Kjellqvist and Derakshan have founded Sniph, a discovery and subscription service for scent. Partnering with handpicked fragrance brands, the startup offers its users an 8 ml bottle of a new perfume monthly, according to their preferences — and if they find ”the one”, the full bottle is available through their e-com.
Which 5 emerging or established niche fragrance brands are the most interesting to follow right now?
– Matière Première. A recently launched, beautiful perfume house extracting its ingredients using the slow perfumery method. Rose, musk, sandalwood, incense, or neroli are revisited in order to exacerbate their unexpected facets, giving birth to these all unisex ”radical” fragrances.
– Commodity. The fascinating story of a re-founded fragrance brand. A true rollercoaster from being the first direct-to-consumer fragrance brand via Kickstarter, to becoming Sephora’s rising star, to complete closure in 2019. Now, the relaunch is on and Commodity’s fragrances — as well as its design — are just amazing.
– Etat Libre d’Orange. The ambitious and bold perfumery, playing with irony to polish the names of their perfumes. Founder Etienne de Swardt was tired of the rigidness of the perfume world and decided on a peaceful revolution led by scents.
– MALO. An olfactive interpretation of a true success story. Each scent is inspired and curated by Martin Lorentzon, Sweden’s top entrepreneur and co-founder of Spotify. A person who has had remarkable success in the absence of an urge to be in the spotlight.
– Histoires de Parfums. An olfactive library that tells stories about famous characters, mythical years, poems, and music. When creating the perfumes, founder and nose Gérald Ghislain interprets classic olfactive families in a new way by including an unexpected component, to obtain an original and surprising collection.
Kjellqvist and Derakshan also just released their first book about scent, Doft: Din guide till ett rikare liv (Fragrance: Your guide to a better life), sharing their best scent memories, facts, and exercises, aiming to help the reader become a scent expert.
— Your nose is like an autobahn to your emotions, memories, pleasure — a complete feeling of presence. While sniffing something and thinking freely about what it smells and means to you, your thoughts are right there and cannot be kidnapped. Practicing your ”active sniffing” every day, if only for a few seconds, therefore allows you to micro mediate and give your brain a tiny break from the noise of spinning thoughts. Get started with the small things you love such as your first cup of coffee in the morning, your clean laundry, or your local bakery. Give these nose pleasures a few seconds of affirmation every day and you’ll soon feel ready for more. The keys to learning the language of scents and how to distinguish one scent from another are presence, curiosity, patience, and repetition. You will get a quick start by actively sniffing the ”things that smell” in your very own kitchen for 10 minutes a day — vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, boiled egg, thyme, and so forth. As soon as you feel ready to become a pro, buy an aroma kit online and continue the training. You’ll get a long way on your own, with your very own presence and patience, but you’ll probably have more fun practicing with a good friend that can challenge and inspire you on your nose connoisseur journey, the duo says, adding,
— More and more people are really starting to realize the impact that scent has on our lives and our well-being. A scent can do everything from making you fall in love, bringing back a childhood memory, or defining a moment of your life. It makes us so happy that so many are finding interest for their own nose and coming to us to fill that need.
