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Rose, jasmine and earthy bitterness. Perfumer who sells the scent of Belarus
Glossary of terms
Tester
Vintage (rarity)
an antique item that was relevant in the era of its creation, reflecting the style and spirit of its time. In the 21st century, perfume compositions that were produced and became hits in different decades of the 20th century are considered vintage. Not created, but produced. For example, Chanel No. 5, which is now on store shelves, was created in 1921, but the bottle that you buy there in the store was released at the factory a year and a half ago. Vintage (rare) perfumes also include those perfumes that were discontinued for various reasons. Often the main thing is the significant cost of the components: natural amber, musk, floral absolutes, spices cost fabulous money.
Perfume (Parfum, Extrait)
Eau de parfum
or toilet perfume (Eau de Parfum, Parfum de Toilette) contains 10-20% aromatic substances. Retains aroma well for 4-6 hours.
Eau de Toilette
a light type of perfume in which top and middle notes sound bright. The concentration of the aromatic composition is 8-10%. Eau de toilette is intended for use several times a day, and is suitable for use during the working day.
Cologne (Eau de Cologne)
the lightest type of perfume. The purposes and properties of cologne are the same as those of eau de toilette, but the concentration of aromatic substances is even lower - 3-8% in 70-80% alcohol.
Atomizer
bottle with a pneumatic spray device, spray. In original bottles, the spray is usually sealed. In atomizers, the spray is always screw-on. Nowadays, an atomizer is called not only a device for spraying perfume, but the entire bottle with its contents.
Spare wheel (refill)
This is a spare unit, i.e. additional container with the same aroma. Depending on the manufacturer, the spare tire may or may not have a spray with a screw cap (in 70% of cases). Sometimes the spare tire is a container that needs to be inserted into a “dressy” case. In terms of the quality of the contents, the spare tire is no different from a standard bottle, but its price is much lower due to its simpler design and often the absence of a spray.
Miniature
a bottle with a volume of no more than 10 ml, completely copying the main bottles, but often without a spray.
Selective perfumery
Coffins
rectangular perfume bottles from Serge Lutens in export version. It should be noted that Serge Lutens fragrances sold in Paris are called “bells” among perfume fans (due to the bell-shaped bottles and round cap).
“Good people smell of cleanliness, bad people smell of lies,” says the most popular Belarusian perfumer Vlad Rekunov. KYKY met with the director of the Association of Perfume and Cosmetics Manufacturers and the father of five children in his workshop in Osmolovka to ask about the launch of a fragrance that is intended to brand Belarus, as well as about the smells of politics, sex, kindness, fear, lies and cats.
“I conceived the idea of my studio four years ago, tired of contacts with manufacturers and importers on the market. We work with customers individually,” Vlad Rekunov tells me when we meet, escorting me to his office. The Belarusian perfumer is known from his work with the Russian stage: he made perfumes for Valery Meladze, Philip Kirkorov, the group VIA GRA, Timati. He gave a crystal bottle in the shape of a microphone to the French singer Mireille Mathieu before the concert, she took it to France.
Vlad Rekunov is a Belarusian who makes money from Russian celebrities. This is understandable: in the “wild east” the market is larger, the rhinestones are brighter, and there is more money. Rekunov was criticized on social networks after he announced the creation of perfume for Putin. One of the latest projects is PA VETRA perfume, which, according to Vlad, symbolizes the smell of Belarus. This is exactly what I came to talk to him about. We started, as usual, from the very beginning.
Vlad Rekunov
Vlad Rekunov: Four years ago we appeared in Minsk and began to announce that we create personal compositions of fragrances. And we were faced with the fact that no one knows what it is. The service is fundamentally new to the market. “Personal smell? What is this?" As soon as I say that this is the analogy of bespoke tailoring in clothes, only in perfume: “Oh! It’s becoming clearer.” Everyone knows that there are mass-produced clothes, but if a person wants “a suit to fit,” then he goes to a tailor. And the same thing happens in smell, when you can weave a scent exclusively from those components that you are crazy about.
KYKY: What are you crazy about?
V.R.: I get this feeling when I feel like there will be a cool project. For example, when you launch the Belarusian fragrance PA VETRA on the market, your knees shake. I declare that this is the scent of Belarus. In 2008, my mentor Sofia Groysman first said that she was working on the smell of Belarus. She is one of the greatest perfumers of our time.
