, so they rely heavily on grass-roots marketing and word of mouth. They say they cater to the Sniffapalooza crowd, whom they count among their best customers, because members are knowledgeable and influential. These customers sometimes give them valuable feedback about scents they are preparing to bring to market.
"They're a scary group, and I mean that in a good way," says Diane Haska, who received the group later that day at New York's Caron boutique, a 101-year-old French perfume house famed for its Baccarat-crystal urns of perfume. "They know more than me, and I've been in the business for more than 20 years." During the group's 90-minute stop, Ms. Haska sold about $2,000 of perfume.
Nina Brodsky, a New York lawyer and Sniffapalooza veteran, compares group members to musicians with perfect pitch. "This is the only group I know of where it's perfectly acceptable to pull at someone's wrist and smell it," she said after buying a bottle of L'Artisan Parfumeur's La Chasse aux Papillons for her daughter.
Sniffapalooza is the creation of Karen Dubin, a New York-based talent manager, who says she still remembers the first perfume she ever received, Coty's Muguet de Bois, when she was just 6. "By age 8, I started getting serious about fragrance, and have been passionate about it ever since," she says. Three years ago, she discovered the message boards of MakeupAlley.com, a site featuring reviews of beauty products. "I had no idea there were all these kindred spirits out there," she says.
In 2002, she began posting elaborate fragrance reviews on the site. She swiftly developed a loyal readership. Deciding it would be more fun for chat participants to smell fragrances as they discussed them, Ms. Dubin asked managers of the New York fragrance counters she haunts to host the group.
Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel and Takashimaya, among others, agreed, and Sniffapalooza was born. Besides previewing new products, introducing group members to perfumers and loading them down with samples, some retailers even offer them discounts -- a rarity in the world of fragrance.
Word of the group has spread through the small community of niche perfumers. Last Saturday, group members hobnobbed with Francois Duquesne, president of Paris-based L'Artisan Parfumeur; Andrew French, the fragrance creator for Castle Forbes Scotland; Alexandra Balahoutis, the perfumer for Strange Invisible Perfumes of Venice, Calif.; and Yosh Han of San Francisco's Yosh olfactory sense.
"They are true connoisseurs of fragrance, and will give you honest feedback," said Mr. Duquesne. He offered his wrist to the perfume lovers at Barneys to give them a preview of his newest fragrance, not yet on the market and as yet unnamed. He expressed delight when several people discerned a note of "animality" in the scent. "My obsession is to have a truly different fragrance, and they will tell me if I have achieved that," he said.
Ms. Dubin estimates that group members buy 35 bottles of perfume a year, on average, at prices that often top $100. Ms. Gugliotti, for example, says she spends "way more on perfume than clothes or makeup or movies."
Group members take different approaches to the olfactory overload of Sniffapalooza. Ms. Gugliotti arrived with perfume on her hair and clothes, but she had left her skin ready for new scents. Joanne Mooney of Tarrytown, N.Y., usually wears a sleeveless shirt to maximize application surfaces. She separates the "skin worthy" scents, which merit spraying directly on her skin, from "paper worthy" ones, which only deserve to be applied to a strip of paper. She loves to experience the "dry down," trying to detect the top, middle and bottom "notes" of the perfume as it dries on her skin.
In her search for the new and interesting, Ms. Mooney, who conducts technology training at a law firm, has taken to "layering" her perfumes, or wearing one scent atop another. Layering combinations have become a favorite topic for group debate. The group's prior online discussions about layering dynamics of the i Profumi di Firenze perfumes imported by Miryana Babic caused some of her fragrances to sell out during last Saturday's event, at $79 per 50 milliliters.
"These are very important customers for me to meet because their word of mouth is so powerful," says Ms. Babic, who flew in from Los Angeles to attend. She says her perfumes are based on 16th century recipes commissioned by Catherine de Medici and her family. "For my line, they are the ultimate customer."
Many niche perfumes are designed for both sexes, so John Giamundo, one of a half-dozen men at the gathering, felt at home. A 48-year-old information-technology specialist and fan of the New York Jets, Mr. Giamundo traces his interest in fragrances to a long-ago purchase of Brut cologne because it was endorsed by Joe Namath. He says he now owns a few hundred fragrances. His wife, he says, is gradually becoming more interested in his hobby.
