Everyone benefits from wearing fragrance. It smells great, lifts moods and makes the wearer feel just a little more special. Sue Phillips knows that feeling. The South African came to the US to be an actor, but along the way, she became an expert on fine fragrance. She’s had a long career in the industry, holding executive positions at leading beauty companies like Elizabeth Arden, Lancôme and Tiffany & Co. At Tiffany, she developed the first Tiffany perfume to mark the company’s 150th anniversary.

More recently, Phillips has served as adjunct professor of fragrance at LIM in New York. In addition to serving as an expert witness on matters of fragrance, Phillips has written extensively on the topic for a range of publications, including Happi. Today, Phillips is founder and CEO of Scentarium, an online scent experience where fragrance lovers can create their own fragrances, plan their own scent experience and shop for scents at The Scentarium Online. Using Zoom, Skype and other online tools, Phillips has customers fill out questionnaire to find out exactly what fragrance suits their personality profiles. After in-depth discussion, the fragrance arrives in the mail just a few days later. 

“Wearing a signature scent is your way of leaving a mark everywhere you go and means that you have a fragrance you love to wear which represents you and reflects your individuality,” she explained.

Since beginning her custom fragrance initiative in 2009, more than 16,000 people have created custom scents—45% of them men. Most recently, Phillips has helped over 125 people regain their sense of smell from Covid Anosmia. She created a Scent Healing Kit with a Scent Healing Consultation for Anosmia sufferers. In other news, she has five artisinal perfumes available on ScentBird, and is working on a new collection of Sue Phillips perfumes and continuing to offer custom fragrances for corporate, bridal and teambuilding events. In fact, just last month Phillips conducted a bridal shower fragrance event for 75 guests; a Facebook/Meta Virtual teambuilding event, and an event for the 165 International Youth organization.

Deep Knowledge of Perfumery

Clearly, Phillips knows fragrance. She’s distilled that knowledge into a new book, The Power of Perfume: How to choose it, wear it & enjoy it! Phillips reviews the rich history of scent, from the ancient Egyptians and Romans through the Renaissance to present day—who knew Cleopatra had a bespoke fragrance or that actor Jamie Foxx was such a romantic for perfume? Or, that, ironically, Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe both had a preference for Joy by Jean Patou? But The Power of Perfume is much more than a history lesson.

Phillips details all the fragrance families; think fresh, floral, fougére and chypre to name a few. At the same time, she provides insights on some of the ingredients that play such a critical role in the perfumer’s creation, including galbanum, vanilla and bergamot, And, she bemoans how overzealous regulators are shrinking the palette of today’s expert perfumers who, instead, must rely on synthetics.

Of course, she provides insights on the construction of a scent: the base, middle notes and top notes, and takes pains to explain why fragrances must be constructed in a particular way to be truly effective.

Phillips understands that a quality fragrance is a bit of an investment for today’s cash-strapped consumers. So she walks the reader through the perfume shopping experience, detailing the difference between various scent types like parfum, eau de parfum, eau de toilette, eau de cologne and eau Fraiche.

But whatever the form, finding the right fragrance can be a difficult.

“Even if you know what some of the ingredients are, the middle and base notes may include an ingredient you hate,” she explained. “Amber or tobacco are base notes and they only develop 2-3-4 hours later. And you know what happens when you get home? Your aunt, friend or neighbor gets the perfume. And you are a very unhappy customer!”

That’s more than a subtle plug for her bespoke fragrance business.

Phillips looks at varying fragrance preferences by country and wonders aloud about Americans’ obsession with all things “fresh and clean.” In contrast, Brits prefer very light, crisp floral and lavender fragrances. South Americans like heavier fresh-floral-Orientals, and Middle Eastern consumers opt for heavier ouds, ambers and musky notes.

Heady Times for the Fragrance Industry

But whatever fragrance family one selects, sales of fine fragrance soared during and post-Covid. According to The NPD Group, Port Washington, NY, sales of perfumes, colognes and other fragrance products increased 61% in 2021. That surge, for the first time ever, put fragrance sales on par with skin care, said NPD.

Fragrance is having a moment. But Phillips reminds us that fragrance is forever. It is uniquely attached to the women and men who wear it.

“I’ve always given the analogy that fragrance is our inner accessory and fashion is our outer accessory,” explained Phillips.

And like a fashion wardrobe, not every fragrance is right for every occasion. Phillips explains where to wear perfume, how to wear it (layering), and what works best for each season, and even time of day. For night, opt for flirty, provocative and sensual scents. By day, stick to fresh, lighter scents.

She also cautions about wrong ways to apply fragrance. Perfume, she said, is meant to be worn on clean, unscented moisturized skin.

“Your perfume is not an air freshener, so don’t go for the spritzing-in-the-air routine and walking into it,” Phillips warns. “It’s a waste of money and your beautiful, expensive perfume will land on your perfumed hair and even be distorted.”

Instead, apply fragrance to pulse points like wrist, behind the ear, at the bottom of the neck, inside the elbow and behind the knee. But however one wears scent, Phillips knows she is making a difference by helping others discover their unique persona and olfactory personality.

“I truly love that I make a difference in people’s lives through fragrance,” she concludes. “I am blessed to have found my passion and it permeates my life.”