She has a very patriotic biography: her father Peter Khodosh was a partisan, brought many Jews out of the ghetto, including Sofia’s mother, after the war he was repressed for all this, and they were forced to immigrate: first to Poland, then the same Jews he saved helped them leave them to America. A kind of story in the spirit of Schindler, just not on such a scale. And Sofia, who graduated from a chemical college in Poland, from the lowest position of assistant laboratory assistant (below only a cleaning lady) rose to the vice president responsible for the development of scents and the main “nose” of IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances).
How a Belarusian woman from the Novogrudok region created fragrances for Yves Saint Laurent and Calvin Klein
In 1996, Sofia Groysman received the American Society of Perfumers award and the Living Legend Award. Her fragrances can be called a work of art, among them are Parisienne (Yves Saint Laurent), Eternity for Women (Calvin Klein), Trésor (Lancome), Sun Moon Stars (Karl Lagerfeld), White Linen and Beautiful (Estee Lauder), Diamonds and Rubies (Elizabeth Taylor) and others. A Belarusian from the village of Lyubcha in the Novogrudok region, who left the USSR at the age of 15, achieved everything thanks to hard work and love for experiments, which were so successful that she was noticed by the famous perfumer Ernst Schiftan, a protégé of the then head of the IFF company Josephine Catapano. Josephine, like Sophia, did not have the education of a perfumer, but she had an unusually subtle sense of smell and intuition. And just imagine: perfume superstar Sofia Groysman suddenly talks about what creates the smell of Belarus! Incredible. Sofia is very dynamic, with a sense of humor, agile for her 70 years and simply an incredible woman, great and incredibly cool. By the way, she still speaks excellent Russian, interspersed, of course, with English words.
Sofia finished developing the recipe in 2012, and publicly in 2014 at a presentation in the Zvezda store, where a large number of people and the media were invited, she gave me a perfume formula with the scent of Belarus. Of course, I was worried about what was happening! It took us two years to find investors. Because making and donating a formula is one thing: the recipe is here, on paper, do what you want with it.
About this theme: Diamond dust and common sucker. How the Minsk office of DeSheli scams people out of money Conventionally, I can make a glass of this smell in my laboratory - so what? And to make it in circulation means paying for the bottle, the volume of liquid, packaging, design and printing, putting it on the market and certifying it.
This is a huge amount of work. We managed to convince the perfume brand Lambre that producing a Belarusian scent in a good French factory is great, classy and cool. They invested money into it.
KYKY: Oh, especially on the packaging there is a convex geographical map of Belarus, which in its contours is very similar to France!
V.R.: Do you see this too? (laughs). The packaging design was done by Belarusian designer Olga Khantsevich, a very talented girl. And so Lambre produced the “Flavor of Belarus” (the working name of the perfume for some time was “Belaya Rus No. 5” - approx. KYKY), put it on the market. We certified it, imported it, and now it has been in existence for two weeks.
What does Belarus smell like?
V.R.: I admit that over these two years the original formula has been slightly changed. Sofia brought the recipe and samples, we “listened” to them here, and I said that they need to be improved, because in our climate they sound very dense. The smell became thick, heavy, and, most offensively, age-old. This is possible in different climatic conditions - the smell sounds different. We gathered a focus group of 3,000 people of different ages, asked them about 30 questions, assessed the smell, discussed it, and Sofia allowed: “Vlad! Up to you! If you want, modify the smell! I edited the recipe a little: it became very light, light. We wanted to make a large bottle, 75 ml, but so that it would not look massive, like a pillar. 57 sketch options were tried. Moreover, this is a perfume. Not eau de toilette or perfume, but a more persistent substance. We tried to be not only exclusive and new in everything, but also to remain economical and thrifty - very Belarusian. Kali jump, so to the maximum! Have you seen perfumes in packages larger than 30 ml? In isolated cases - 50 ml... Look at our PA VETRA!
KYKY: How did the name PA VETRA come about?
V.R.: Through thorns (laughs). But, in fact, very quickly. Try it yourself and say the first association that comes to mind.
Vlad takes out a bottle of the new product, sprays it on the journalist’s wrist and invites him to play a game: “Guess the perfume pyramid.”
KYKY: Very delicate, “girly” aroma, very juicy. I think the opening note is apple, lemon and something tea-like, perhaps bergamot. By the way, I don’t feel any potatoes...