At Barneys, he took a whiff of his sleeve to clear his "nose palate," then tested Strange Invisible's "Atlantic." "I'm sitting in a men's club, in a big leather chair, sipping something," he said, extending his wrist for others to smell.
In spite of the attention lavished on them at Sniffapalooza, some fragrance hounds see themselves as outsiders. "I don't really tell people about how much I like this stuff," says New Jersey resident Jessica Murphy, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in art history. "They usually think it's cute but odd. Do you think there could be a movie like 'Sideways' about perfume?"
英雄所“闻”略同
最近的一个周六，在位于麦迪森大道的高级精品店Barneys New York，女士香水专柜的经理泰勒?梅奥(Tyler Mayo)提前90分钟就打开了商店的大门。从巴黎等地方远道赶来的香水制造商们都汇集到了这里。
“我跟他们说，他们将要接待一大群让人难以置信的狂热香水迷，这将是一次前所未有的经历，”梅奥先生说。
来自俄亥俄州扬斯敦的法庭职员安?古格里奥蒂(Ann Gugliotti)就是其中一名香水迷。她乘坐夜班车在早上9点赶到纽约，连早餐也免了，直奔Barneys。当她走进商场时，“Sniffapalooza”正在热烈地进行中。（那些通过互联网留言板结识的香水发烧友们将他们之间的聚会称为“Sniffapalooza”。）
大约有60位香水爱好者在这些全球最新款的香水中磨练著自己敏感的鼻子。这些香水都是小批量生产的，且只在高档的香水专柜有售。香水生产商们对这些香水迷殷勤有加，小心翼翼地向他们分发免费试用品，在他们的手腕上轻轻地喷上这些昂贵的香水，然后迫切地等待他们的意见。香水商的目标很明确：要给这些香水迷留下一个难忘的印象，好让他们在网络上和朋友圈中为他们的产品多说好话。
这些Sniffapalooza成员一年只光临几次纽约最好的香水柜台，但他们全年都会在互联网论坛和留言板上分享心得。他们当中很多都是受过良好教育的职业女性，对高档时装和其他奢侈品并不十分感兴趣。他们嗅觉灵敏而又有些恃才傲物，对Ralph Lauren、雅诗兰黛(Estee Lauder)、Jennifer Lopez这样的大牌子不屑一顾，认为它们“人造的气味太浓”、名气仅仅是品牌营销的成果，而非香水本身质量所致。他们青睐的是那些很难找到的极品香水，这些香水一般只是小批量生产，用高质量的纯正材料调制而成，一瓶的售价高达300美元。比如L'Artisan Parfumeur Inc.公司的Fleur d' Oranger 2005就是用突尼斯同一期开花的橙花配制而成的。
很多极品香水制造商没有大品牌那样的营销预算，所以十分依赖这种民间营销方式和他们的口碑。他们表示要迎合这群Sniffapalooza成员，把他们当作最尊贵的顾客，因为这群人学识广博、有影响力。这些顾客有时能就他们即将推向市场的香水提供宝贵的反馈意见。
“他们是一群让人敬畏的人，我指的是好的方面，”戴安娜?哈斯卡(Diane Haska)称。哈斯卡当天晚些时候在纽约的Caron专卖店接待了这群客人，Caron是一家有101年历史的香水名店，它的Baccarat水晶瓶装香水名满天下。“我在香水这行已经工作20多年了，但他们比我懂的还要多。”在这群客人停留的短短90分钟内，哈斯卡就卖出了价值2,000美元的香水。
尼娜?布罗德斯基(Nina Brodsky)是纽约一名律师，是Sniffapalooza的老成员，她把这个团体的成员比喻为一群有完美乐感的音乐家。“这是我知道的唯一能随便拉起一个人的手腕去闻上面香味的集体，”她说。她给女儿买了一瓶L'Artisan Parfumeur生产的La Chasse aux Papillons香水。
