Funny how life - and genetics - work. In 1953, a chemist and inventor by the name of Graham Wulff concocted a formula that became one of the most successful beauty elixirs of all time. That elixir was Oil of Olay, and it promised youth through effective moisturizing and mass-market distribution.
Fast forward to some fifty years later and Wulff's own granddaughter, Tammy Frazer, continues the family tradition of invention, concocting her own elixirs made from the purest organic ingredients, each one promising to seduce, to captivate, to tantalize, to immortalize, all through the power of scent. And perhaps even more powerful than that is the appeal of the ultimate luxury - exclusivity.
As the world's only bespoke luxury organic perfumer, Tammy Frazer's perfumes are not intended for mass consumption. She does have a retail range, very limited in size and distribution. Soon, however, Frazerparfum will be available in Harrods - not in the over-spritzed main beauty hall vying for attention along with every other commercial fragrance, however "designer" its packaging may be, but on the fifth floor, in the rarefied air of Roja Dove's private sanctum. Roja Dove is the world's only Professeur de Parfums.
I get what Tammy Frazer is doing and why the appeal of exclusivity, particularly with regards to scent, is so irresistible. I know it reeks of snobbery but I like my fragrances as non-commercial as possible, hard to find and even harder to identify. No duty-free specials for me. Of course they have to smell good on my skin; they have to be "me". Perhaps that comes from years of working in the fashion industry, where hordes of new fragrances are launched every season, with none really standing out in the oversaturated haze of synthetic vapors.
And that's what's so special about Tammy Frazer's perfumes, their unmistakeable purity and individuality. She sent me some vials to try and people indeed stopped to ask me what perfume I was wearing. She seems to have a soft spot for Cassia, her first creation. I wore it for a few days but never really took to it, though my younger daughter loved it on me, perhaps because of its subtle note of baby powder innocence. I found myself drawn to Patchouli - much more me, despite the rather old-fashioned name. Or maybe I am old-fashioned after all?
I wrote about Tammy for the latest issue of WWD BeautyBiz, as well as for WANTED, South Africa's answer to the FT's How to Spend It. WANTED is for me easily the best lifestyle/luxury magazine in this country. My story appears below:
Oh Wow. Im obviously not familiar with perfumes much (L'Artisan, JAR, and Creed are for me the expensive ones... go figure :-D). What price range are we talking about here?
Posted by: Mrs.T | September 30, 2008 at 01:38 AM
Hi Mrs T. The perfumes retail for around $200-$600 a bottle... the price of purity I guess. With bespoke commissions it depends on the ingredients used. Oooh I'd love to catch a sniff of JAR! Is it only available from his boutique?
Posted by: bambinawrites | September 30, 2008 at 04:00 AM
*Wolfwhistle* the price of purity certainly isn't cheap :)
Re: JAR, yes. Although I vaguely remember Bergdorf carrying it at one point.
Posted by: Mrs.T | October 06, 2008 at 05:27 AM