About this theme: Dandelion wine. Belarusian chemist discovered the formula for summer V.R.: Wow, the only thing you didn’t hear was the grapefruit that was still there! At the top of the PA VETRA fragrance there are really citruses and apple, in the middle there is rose, jasmine (both very light) and orange blossom, and in the base there is amber, vanilla and patchouli, which gives the scent a slightly earthy dampness and bitterness. I wanted to make a fragrance that was young, airy, spacious, lightweight, the smell of flight and some kind of levitation. Belarus is a country of open spaces. But before starting work, I studied the olfactory preferences of Belarusians on several thousand respondents. About 40% of the market expects floral-fruity rather than herbal scents. But there are still 60% of other people, you say. The survey revealed that about 20% of respondents prefer light citrus scents. We set up dots in central stores (TSUM, GUM, Belarus, Trading House on Nemiga) and asked ordinary men and women of all ages passing there about thirty questions. Therefore, I had a fairly accurate idea of what the target audience expected from scents. This gave us the opportunity to adjust Sofia Groysman’s scent to these expectations. She lives in New York, and created the scent of that imaginary Belarus, which, perhaps, does not exist, which she remembers, which has already changed over the years. Our memory has the amazing ability to remember only the best, the most tender and poignant. And idealize it. Most likely, this is the Belarus we should go to.
What does politics smell like?
KYKY: The existing reality and the real people living in it are slightly different from the romanticized image of a real Belarusian. Aren't you afraid of disapproval? After all, people on social networks have already started making fun of even the name, saying that it looks like the phrase “go off to the wind”...
V.R.: You see, after I have experienced the “smell of Putin” that I have already created, I am not afraid of any arrows. There are many people who respect him, and just as many who hate him and consider him a villain. In fact, I was very interested. I am sure that not a single specialist will refuse to do work for such a significant person. Let’s say if you are an architect, and you were offered to build a building in the Bermuda Triangle or in China, giving you complete carte blanche: “Do what you want, and we will pay you for the work.” Who would refuse? To make such a product, to say to yourself “I could do it” - it is impossible to refuse. It's fresh yet woody. Top notes: bergamot, black currant. Heart: cedar, pine balsam. Base: musk, tonka bean.
KYKY: Would you give Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko a scent?
V.R.: Working for milestone people is exciting. I do what interests me. Taking and making 10 thousand bottles of a fragrance that is the same as everyone else is not very interesting. Only if they pay me 10 million dollars, then maybe it will light me up. If you are so insistent that I tell you my vision of Lukashenko’s smell, I am impressed by its coarseness. A man with clearly large bones and hands, with strong wrists, his family traits are noticeable, his children are always nearby. And he treats Belarus as a family, he wants to preserve it as a state unit. I would say that it should be a fairly warm scent, but still very strict due to its status. This aroma can be betrayed by smoky bitterness, a note of tobacco leaf (not to be confused with the smell of cigarettes) or the same pine bitterness. Here it is important to know the olfactory preferences of the respondent himself, and this is very subjective and impossible to know remotely.
KYKY: Well, if so, in a philistine way, to compare with the already released Inspired by Vladimir Putin, then what smell would it be?
V.R.: I would make it smell a little more ozone, a little more metallic, like silver. But still, in a close direction. They are from the same sector.
KYKY: You say that you are fascinated by strong, historically significant figures. Would they make perfume for Hitler?
V.R.: Well, no, of course not! First of all, he is clearly a villain. I would try my best to avoid such a proposal. Because even refusing would mean the end of everything. Secondly, considering that two of my grandfathers reached Berlin... Definitely not.
KYKY: And it happens that a client comes, and you understand: well, you won’t be able to work with him? Or has this never happened?
V.R.: There are very difficult cases. When people themselves don’t know what they want. They can't understand whether they like it or not. “Well, so fresh.” It is quite difficult to work with people without imaginative thinking (no doubt, such people are needed in nature for something). The smell can be explained. There are a huge number of epithets of a musical, color, architectural nature, in the end, just adjectives. If a person cannot connect two words, I understand that he will have to work hard. I ask what a person does, how he lives, what sports he is interested in, what clothes he wears, if he were choosing a gift, what would it be. And here the person is already “injecting himself.” And it happens that a client comes with a clear task in which I see an image. I feel it, that it can be so easy that it’s not even interesting – it’s not work, but some kind of hack job.
KYKY: Would you create a perfume for a gay couple?
V.R.: I'm doing the work. I have a customer. There is a part of his life that does not concern me at all. Although, when creating a scent, I ask about a lot, including intimate things. The sphere in which I operate is the sphere of ethics and aesthetics. If a girl comes in very revealing clothes, I perceive her as a girl calling, and accordingly, the aroma will be different than for a girl who comes in trousers or some male variations. For me, these are the very threads from which I weave the image. For example, the smell of strawberries is considered the aroma of very young girls, and for ladies over 30 it indicates a certain immaturity. On the other hand, if a person likes strawberries, it only emphasizes his character traits, revealing his secrets like a spy. Sometimes the perfumes that a person gets used to are discontinued, they are nowhere to be found in retail stores, and even impossible to find on ebay. This is what we do in the perfume studio. We can take well-known perfumes as a basis and improve them for a specific person.
