Fragrance is deeply private. A scent that feels easy on one particular person can really feel fully overwhelming on one other, and for some, that distinction can include an precise headache.
Octavia Morgan is aware of that have firsthand. Earlier than founding Octavia Morgan Los Angeles, the previous hospice and palliative care nurse started creating sensitivities to sure fragrances, which modified the best way she considered scent, formulation, and what efficiency in perfume ought to truly really feel like.
We spoke with Morgan about why some perfumes can really feel extra triggering than others, what “clear” perfume does and doesn’t inform you, and the way she thinks about creating scent with presence with out letting it take over. We additionally obtained into her latest launch, ROOM 33, and the place it matches inside the world she’s constructing.
In Dialog with Octavia Morgan
You have been a registered nurse earlier than shifting into perfume. How did that background affect the best way you considered components, sensitivity, and what you wished your personal perfume model to face for?
Being a Hospice and Palliative Care Registered Nurse formed a lot of how I take into consideration perfume. I labored intently with sufferers and households throughout extremely delicate moments, and I grew to become very conscious of how the environment together with scent can have an effect on how individuals really feel
I even have my very own sensitivity to sure fragrances, so after I began Octavia Morgan Los Angeles, I knew I wished to strategy perfume in a different way. I wished stunning, luxurious scents, however I additionally wished intentionality behind the formulation. Clear and cruelty-free grew to become non-negotiables for me. I wished to create fragrances that would have presence with out feeling like they needed to overpower a room.
My nursing profession taught me to hear, observe and lead with empathy. I nonetheless carry these rules into every little thing I create.
When somebody says fragrance offers them a headache, what have you ever realized from your personal expertise and years creating perfume about why that occurs, and what elements are likely to make one scent extra triggering than one other?
I at all times begin by believing the particular person. Perfume is extremely private, and folks can reply very in a different way to the very same scent.
From my very own expertise, I realized that it isn’t essentially so simple as figuring out one “unhealthy” ingredient. The depth of the perfume, how a lot is utilized, the setting you’re sporting it in, and the general composition can all affect the expertise. Sure scent profiles may be more difficult for a person than others.
That’s the reason I encourage individuals who know they’re fragrance-sensitive to find perfume slowly. Begin with a small quantity, expertise it in your pores and skin, and take note of how you’re feeling slightly than assuming that as a result of everybody else loves a perfume, it can be just right for you.
And if perfume constantly causes complications or different signs, that’s one thing price discussing with a healthcare skilled slightly than attempting to diagnose by way of a fragrance label.
When a fragrance feels overwhelming, what’s often taking place from a perfume perspective? Is it extra about projection, focus, sure notes, the best way components are layered, or some mixture of all of these issues?
It will possibly completely be a mix.
Individuals usually assume focus alone determines whether or not a perfume will really feel overwhelming, however perfume is extra nuanced than that. Projection, dosage, the supplies getting used, how these supplies work together, and even the place you’re sporting the perfume can have an effect on the expertise.
I consider perfume virtually like music. You possibly can have many devices enjoying collectively superbly with none single one screaming for consideration. That’s what I’m searching for after we develop a perfume. I need complexity and longevity, however I additionally need steadiness.
Luxurious doesn’t need to imply loud.
Pure versus artificial is one other space the place customers hear a variety of conflicting data. Is it a mistake to imagine a naturally derived perfume will mechanically be simpler for a delicate particular person to put on? What do you consider that distinction if you formulate?
Sure. “Pure” doesn’t mechanically imply that one thing can be higher tolerated by each particular person, simply as “artificial” doesn’t mechanically imply one thing is dangerous.
Pure perfume supplies include chemical constituents too, and a person could be delicate to naturally derived supplies. Excessive-quality artificial supplies may also be extremely necessary to fashionable perfumery. They can provide a perfumer precision, consistency and inventive prospects that aren’t at all times achievable with pure supplies alone.
For me, the dialog is much less about pure versus artificial and extra about considerate formulation, ingredient requirements, steadiness and transparency. I don’t imagine customers needs to be taught to worry an ingredient merely due to the place it comes from.
“Clear perfume” is in every single place now, however the time period can imply very various things from model to model. What do you suppose customers ought to truly be asking as a substitute of merely searching for the phrase “clear”?
I believe customers ought to ask, “What does clear imply to this model?”
That’s the necessary query as a result of there isn’t one common definition getting used throughout the whole magnificence business.
Look past the advertising language. What requirements has the model established? What components or practices does it prioritize or keep away from? Is it clear about its philosophy? Does it clarify why these choices have been made?
At Octavia Morgan Los Angeles, clear perfume is a component of a bigger philosophy that features being vegan, cruelty-free and intentional about how we formulate. However I additionally suppose manufacturers have a duty to speak what their terminology means slightly than anticipating one phrase on a bundle to inform the whole story.
You simply launched ROOM 33, which we love. What made ROOM 33 the perfume you wished to create subsequent?
ROOM 33 got here from eager to create a perfume that felt like coming into a personal world.
There’s something intriguing a few resort room—the anonymity, intimacy, anticipation and the concept for one night time, you’ll be able to develop into whoever you wish to be. I wished to seize that feeling in perfume.
ROOM 33 opens with pear and pink peppercorn, strikes into tuberose, and settles into blond wooden and amber. It’s sensual, nevertheless it doesn’t reveal every little thing instantly. It attracts you nearer.
That’s why our invitation is just: Step Inside ROOM 33.
If you image the particular person sporting ROOM 33, who’re they? What do you think about about their vitality, fashion, or the best way they transfer by way of a room?
They don’t must announce themselves.
There’s an easy confidence about them. They perceive that presence isn’t essentially about being the loudest particular person within the room. Typically it’s in regards to the particular person everybody notices with out fairly understanding why.
Their fashion is polished however private. They’re sensual with out attempting too arduous. There’s additionally slightly thriller there. You might meet them and instantly wish to know extra.
ROOM 33 is that vitality in a bottle. SHOP ROOM 33 HERE
How does ROOM 33 sit alongside the remainder of your assortment? The place does ROOM 33 sit for you personally?
Each perfume in our assortment has its personal persona, however they’re related by intentionality, layering and emotional connection.
MIDNIGHT ORCHARD has this heat, decadent high quality. DARK ROSE is deeper and provocative. VANILLIN SUPREME explores vanilla in a extra subtle and surprising approach. LEGENDARY has an particularly private historical past as a result of it connects on to my time as a nurse.
ROOM 33 introduces one other facet of the home. It’s intimate, sensual and transportive. It appears like an evolution of the place Octavia Morgan Los Angeles is at present whereas nonetheless being unmistakably a part of our perfume language.
Personally, ROOM 33 represents entering into the following chapter. There’s something very particular about making a perfume at this stage of the model, after every little thing I’ve realized as each a founder and a perfumer.
Which perfume in your assortment feels most like a mirrored image of you, and what about it feels essentially the most private?
LEGENDARY. It can at all times have a deeply private connection to me as a result of its story goes again to my life as a Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse. I wished one thing I might put on in that setting that felt polished and complicated with out dominating the house round me.
LEGENDARY has amber, cocoa and vanilla layered with cedar, spices, musk, sandalwood, papyrus and cardamom. It’s heat, grounded and quietly assured.
In some ways, it represents each chapters of my life the nurse I used to be and the perfume founder I grew to become. My profession modified, however the intention behind what I do by no means actually did. I nonetheless wish to create one thing that makes individuals really feel seen, thought of and cared for.
