Sarah Horowitz-Thran is a talented perfumer and also the founder of Creative Scentualization perfume line.  In a recent interview for Beauty Interviews, Sarah talked to Marta Walsh about how she discovered her passion for perfumes, how she created Sarah Michelle Geller’s signature wedding perfume thought her very unique fragrance journey, and the best part of being a perfumer.

Where did your journey into the world of perfumes begin? I was an 18 year old college freshman living in Boston. One day, I was walking down Newbury Street, killing time between classes. That’s when it happened – literally, the moment that separated the moment before that day and the moments afterward. I walked into a new age, high-end custom blending bar named Essense. A man walked up to me as I entered and bowed, saying “May I anoint you?” Being young and adventurous, I quickly said “Whatever that is, you can do it, yes”. He followed by speaking the words that changed my life (dramatic sounding, but completely true) “You are so unique–shouldn’t your fragrance be?” I thought, “Yes – I don’t want to smell like my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend!” I sat down at the bar with him and began blending my first perfume (which I still wear it to this day,) missed my next class and fell in love with an art form I had never given any thought to before that afternoon. I ended up buying Essense after working there and developed my own custom blending technique that is now known as the Fragrance Journey. I moved to California to focus on practicing it and, well, here we are today!

What is different about Creative Scentualization? Creative Scentualization is now the name of my company, but originally it was what I called the technique I use during the Fragrance Journey. I believe that fragrance is a vehicle for self expression, and that a perfume created for you can capture who you are and what you love. It can be used as a tool to keep one grounded in the moment and in touch with oneself during challenging times. I founded my company on this belief, and craft every fragrance – whether it is for an individual, a ready to wear fragrance in one of our perfume lines or a Private Label creation – with the thought that the integrity and intention with which a fragrance is created ripples out and can affect the wearer.

What’s new this year at Creative Scentualization? I have a wish list of new products for 2008, but the one that is currently in development is very exciting. We are creating a beautiful travel size for the Within line. Currently, the line is only available in a 1.7 oz, but we have found these beautiful pen applicators that match the bottle perfectly, and the bottle design and the pouches they will go in are really luxe. So excited!

How did you go about creating Sarah Michelle Geller’s signature wedding perfume? Creating Sarah Michelle’s fragrance was truly an honor. I asked her about her relationship, her favorite flower and what kind of flowers would be at the wedding, as well as where the wedding would take place. The fragrance itself, with sparkling marine notes and a heart of gardenia, has a vibrancy that I think really reflects her personality.

How should one use Creative Scentualizations’s Perfumers Palette?
The Perfumers Palette was created to provide the client with an opportunity to basically become their own Perfumer. The Palette is separated into top notes, middles notes and base notes, and each fragrance is balanced so that it can be worn alone or layered to create a signature scent. A note from the Palette can also be layered with a pre-existing favorite fragrance to lend it a new twist or add longevity (adding a base note like Soft Musk, for example, to a very citrusy fragrance will help it last longer on the skin).

To read Sarah Horowitz-Thran full interview click here!

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