KYKY: How long does it take to create such a masterpiece?
V.R.: In different ways, we have two algorithms. One is very simple and fast. It is technically simpler for me, and therefore cheaper for the buyer. A person can smell it in literally an hour. We select one as a base from my existing palette of scents (I spent several months and made about 40 scents), and select notes that the person likes. For example, he is crazy about vanilla, Peruvian balsam or orchids. We use them to edit the main scent, and in a few hours its individual scent will be ready. The second option is longer, here the work lasts a month or two. When we carefully select each component, I make samples, at least five. And a person with these samples walks, sleeps, and plays sports. Then he gives me feedback, tells me what I like and what I don’t. After this, we select the samples we like and make new ones, guaranteeing the safety of the recipe that is assigned to this client. One person came to me for six months before we found the perfect solution.
KYKY: Tell me, what is happening now in the market of women's and men's fragrances? If earlier one of the perfume giants released a new women's scent, everyone tried it on, everyone liked, as an example, the sexy Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. And this sexuality has acquired some aggressive forms, moving from a pleasant note to a heavy one. At the same time, the masculine scent tends to be light and cheerful. Sometimes girls secretly buy men's fragrances for themselves, which sound soft and non-aggressive on the skin. Have market trends for girls gone somewhere wrong?
About this theme: What happens if a girl starts acting like a man on a dating site? V.R.: I think the “boys” market is continuing at the same pace, but the “girls” market has become abundant. The choice is huge, the buyer is very sophisticated. Well, here the area is clearly demonstrative, this is the spirit of the times. For some reason, it is now accepted that dresses are very open, the neckline is very deep, details are too noticeable, which perhaps should not be so openly demonstrated. The same thing happens in the smell - it is too frank. It's a vicious circle: demand creates supply, and supply stimulates demand. What is fashionable now is not the refined femininity of an accentuated silhouette, but showing what I have and what size. When external positioning is more important than internal peace. When creating our composition PA VETRA, we decided to return to a romantic, very feminine image.
What does sex, kindness, lies and oncology smell like?
KYKY: Sorry for the indiscreet question, but how do you live with such a nose? Do you use public transport?
V.R.: Life is very interesting. I notice smells where others don't. And when I notice them, I voice them: “Do you feel like the strawberry came from somewhere? Strawberries are already on sale!” Sometimes it helps. I was once driving through the Russian outback, where there was no one for many kilometers, and I stopped at a small roadside shop. A girl is sitting at the cash register, working. I say: “Hello! Why do you smell so much gas?” She ran somewhere and found a leak. But the room is small, she has been sitting for a long time, she has already sniffed, everything could have ended in tears. Sometimes, of course, this gets in the way. Once I was forced to make urgent payments in our Belarusbank, which is not famous for its particular efficiency.
I stood in line next to some homeless person. For me it was 30 minutes of hell. I was really sick for three days afterwards: I came home and just didn’t get up for a day, I lay there.
I use public transport when necessary, I don’t disdain it, but I admit, it’s quite rare.
KYKY: Are there any ways to rehabilitate these receptors?
V.R.: If we are talking about how to choose scents to wear, then the best way is to drink a few sips of water. Jars of coffee offered in perfume stores are a marketing ploy that does not work. Coffee is another smell you smell in the store when you're shopping for scents. Coffee beans are affordable and quite attractive, like inexpensive “good” wine of dubious quality on the shelves of our stores with poetic names. But perfumers themselves never smell coffee: better go out into the fresh air, drink some water.
KYKY: Surely you have read Patrick Suskind’s book “Perfume”. When Grenouille chases smells, both pleasant and unpleasant. To what extent does it reflect the reality of how perfumers live?
V.R.: Of course, it’s good that there is a work about perfume. We have a very closed region, there are a lot of myths. And then people, after watching the film, saw an enfleurage (how flowers are processed with solid fat to obtain essential oils. – note KYKY), how it was grown, how it was collected, that there is such an industry. People think that a perfumer is someone who mixes five ingredients in a bottle and the perfume is ready. In fact, there are at least a hundred components in any scent. At PA VETRA we used fifty. If we read that there are three scents in the top note, three in the heart, and three in the base, this does not mean that there are nine in total. These are the main notes that the perfumer selected from the same hundred. They have a supporting, accentuating function in this particular composition.
