Maria McElroy was in at the beginning of the artisan perfume niche. The company started twelve years ago, and has been adding perfumes to the collection now grown to ten in an oil base with four new perfumes in a diffusive alcohol base. They are all a combination of perfume and aromatherapy, aiming for particular shades of beauty combined with the meditative and soothing aspects of the substances they are made of. The focus on working with the beneficial aspects of the essences combined with a refined aesthetic sensibility has a modern appeal. Each one relates to a color and the connotations surrounding it, such as the soothing blue, the light pink, the cool
Blanche and the lively green.
Geisha Rouge stood out for me too, as a smokey-spicy transparent incense-wood that suits my preference for simplicity shown off against a complex background.
I have been wearing the black,
Aroma M Geisha Noire, which is an unusual combination of comfort and depth, romantic darkness and subtle honeyed sweetness that calms and gives another dimension to the cold winter air. I think the Tonka makes it distinctively seductive yet abstract, because it partakes of the qualities of vanilla, musk and coffee without ever definitively becoming any one of those. A mystical layer of incense/sandalwood holds the realism back. I am using it in oil form (there is now a spray perfume version, too) which has more resonance and throw than most oils, without creating strong sillage. This makes it useful for work and travel. I can enjoy it without bothering anyone else who might get too much information from my choice of perfume. I also like that they are so portable, and gender neutral, coming in small roll-on unspillable containers that travel well in a handbag, so I can reapply frequently on myself and on others who permit it.
Aroma M resides in darkly glamorous old industrial area of Brooklyn called DUMBO, that looks like the set of a film noire. There are many old loft and warehouse buildings from the late nineteenth century beside the water, under the Brooklyn Bridge. There are dramatic shadows everywhere at night and in daytime the ambient light is reflective off the river water. The environment in which Maria operates has a strong influence on her life and work, as it often does with people who have spent serious time as painters, immersed in the observation that requires. Her time in Japan has influenced her life and work in perfume and her personal aesthetic.
Japan and its legendary symbol of the geisha has an almost mythic quality for Westerners, who see it as a special society of the most beautiful women devoted to a highly elegant and ritualistic manner of romance. The geisha’s appearance, her fantastical clothing and hair, color choices, music, and subtle scents are poetic allusions with associative meanings on many levels. Maria combined her study of a number of the old Japanese arts, much like a self-schooled geisha herself, immersed in the study of the incense ceremony, ikebana, and shiatsu.
Japan has kept so many of its old arts alive, the ones you can get lost in, from paper folding to cutting pieces of fish for sushi, to the way knots are tied. The Zen quality of contemplative focus has developed each to a great degree. Ironically, except for certain subtle aspects of tea ceremony and the incense ceremony, the Japanese themselves are not very engaged in the sense of smell at this time, preferring no perfume while still interested in the image of perfume. So many Western artists have been aesthetically inspired by the Japanese culture since first contact in the 19th Century and this perfume line is a modern entry into that genre.
When I met Maria of Aroma M at her studio in Brooklyn, I found a magnificent view of Brooklyn Bridge and many colorful pieces of the beautiful Japanese paper used for labels everywhere, but because it was the
weekend off-hours there was no heat, so we had our delicate tea and macaroon cookies wearing our coats and hats (as is customary in NYC, the heat is turned off on the weekend in commercial buildings), while I sampled the various perfumes in the line. Interesting how a cold room can sharpen you focus on the warmth and fragrance of tea and the warmer notes in perfume.
The
online store carries fabric pouches made from vintage geisha kimonos, and a sample set of all the fragrances. The Eau de Parfum versions come in a hand-sewn drawstring crepe pouch of Japanese fabric called Chirimen. The details of the packaging and presentation heighten the experience of quiet sensual and contemplative enjoyment.
Above images from
Aroma M online.
The Stendhal Syndrome is what happens when you are overwhelmed by exposure to great beauty, either in art or nature. The author of The Red and the Black nearly fainted from the beauty of Florence. Stendhal allowed himself to be open enough to fully engage in understanding the significance of where he was so that he could completely appreciate what he saw. Sometimes such experiences cause sensory and psychological overload, or stop short of going overboard, and instead go to a place of heightened awareness, that pushes aside distractions to awaken what some call the soul. These peak experiences, according to the famous psychologist Maslow, make a person mentally healthier, stronger and happier, more resilient and self actualized. These joyous and exciting moments are the result of throwing yourself completely and fully into an intense positive experience like that of love, aesthetic or natural beauty. Body and mind are built to work together to combine intellectual understanding with sensuality in such a way as to inform and aid each other to make life as wonderfully vivid as can be.
