All posts tagged: the fragrance shop

Perfume 101 with Jenny Mann

Published by

Jenny Mann, the manager and “nose” of The Fragrance Shop, gives The Spring Magazine a rundown on perfume basics. From “The H&R Book of Perfume,” published in 1984, there are three classic fragrance categories for women’s perfumes: Floral, Oriental, Chypre. Floral: Compound of flower scents. “Miss Dior” by Christian Dior is a floral perfume, with two kinds of rose, sandalwood and patchouli.   Oriental: Base of musk and typically using vanilla as an ingredient. Rich and seductive. “Shalimar,” 1925, by Guerlain is the classic Oriental perfume and includes musk, vanilla, incense, jasmine, mandarin orange, iris, rose, among other ingredients. Chypre: Chypre is French for Cyprus and this fragrance family draws inspiration from the Mediterranean island. Built on bergamot, oakmoss and labdanum and meant to evoke the goddess, this category was started in 1917 with the perfume “Chypre” by Coty. For men, the fragrance categories are: Fougere, Oriental, Chypre, and Citrus. Fougere is the French word for “fern,” and perfumes in this family have a woody, mossy scent with sweet top notes. “Boss” by Hugo Boss …

The Fragrance Shop, a family journey of timeless scents

Published by

Among the thousands of perfumes lining the shelves at The Fragrance Shop in Carrboro are a perfume that is more than 200 years old, a perfume worn by the empress of France, and an oil that smells exactly like a well-loved lotion of a popular brand. That first perfume, which smells of citrus with a cool, medicinal undertone – or is it overtone, intended to mask body odor in the 18th Century — is called “4711.” The perfume worn by the empress of France in 1860 is called, fittingly, “Imperiale.” It was created by the perfume house Guerlain to soothe her migraines. “Burt’s Bees, we have a scent,” says long-time manager Jenny Mann during a recent visit to the store. And Mann pulls out, as she does, a bottle from tucked behind other bottles that only she remembers. “Someone told me they used to work at Burt’s Bees, right here in Carr Mill Mall,” she says. The bottle smells exactly like Burt’s Bees’ milk and honey lotion. Mann is The Fragrance Shop’s expert “nose,” the …