KYKY: Do you believe that there are smells of a man, a woman, a mother, a father?
V.R.: Yes, sure. Mom and dad are also men and women, and only grandma smells like pies (laughs). I look like a perfumer. But in life, I set up the house myself and transported the corpses: no crime, just my first wife is a doctor, and she needed to help transport a patient who died on her shift to the morgue.
Elderly people often have a specific smell, the “smell of old age.” Often the way of life creates a smell in a person. Diseases create a smell - oncology smells like the smell of a musty attic, when this is already the stage where it is not a bell, but an alarm bell.
KYKY: Are there smells that can be regarded as impulses or triggers?
About this theme: Test: what sexual perversions are you prone to? V.R.: A good or healthy person always smells good. As a rule, kind people smell clean. Bad people smell like lies. And lies smell rotten. Maybe it’s not even a smell, but just intuition transmitting sensations. I read somewhere that strong people are always kind, and if a person is not kind, then he is weak. Once in my life I refused to throw in my lot with a girl just because I didn’t like her smell. After all, each of us has our own body odor, formed by the secretion of secretions on the skin. Hormones, let's say. Each of us chooses a life partner who smells similar to our parent of the opposite sex. My little daughter Varya, who is now five years old, constantly falls asleep on my shoulder. Can you imagine how her dad's smell is recorded in her subcortex?
KYKY: Do perfumes with pheromones exist in nature that attract the opposite sex, or is this just another marketing ploy? I was once given a perfume that was marketed as "stacking men." My boyfriend said: “Of course, I love you, but it seems your cat has gotten into the habit of peeing on your scarf.”
V.R.: The word pheromones is generally incompetent. There are pheromones that prevent the development of sexual characteristics. There are those that cause anxiety and fear (for me, fear smells like wormwood). What kind of ferromones are we talking about? Perfumes containing aphrodisiac components, of course, exist, but they act on others in exactly the same way as all others. They're just more oriental, spicy, boudoir, harem scents. To say whether they work or not is like searching for the philosopher's stone. It is impossible to create a universal person, be it a man or a woman, who makes everyone ecstatic. Well, this is a kindergarten! One likes blondes, the other likes muscular Italians. I had a client who only liked men with glasses. In this case, glasses were an aphrodisiac. The sexiest thing about any person, regardless of gender, is the brain.
As for your “gift,” it contained either musky animal components or the smell of blackcurrant. If you overdo them when applied to the skin, you get the smell of cat urine.
About this theme: Navakolle: The most important months of Belarus KYKY: After creating the smell of Belarus, was there any thought, if the topic goes, to create the smells of cities: Minsk, Pinsk, Vitebsk? What do you think cities smell like?
V.R.: The idea was implemented in Russia. I don't know how much support it received, but if someone has already done it, it's of little interest to me. Each city creates its own image, but if you dream up... Moscow is dusty. Paris has a blue, sweetish smell. Minsk is closer to Paris in sweetness, but the smell is more ozone-like, it contains more water... Yes, I would make Minsk with the smell of water, a slightly sour-metallic, barely perceptible, not strong aftertaste.
KYKY: Where can you buy PA VETRA perfume in Minsk?
V.R.: We exhibited them at a branded stand in the Zamok shopping center at a promotional price for a 75 ml bottle. At least a dozen bottles were sold per day from an experimental batch of several thousand. The main customers are Belarusians. And, oddly enough, Asians. The reviews are all great, which means Sofia and I met people’s expectations. Afterwards, we want to put it in some iconic places in the city, main shopping centers and tourist places, so that people can take away the scent of Belarus as a souvenir as a memory of the country.
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As a child, he never dreamed of becoming a “nose” (as perfumers are called in professional circles), but, as they say, fate has its own plans for us. Vlad is one of the few students of the most respected perfumer of our time, Belarusian by birth Sofia Groysman, who now lives and works in New York. After several years of painstaking study and work in France, he returned to Belarus. Vlad spends up to 12 hours a day in his workshop in Minsk, and the aromas in the air create a special atmosphere there. A perfumer with two educations: medical and technical - told Onliner.by about his “fragrant” work, why our people still do not have a perfume culture, why the “Belaya Rus” fragrance created by Sofia Groysman has not yet appeared on store shelves, and also dispelled the most ridiculous myths about this industry.
I was born and raised in Minsk. I didn’t plan to get into perfumery and got into this business by fate. Once I was offered to sell perfumes wholesale, and everything turned out so well that the business is still alive. But over time it became boring, a minimum of creativity and creativity: bought there, sold here. I began to think about how I could develop without leaving the industry.
