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Hey Rosés,

This weekend, I celebrated Cinco de Mayo with over one hundred fragrance lovers at the 16^th Sniffapalooza! Started by Karen Dubin and Karen Adams, Sniffapalooza is the ultimate perfume lover’s festival celebrating and exploring fragrances and scented oils. Twice a year “Team Karen” hosts a two-day tour de sniff, the Spring Fling and the Fall Ball, where hundreds of scent lovers tour the top fragrance houses and sniff their way through thousands of samples. Some brands even create special editions and provide early releases for the dedicated tours which take place in the U.S. and internationally.

Having allergy-prone and reactive skin has always made me nervous about trying new perfumes and formulas, both natural and synthetic. So I couldn’t think of a better way to experiment than with members of the industry and fragrance devotees. I learned so much and met some amazing people whose passion for perfume is unrivaled. And one of the best parts of Sniffapalooza is the infamous gift bags filled with samples, so look out for more product reviews soon.

Below is a recap and pictures of day one – I wasn’t able to attend day two. View the full set of pictures on the Champagne Beauty Facebook page!

Bergdorf Goodman

Saturday morning started with the legendary Bergdorf Breakfast in the Bergdorf Goodman store’s café. I sat with the hilarious Yolanda Shoshanda of Luscious Lifestyle (who makes her own natural scented oils!) and the chic Kimberly Waters of ReminiSCENT. Representatives (and even a few founders) from fragrance houses presented newly released editions and provided samples like Chanel, Tom Ford, Atelier Cologne, Prada, Balenciaga, Valentino and Chloé. I also learned about Oud, a rare Arabic resin released by the Aquilaria tree species, that is the latest star of the fragrance world. In pure form it has an earthy rain scent, and high-end brands like Robert Piguet, Kilian and Maison infuse it with rose, jasmine and spices to give it a unique flair.

Arielle of Scents of Self, her dress is a pattern of perfume bottles!

After breakfast and presentations, the sniffas were off, stopping by over 50 makeup and fragrance counters on the Bergdorf beauty level. I sampled hundreds of scents from the likes of Guerlain, Jo Malone, Caron, Francis Kurkdjian, and A Dozen Roses. This was a great opportunity to test across the scent scale, from fruits to florals to spices. Another trend was with more brands expanding into highly scented candles that directly mirror the body fragrances.

Lunch at Opia

 Author Alyssa Harad of “Coming To My Senses”

Author M.J. Rose of The Book of Lost Fragrances

Next up was a luncheon at Opia with unique presentations from The Fragrance Foundation, Department of Olfactory Art at the Museum of Arts and Design, and a variety of fragrance houses. Givaudan presented the iPerfumer mobile app, which uses an algorithm and research from over 80,000 users around the world to make fragrance recommendations. Megan McIntyre of fashion and beauty site Refinery 29 spoke about how their beauty readers are quite sophisticated and demand more than celebrity fragrances. Veronika Bartosch, introduced us to Naked-Scent, a website and service that uses unbranded samples to help members discover new fragrances, including independent and niche. Authors Alyssa Harad and M.J. Rose sat at my table and described their novels and memoirs infused with the love of fragrance.

Henri Bendel

Jacomo’s “It’s Me” men’s and women’s scents

After lunch we went to the remodeled fragrance floor of the famous specialty luxury store Henri Bendel. The store’s eponymous brand has a great selection of fragrances, and I also perused the trunk shows of Jacomo’s “It’s Me“ men and women’s fragrance shaped like iPhones, and Illuminum’s debut of White Gardenia Petals Anniversary Edition that Kate Middleton wore during the royal wedding.

Krigler at The Plaza Hotel

A few blocks uptown we stopped by Krigler Perfumerie at the Plaza Hotel. They treated us to wine and macaroons while debuting the new Oud Azur 75 (told you oud was big!), which will be released publicly in June. I fell in love with iconic 209, Jackie O, and Grace Kelly scents.

Bond No. 9

The last stop on the olfactory Sniffapalooza train was the Madison Avenue location of New York’s own Bond No. 9 boutique. They feature unique scents named after New York landmarks like Washington Square Park, Central Park West, and I Love NY. There were also new releases like Andy Warhol which has a sultry seductive scent.

After over 9 hours of walking, sniffing and sampling, my feet were as exhausted as my nose was tantalized! I highly recommend all perfume and fragrance lovers or those interested in learning more about the industry to sign up for the Sniffapalooza Fall Ball or next year’s Spring Fling. Team Karen puts on a great event, and there are so many industry experts and enthusiasts to guide you…not to mention the gift bags are a beauty girl’s dream!

Check out more pics on the Champagne Beauty Facebook page!

What is your favorite fragrance?

Taste the beautiful life ~ Alicia