Making Scents
Uplift the senses with a spritz of The Olfactory – bespoke perfumes for mind, body and soul.
Perfumes for the mind, body and soul
New Zealand natural perfumer Virginia Di Somma of The Olfactory specialises in creating scents that have been deliberately designed to have psychotherapeutic value as well as smelling good. “My goal was to discover how you can get the best support in your life from the perfumes you wear, so they are not only something that smells beautiful but they actually enhance your sense of wellbeing and do you some good while you are wearing them,” says Di Somma.
The Olfactory’s debut trio, Trinity, comes in a box of three with unisex vials numbered No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3.
The first is heady and playful. It’s also empowering and affirming and helps you get a move on when life feels stuck. No. 2 is designed to promote physical and emotional intimacy, while the third is a fresh and lively fragrance to relieve anxiety, assist mood swings and restore the soul.
“We suggest to people that they spray with intention. We already know through lots of studies in science about neuroplasticity in the brain and how you can retrain your brain,” says Di Somma. “They say it takes 28 times of telling yourself something to create a new neural pathway in your brain. So for the first 28 times you spray it on, tell yourself what the psychotherapeutic properties are and then after that you don’t need to tell yourself anymore because your body goes, yep, I know what that’s doing.” The range of parfums includes her most recent release Nonni – a classically feminine, timeless perfume – as a tribute to Di Somma’s mother, Nina, a vibrant and creative woman whose life spans the century from 1919 to 2019, and who has given the scent her nod of approval.
For many years Christchurch was home for Di Somma and her retail
business, One Big Sugar Bowl, but
that and her home were destroyed by the 2011
Christchurch earthquake.
The family took refuge at her brother’s home in Mt
Eden, and after four years of uncertainty and living in limbo, Di Somma found a new love – perfume. But not just any perfume. She wanted to offer a bespoke blending service using only 100 per cent natural ingredients (synthetic molecules make up as much as 90 per cent of most perfumes). After turning to “Dr Google” for research she stumbled across Dominique Dubrana, a Frenchman living in Italy described by The New York Times as “a Sufi convert, a grand eccentric and a genius of sorts”. Di Somma knew she wanted to be trained by Dubrana but he hadn’t trained anyone since 2009 and wasn’t keen. “He gets an email from me out of the blue saying ‘I’ve heard about you and would you consider teaching me?’ and he said ‘no’. I went back saying, ‘please, you don’t know my story’ and I told him. He said ‘here’s what I will do. I’ll advertise a course on my website and if we get any response I’ll let you know’. In three days he wrote back saying ‘we’ve filled the class with people from all over the world’.”
Di Somma travelled to Italy in 2015 (a fitting location given Di Somma is of Italian descent) for the nine-day live-in course. Since then she has honed her craft.
Now, WORLD Beauty, Bob & Friends and A Head of Nature stock Di Somma’s fragrances. WORLD’s Benny Castles says of their decision, “Virginia and her work with The Olfactory is an exquisite voice among the global niche fragrance market. Her scent style and process of bringing, thought, imagination, natural fragrance and therapeutic elements is completely original and we could not resist to offer her voice alongside our collection of luxury scents.”