It so happened that fate brought me together with one of the greatest perfumers of our time, Sofia Groysman. We met her on the Champs Elysees in Paris. And, unlike our country, they know her very well by sight. I saw the director of an expensive perfume store (not the last person in this industry) jump out onto the street and ask her to come into the store for a cup of coffee. Since this is an event for him, Sofia Groysman herself was in his store.
Since 2005, one might say, I was Sofia’s “tail”: I watched how she worked and what she did. Spent a lot of time in perfume factories where fragrances are made. Today, this is how you can become a professional. The second way is to get a perfume diploma in Versailles, at a perfume course in Grasse. Until recently, the French very actively supported the myth that a person could be a perfumer, whose previous generation necessarily had perfumers. Today they say that anyone can do this, but behind this lies a long and very painstaking work: listen to smells every day, find, feel and evaluate the difference between tones.
I returned to my homeland at the request of Sofia Groysman. She asked me to do something for Belarus in the area of smell. And at the same time, she herself created the scent “Belaya Rus” and presented it in Minsk 8 months ago. The perfume is still not widely sold, as the project is still under consideration by potential investors. Now we represent its interests throughout the post-Soviet space and are promoting this project as well.
Today, it is a rare entrepreneur who is able to appreciate the commercial component of the perfume business, but in this business there is an excellent profitable constant, just like in jewelry. There is probably an attitude problem here... The lightness of the product evokes an association with its frivolity. But the French, who started discussing this topic in the Middle Ages, are still authorities in the world and earn a lot of money from it. For some reason that is not very clear to me, it is considered better to build a business center than to produce perfume liquid.
With our projects, our workshop awakens in people a sense of aroma, a sense of the high through body sublimation, perfume culture. Information about perfumery is sketchy or untrue. And it's not the users' fault, it's their problem. And how many myths and cliches! Well, for example, a common one: the smell of coffee changes something in our sense of smell. The best thing that can restore a tired sense of smell is fresh air. And coffee is another smell that you “listen to.” Yes, you are familiar with it, but its influence is enough for at most one new fragrance, and I very much doubt the accuracy of your assessment.
Dividing fragrances into men's and women's is already a marketing ploy. After all, 50 years ago everyone used the same fragrances. Another myth is that the smell that suits us, we should not smell on ourselves. Perhaps this has been the tradition since the time when Yves Saint Laurent said that a woman should merge with the dress she wears, and a man should see not the dress, but her. The same should happen with the scent - she should live with it without noticing it. But I like to feel the scent on myself. I would say this: let there be an aroma that does not interfere with life.
The most important thing about a smell is what associations it evokes. The smell does not need to be understood, it needs to be felt and experienced. Choosing a scent is like choosing a lover: you need to spend the night with it. These words belong to Roge Dove, and I completely agree with them.
People also say that we “smell” and “sniff”, but in reality we apply the aroma. And we listen to it like music. This is breathing. This is a message from our body and, if you like, spirit.
Smells, controlling us, remind us of the priority of the high, spiritual and spiritual. And if you live by this, then another society is formed, more loyal, not “Maidan”. Smell is a highly cultural resource, an “unstoppable substance.” It expresses the element of all-pervasive overcoming.
Over the year and a half of the existence of my perfume studio in Minsk, we have already created more than a dozen fragrances, including personal scents for media personalities: Valery Meladze, Timati, Olga Plotnikova, Olga Barabanshchikova, Lesya Kodush. Before Andrey Bond and Artem Rybakin came to the studio, perfumery was something sublime for me, “shrouded in fog.” They turned everything upside down. They set the task of creating a scent that it is not clear whether she likes it or not, so that the woman would want to come back and smell it again. This is how the fragrance “Marginal” appeared.
In addition, we create scents for events. For example, for a wedding or anniversary. We also created a fragrance for the Nastya Ryboltover Party for February 23rd and are now working on a fragrance for the event on March 8th.
“The creation of a personal fragrance takes place in the format of a consultation, during which I offer the client an IT test from one of the largest perfume companies in the world. It includes various questions, such as: what gift would the client prefer to receive? The test allows you to determine the customer’s psychotype and the most preferred family of fragrances. For example, it has been noticed that active people, who often change their occupation, also prefer dynamic aromas - cool, fougere, ozonic.”