Sniffapalooza由卡伦?迪宾(Karen Dubin)创办。迪宾是纽约的一位人事经理。她说，至今仍记得自己收到的第一瓶香水是Coty's Muguet de Bois，那时她才6岁。“到了8岁，我开始认真对待香水，并且从那时候起，就对香水情有独锺，”她说。3年前，她发现了MakeupAlley.com上面的留言板，这个网站有化妆品方面的评论。“我原先不知道那儿原来这里有那么多志同道合的发烧友。”
2002年，她开始在这个网站上发表详尽的香水评论，很快就吸引了一批忠实读者。她想，如果让这些聊友在讨论香水的同时能亲身闻一闻香水的味道会更有意思，于是她联系了自己经常光顾的纽约香水专柜的经理们来设一个招待会。
Barneys、Bergdorf Goodman、Henri Bendel、Takashimaya等香水商同意了她的要求，Sniffapalooza就这样诞生了。除了评论新上市的产品、把成员介绍给香水商、为他们提供香水样品外，有些零售商甚至还为他们提供折扣，这在香水行业是相当罕见的。
这个团体活动的消息在极品香水制造商的小圈子内传开了。在最近这次周六聚会上，这个团体的成员与商家代表进行了交流，他们有巴黎L'Artisan Parfumeur的主席弗朗索瓦?迪凯纳(Francois Duquesne)、Castle Forbes Scotland的香水制作人安德鲁?弗伦奇(Andrew French)、加州Strange Invisible Perfumes of Venice的亚力山德拉?巴拉欧提斯(Alexandra Balahoutis)和旧金山Yosh香水的约什?汉(Yosh Han)。
“他们是真正的香水行家，能给你诚恳的意见，”迪凯纳先生说。在Barneys的聚会上，他把自己的手腕伸出来，让这些香水发烧友感受一下他们还未上市也未命名的最新款香水。当有几位香水迷评论说有一股“动物般的野性味道”时，迪凯纳立即喜形于色。“我一直想创造出一种截然不同的香味，他们能告诉我是否达到了这个目的，”他说。
据迪宾女士估计，这些成员平均每年购买35瓶香水，每瓶的价格在100美元以上。古格里奥蒂女士说自己“在香水上的花销要比花在衣服、化妆品或电影上的要多得多。”
Sniffapalooza需要接触很多香水，而团体成员都有各自不同的应对方法。古格里奥蒂到场时，头发和衣服上都已洒有香水，但她把皮肤留出来准备喷上新的香水。来自纽约Tarrytown的琼安?穆尼(Joanne Mooney)通常穿一件无袖衬衫，以留出最大面积的皮肤来测试香水。她把香水分为两类：“能直接在皮肤上抹的香水”和“在纸上抹的香水”，她喜欢感受香水的“余味”，即香水在皮肤上慢慢变干过程中散发出来的前味、中味和后味。
穆尼是一家律师事务所的技术培训师，在探索各种新奇有趣的香水使用方法时，她喜欢上了一层一层地叠加香水，即在一种香水的上面抹上另一种香水。分层混合使用成为这个群体热门的争论话题。在聚会之前，他们曾在网上讨论过层叠法使用由米里安娜?巴比克(Miryana Babic)进口的i Profumi di Firenze香水所产生的神奇效果，于是在最近的这次聚会上，巴比克的香水被抢购一空，每50毫升售价79美元。
“对我来说，这些都是非常重要的客户，因为他们的评价很有影响力，”巴比克女士说。她是特意从洛杉矶飞到纽约来参加这次聚会的。她说，她的香水都是根据16世纪凯撒琳?德?美第奇及其家族的香水配方制作而成的。“他们是我的产品的最终客户。”
很多精品香水同时为男士和女士设计，因此作为这个聚会上少数几位男士之一，约翰?吉亚穆多(John Giamundo)是仍觉得很自在。这位48岁IT专家同时还是纽约喷气机(New York Jets)球队的支持者，他很早以前买过一瓶Brut古龙香水，从此对香水产生兴趣，因为这瓶香水得到了乔?纳玛斯(Joe Namath)的认可。他说他现在有几百瓶香水，他的太太也渐渐对他这个嗜好产生了兴趣。
在Barneys，他轻轻吸了吸袖子上的香味，来清一清“鼻蕾”，然后开始尝试Strange Invisible的Atlantic香水。“我坐在一个男士俱乐部的大皮椅上，品位著各种香味，”他一边说一边把手腕伸出去给其他人闻上面的香味。
尽管在这次Sniffapalooza活动上备受关注，但有些香水爱好者还是认为自己是外行。“我并没有真正告诉过别人我有多喜欢这种玩意儿，”住在新泽西的洁西嘉?墨菲(Jessica Murphy)说。她正在攻读艺术史博士。“人们常常觉得这很有趣但也很古怪。你认为有可能出现一部《杯酒人生》(Sideways)的香水版吗？”
