{"id":29459,"date":"2024-02-23T09:15:17","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T14:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/?p=29459"},"modified":"2024-04-05T11:24:46","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T15:24:46","slug":"february-is-almost-over-but-were-still-in-the-mood-for-love-perfume-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/february-is-almost-over-but-were-still-in-the-mood-for-love-perfume-and-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"February is Almost Over, But We\u2019re Still in the Mood for Love, Perfume and Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you old enough to remember when Hip-Hop was called a fad? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     It\u2019s hard to picture there was ever a time like this, when the likes of Drake, Snoop, or Jay-Z didn\u2019t frequent our public imagination.  When popular music meant ongoing playlists of classic rock, pop, Motown hits, and R&B. Not saying anything was wrong with this music. I loved my radio wherever there was one—in my bedroom, in the car, at a friend\u2019s house— and I usually loved whatever came out of it. Rap music just hadn\u2019t found its radio home yet. I grew up in a small town so we were some of the last people it seemed to hear about Run DMC. But I had a tv and my town had its share of a few record stores. I remember how people used to talk about rap, about hip-hop. Do you remember when people were scared hip-hop would corrupt their kids?  I remember those parental advisory stickers on vinyl, how it felt when I\u2019d pick up one of those albums. I was in love, but I remember folks trying to convince me hip-hop was just a silly crush, an adolescent trend. Nothing serious. Definitely not a genre to stand the tests of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People once said similar things about jazz. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     When I think of some attitudes our industry grapples with around BIPOC fragrance brands saying \u2018We are here and we are not an anomaly\u2019, or Black perfumers wondering if sharing their cultural stories freely in the same light as other cultures might hurt sales or exclude potential audiences, or feeling they can\u2019t call themselves a perfumer unless they attend a school in France—it sparks familiar memories for me from years ago, when I\u2019d come across those parental advisories, explicit lyric stickers on album covers at the local record store and rap music was approached with caution by the music establishment and worried parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

     Music lovers already knew rap music was a gift despite others who joked it\u2019d go nowhere. They were falling in love too. They told their friends about it. Listened to it loyally whenever they could. Memorized lyrics. Made music of their own. They applauded when rap stars became movie stars and film directors and producers and fashion icons\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     It took a minute for the industry heads to understand what love the world was giving them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Now there is hip-hop in every corner of the world— influencing, inspiring, creating connections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     One day, we might have a similar conversation about Black perfumers. How the rise in Black-owned fragrance brands positively impacted the industry as a whole worldwide. How there are fragrance consumers who desire to be universally seen and represented, who want fragrances to give them nuanced attention like a good lover who whispers, \u2018It\u2019s ok, you\u2019re beautiful, you don\u2019t have to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Love-Explicit Fragrances to Make Your Heart Grow Universally Fonder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zernell Gillie Fragrances ~ <\/strong>Hip-Hop ($110\/30ml)<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cHip-hop was inspired by my love of the nineties hip-hop scene, notably WuTang and A Tribe Called Quest,\u201d says Zernell Gillie, founder of Los Angeles-based Zernell Gillie Fragrances. \u201cIt\u2019s a really smooth fragrance. People say it\u2019s sexy and sultry. People wonder what it has to do with hip-hop, but it\u2019s the creaminess—‘cash rules everything around me, cream\u2019 from WuTang.\u2019 It opens up fresh with black currant and fruits, then the saffron gives it a bit of warmth and leather while the cognac makes it feel like a fresh gourmand.\u201d The top notes are bergamot, black currant, saffron, and cognac; heart notes are hedione, labdanum, and green notes; base notes are white musk, ambroxan, cacao, and dark chocolate. Unisex. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maison Sambin ~ <\/strong>Osun (\u20ac179\/1.69fl oz)<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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 \u201cI grew up immersed in Caribbean and African culture,\u201d says founder Erold Sambin of Maison Sambin, based in France. \u201cMy mother asked me to create a perfume for her, so I continued in this direction. With Maison Sambin, culture is universal and Osun is a fragrance story inspired by Yoruba culture. In our family, we are really attached to our ancestral stories, so I choose to tell ancestor stories through perfume. Osun represents fertility, the river, love, sex appeal, and protection. So, when people want to have love, or have babies, they celebrate Osun. We created this perfume with the emotional inspiration and character first, even before starting with notes. Perfume is timeless.\u201d Key notes are orange, honey and cinnamon scents with spicy and animalic undertones. Unisex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memoir Fragrances ~ <\/strong>Gypsy Eyes ($150\/50ml)<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cGypsy Eyes was inspired by the movie Love Jones, a sophisticated, nostalgic Black love story,\u201d says founder Terrance Pratt of Chicago-based Memoir Fragrances. \u201cThe whole movie was shot in Chicago and Larenz Tate is from Chicago. He was a poet in the movie and when I moved to Chicago I performed poetry as a hobby at an open mic, so this fragrance ties this together. Gypsy Eyes is the name of the book Larenz Tate writes in the movie and gives to Nia Long. The whole line of Memoir Fragrances is tied to a real moment in my life. Chicago was where I found myself, so it\u2019s a homage of me finding my way. Chicago is this amazing city and I wanted to make a fragrance that\u2019s like remembering what it\u2019s like to be courted. Those butterflies in your stomach type of love.\u201d Top notes are whisky, bergamot, musk; heart notes are oud, rose and caramel; base notes are tobacco, vanilla and sandalwood.\u00a0\u00a0
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Let their olfactory artistry transport you, igniting your senses and celebrating the vibrant heritage poured into every drop. Uncover hidden gems, support visionary creators, and discover scents that become more than just fragrances- they become a powerful statement of your own individuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to discover 8 more groundbreaking Black-owned<\/a> brands that are reshaping the future of scent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you old enough to remember when Hip-Hop was called a fad?       It\u2019s hard to picture there was ever a time like this, when the likes of Drake, Snoop, or Jay-Z didn\u2019t frequent our public imagination.  When popular music meant ongoing playlists of classic rock, pop, Motown hits, and R&B. Not saying anything was wrong…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34449,"featured_media":29463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[920],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scentbird-spotlights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/shot-by-joe-LJrebKiQ-qg-unsplash-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34449"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29459"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29806,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29459\/revisions\/29806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}