Piercing, disturbing, sparkling, wet, warm, languid... What do you think this is about? About fragrances! The traits Vlad Rekunov gives them makes an indelible impression. Still, to be a perfumer, you must not only have a good “nose”, but also be a person with a developed imagination and a subtle sense of perception, perceiving both the situation and the people around – almost at the level of shades!
Vladislav Rekunov’s passion in life began with the perfume trade: he was engaged in wholesale purchases. Things were going well, but at some point it stopped being interesting to Vlad: he lacked the opportunity to create. And he realized that he wanted to gain fundamental knowledge and open his own business. To do this, Vlad interned for three years at factories in France and Belgium, where he studied the operating principles of international brands, from creating a brief and developing a composition to preparing promotional materials.
Vlad was also lucky enough to learn from Sofia Khodosh-Groysman herself, a living legend of the perfume world (and, by the way, our compatriot), four of whose fragrances are included in the Perfume Hall of Fame of the American Perfumers Association (there are 25 of them in total).
Upon returning to Belarus, Vlad initiated many activities aimed at developing the local perfume industry. And in 2013, he opened his own Perfume Workshop and created an offer that has no analogues in the post-Soviet space. Thus, he works with private customers, creates fragrances for stars, companies and improves the general perfume culture of Belarusians and Russians through a mobile perfume bar.
“The creation of a personal fragrance takes place in the format of a consultation, during which I offer the client an IT test from one of the largest perfume companies in the world,” says Vladislav. – It includes various questions, for example: what gift would the client prefer to receive? The test allows you to determine the customer’s psychotype and the most preferred family of fragrances. For example, it has been noticed that active people, who often change their occupation, also prefer dynamic aromas - cool, fougere, ozonic.
Test accuracy is 95-98%. As we work, we listen to a lot of components, evaluate them, and then I create test samples. The client chooses the one he likes and then we refine it.
– In one of your interviews, you said that you can create a scent... based on your voice. How is this possible?
– The voice is very important, because it is a personality characteristic that comes from the very depths and reflects spiritual qualities. Most people don't take care of their voice or make an effort to change it, which means this characterization is true.
A personal fragrance for the magnificent Mireille Mathieu with a bottle in the shape of a microphone.
– And yet, how does it work? Does this mean that a girl with a low voice a la contralto needs... more amber in her perfume?
– What other manifestations of nonverbal communication allow you to draw a conclusion about the client’s perfume preferences?
– Facial expressions, tone of behavior, gestures, shape of hands, it is useful to know the type of activity and marital status or wishes in terms of relationships with the opposite sex.
– Does it happen that you don’t like the scent you create, but you have to work with it based on the client’s wishes?
– There are no scents that I don’t like. This is a problem because it is difficult to set priorities for yourself. People order completely different scents. My task is to feel the person’s expectations and wishes. Sometimes it’s not easy, because you have to get into a narrow sector. Fortunately, this always works out. It happens that everything happens at once, and sometimes it takes several months.
– What determines the price of a fragrance?
– The standard price for a guaranteed quality fragrance is 1.8 million rubles. It depends mainly on the labor intensity of the work. This is the biggest component, unless, of course, we are talking about a unique bottle with precious metals, stones or fur, for example.
The quantity of ingredients does not affect the quality of the aroma. By the way, aromas consisting of several components - up to ten - turn out to be “angular”; the components “bulge out” and interfere. If there are 30-50 ingredients, the “corners” are smoothed out. I like this ratio roughly.
– Do personal fragrances have names?
- Certainly. This is the customer's name.
“People often buy certain perfumes because they are simply tired”
– The stores offer a huge selection of perfumes and eau de toilettes. Is there really nothing to choose from that people turn to a perfumer?
Why, you can choose. But it's not easy. According to my observations, at master classes, it is a great happiness when a woman finds a scent that suits her. But more often than not, people simply get lost in the masses that are on the market. Store-bought scents are very close to each other and differ little. This causes confusion for the buyer. He cannot feel himself in such diversity. The sense of smell gets tired, and the person “dissolves.” In the workshop, we can determine exactly the smell that corresponds to a person and concentrate on it. When we create a personal scent, then, in fact, like a tailor, we perfect every thread, seam and line in this product.
– Please advise how to choose a fragrance in a store?
– People often buy certain perfumes simply because they are tired. Therefore, first, figure out which scent notes you generally like: freshly cut grass, grape sweetness, ozonic accord, forest moisture or warm woody textures. By analyzing scents with these notes, you will determine the olfactory perfume class that suits you.
The second option is to go through the direction of your favorite perfumer. After all, each of them has their own characteristic handwriting. And if you once liked one scent from this perfumer, then you can look at the rest of the products.
