Our sense of the smell is the most powerful emotional link we can trigger – and Memoize London set out to create a collection of scents that did much more than simply make you smell exquisite…
As this new fragrance house explains, when smelling a fine fragrance, ‘the merest hint of something familiar can trigger a special memory or wonderful moment in our lives that we treasure forever.’ Using scent as a journey, theirs promises to be an intriguing path to follow – not least because the initial Memoize London collection delves into the realms of the ‘Seven Sins’ for inspiration…
Holly Hutchinson founded Memoize London in 2016, but her heart started beating faster for fragrance far earlier – at the age of seven, to be precise. On her birthday, she was gifted her very first set of miniature perfumes. As her mother was ‘an avid collector of unusual scents’, perfumes were almost indelibly linked to scented snapshots of Holly’s childhood memories. ‘A French holiday in the sun, a ride across the waves by boat, venturing through trees in a garden of ferns and Laurels…’ The album of scent memories was filling up fast.
It was in 2011 that Holly could truly begin to follow her dream, joining a prestigious niche fragrance brand and pursuing a career in the industry. But after seven successful years, it was time to start thinking about reaching further, using her love of fragrance and design with the expert knowledge she’d gained, and finally launching her own brand. Holly says she ‘knew immediately’ what the concept should be: sharing the very memories that launched her own fragrant career, while helping perfume-lovers explore their own scented memory bank.
Indeed, Memoize London understands, as they put it, ‘the importance of creating a perfectly harmonious balance between fragrances and how they make people feel, incorporating notes that many would remember from their childhood, adolescence and beyond.’ Most importantly, they know that this fragrant memory bank is not locked away in an airtight safe – it’s something we can all add to, every day of our lives. So that ‘…these scents will become the basis of future memories, too.’
So with this in mind, Memoize London invite you to indulge this lazy, luxurious sense in Tristitia, for instance – a silky smooth Ambrée that weaves rich red rose and sparkling white jasmine top notes with a deliciously creamy seam of vanilla, woody base notes and civet hinting at lasciviousness from the night before. Insatiable desires are explored in Avaratia, meanwhile – the warmth of amber and dark chocolate-y patchouli swirling through sweet musk that’s laced with jasmine, hot spices and savoury herbaceous notes.
It’s an equally passionate, powerful path that Era follows – sophisticated and delicately powdered iris at the heart, garlanded by swags of ylang ylang and jasmine and suffused by the opulent saffron up top. Nestling on a bed of leather, oudh, myrrh and amber, this is a scent designed to ‘ignite the fire within’. (Don’t say you weren’t warned!)
Losing yourself to the intoxication of seduction is the name of the game with the particular scent memories of Luxuria. Think of joyous summer scenes blackberry picking with a loved one, of that moment when your mouth waters just prior to biting into a lusciously juicy berry – well, that’s what’s bottled here. Shot through with luminescent tuberose, muguet (lily of the valley) and ylang ylang, its dry-down dips you deeper to a base of vanilla-infused suede.
A moment of supreme confidence is captured with Superbia – a delightful notion ‘recalling a first day of school, the pruned rose bushes, games in the woods, the leather strap of a satchel, a mother’s proudest moment’ – while Invidia takes inspiration from ‘always wanting what you can’t have: sweet vanilla ice cream, caramels, tobacco’, in a scrumptious composition that sates our appetites.
In fact, the entire Memoize London collection, which is now available at Selfridges, seems to be a scented autobiography of all that Holly’s described – her fragrant recollections resonating through the years, guiding her hand in picking a career she knew she could excel in because it was based on an existing passion. Now the pages are just waiting to be filled by your own scented memories – and your exploration of new fragrant stories, just waiting to be told…
Buy full-size Memoize London fragrance at perfumesociety.org
Buy Memoize London Light Range Discovery Set here
Buy Memoize London Dark Range Discovery Set here
