Although ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ inspired CELIE & COUCH as a brand, one of the first perfumes I designed was more inspired by ‘The Secret Garden’. In this book, two withdrawn and isolated characters find nourishment both literally and figuratively through community in the plain speaking North.
I wanted to capture a slice of this feeling, liquefy it and bottle it and I decided to do so in a aromatic and gourmand design. The scent essentially smells like you’re eating a spiced bun from the era on a Yorkshire Moor in the early morn.
Design intent
Artistically I wanted the wearer to smell fresh spiced bakes in a stone cottage kitchen at dawn, mixed with the smell of fresh grasses coming through a window to cool them down. There’s also be a little warmth on the skin from the first pink rays of morning sun. I wanted a mix of rebellion- maybe the wearer had snuck into the kitchen to steal a cake or biccie. I also wanted calm, maybe this was the wearer’s tranquil calm before a busy day.
Personally, the intent behind this scent was simple; I wanted to prove I could I could do it. I’d previously made 5 prototype perfumes which were a disaster. Too strong, clashing, and before I learned the (mandated) ‘joys’ of perfume compliance that set the brand back several years (I struggled to find a safety assessor who would work with indies).
Artistically I won’t lie, I’m only 90% happy with this scent (after 2 reformulations) but it’s my first effort. The drydown is a hair too dry for my taste (I wanted something more ‘cakey’), though I think it’s conceptually better (makes for more contrast between the clashing indoor and outdoor settings). I’ve also come around slightly since speaking to people who like it.
Personally, this scent began to bring me back to mental and emotional health. I’d gone through a series of traumas and the most recent was the final straw. I’d spent a year in no condition to work, study or socialise and was in my darkest time. Making this perfume forced me to do something constructive and to look outside my own pain and to pour into my own cup from an emotional desert.
Scent memory // actually smells like
This actually smells like a simple sweet bun but slightly earthy, astringent and flowery (that’ll be the lavender and patchouli). Lemon and Bergamot cut through the sweetness of the floral and the floral matches beautifully with the earthy grittiness and bitterness of the patchouli and lavender.
The whole thing opens wet and dries down very dry, and there is no Grojsman accord. You won’t need a lot of this perfume or it could very easily tip into 80s or even 50s territory. I know that’s out of fashion but this is a period collection. STANS’ LEXICON is more modern.
The blue logo reflects the maritime blue of the Yorkshire flag, and the ah- maritime- route many of this perfume’s ingredients (such as vanilla) would have had to take back in the day and lowkey to this day. The blending of these ingredients with local ones (such as Geranium) is again to challenge the idea of a siloed Northern or British identity.
Hoped impact & legacy
Artistically, I want this perfume to make you hungry. The hunger for nourishment but also the hunger for new perspectives that saved Mary Lennox and Colin Craven from death both literally and figuratively.
Scran On Th' Garth | 50 ml Lemon, Bergamot Perfume
A freshly baked batch of spiced biscuits in a little cottage kitchen, resting by the window at dawn, to meet warm winds weaved through the flowers and ferns of the English moor.