– What is Vlad Rekunov’s perfume style?
– Rather, it is still being formed. But I would like to make it very precise. And elegant, sweeping. (smiles)
Nowadays a lot of perfumed products are produced (lotions, creams, etc.). Why are they needed and do you plan to release something similar?
Cosmetic care products - shower gel, shampoo - also have a smell. It stays on the skin and can modify the perfume you put on top. That's why manufacturers produce fragrance and care products in a single line.
We collaborate with a technologist who creates natural herbal creams and gives them the ordered scent. But I’m not going to move through retail yet. I’m not interested in presenting myself as a brand and being on a shelf among everyone else.
“The investment climate has changed, the project has gone on the shelf”
– How popular is the perfume industry among Belarusians?
– We have to work to convey information about our capabilities. Until now, Belarusians have little idea that they can order a personal fragrance. In the entire post-Soviet space, we are, in fact, the only ones who put this at an acceptable industrial level of service provision.
– How do you assess the future of the Belarusian perfume industry?
– There are several factories in Belarus, there is our studio – that’s all. I think our studio has a future due to the unusual nature of its services. After all, most people are interested in smells. And this applies to everyone: politicians, athletes, women, men, children.
Presentation of a personal fragrance to Philip Kirkorov.
Fragrance for Valery Meladze.
Creation of a fragrance in honor of Vladimir Putin.
– What do you think about the attempts of local companies to express themselves in the perfume market? Do Belarusians even have traditions of the art of perfumery? Or is there really no need to even try?
– For now, perfume companies are acting within the framework of previously created moves. It seems to me that now you need to act unconventionally, otherwise you end up in a huge crowd, from which it is unlikely to stand out.
– Some time ago you participated in a project for the extraction and production of perfume components in Belarus. Does our country have any potential in this regard, to perhaps occupy a unique niche in the world market?
– Yes, a business plan was developed for processing wood raw materials into perfume components. This is an effective production when cheap sawdust is “transformed” into a fairly expensive product that is needed in the production of perfumes and flavors. But the investment climate changed, the project went on the shelf.
Sampler of the scent “White Rus'”.
– During her visit to Belarus, already 2 years ago, Sofia Groysman presented the fragrance “White Rus'”. Considering her fame, this could be used as an information feed and for PR of the country. Are there any progress with the commercial introduction of the fragrance?
– Finally, an investor has been found. And at the beginning of 2016 we will present the fragrance to the public.
– Where do you get inspiration?
– In yourself and in your inner state.
Photo: vladrekunov.by, ladys.by, FashionAir.
Mentor - perfumer Sofia Khodosh-Groysman.
Sofia Khodosh-Groysman is a Living Legend Award nominee, author of dozens of perfume bestsellers, incl. Paris (YSL), Tresor (Lancome), Eternity (CK), etc.
Creator of unique perfume projects that have no analogues in the world. Among them are fragrances for V. Putin, P. Kaas, M. Mathieu, F. Kirkorov, V. Meladze, N. Shatskaya, E. Zapashny, the KhBDS quartet (Kharlamov, Batrutdinov, Karibidis, Skorokhod), VIA Gra, Timati, the scent of Rome Fashion Week at the invitation of the house of Pierre Cardin.
Creator of the unique service “Perfume Bar” (entertainment for aesthetes). “Perfume Bar” surprised and delighted guests of festive events of Barvikha, OJSC Gazprom, Shangri La, many venues in Russia, the Baltic countries, Europe and Asia, Canada, Japan, Australia.
Participates in projects for the extraction and production of perfume components
Leading specialist of the Perfume Academy named after. Sofia Groysman.
Director of the Association of Perfumery and Cosmetics Manufacturers of Belarus.
“As a child, my parents noted my desire for harmony around me. Over time, this transformed into a thirst for beauty and enjoying it everywhere and in everything.
Then it seemed to me that there was no more elegant way of demonstrating status and worldview than fragrance.
I was able to look “behind the scenes” of the perfume world and learn about its secrets. I greedily sought knowledge and, one day, providence provided me with a chance: meeting Sophia. And then training and internship in France at the perfume factories IFF, MANE FILS, in Belgium at the Synaco Group factory.
Returning to my homeland, I opened and began to develop a perfume workshop.
11 years have passed since then, but even now I remember well how one night I woke up with delight and the realization that the images in my imagination had a fragrance and I was ready to embody them! An incredible number of days, nights, hours of honing perfumery matters. But! Even then I deeply felt that I was a Perfumer!
And this is my life's work!
And it’s still like that!..”
