SATURDAY, JULY 25: I’m starting to write this post on
Saturday night, the day my Huernia zebrina bloomed. It looks like I’m going to be the only
perfumer at the Seattle Chocolate Salon, which used to be the Chocolate and
Fragrance Salon before the organizers decided they weren’t making enough money
from the perfume side of it. I’m preparing for a crowd of people who probably
have little or no knowledge about perfume, and little or no appreciation for
it. Some may even be afraid of wearing perfume.
I’ve tried to design an eye-catching general-public-friendly
display that has some items other than perfume - body balm and soap. There will
be drawings for live orchid plants throughout the day, and the featured
fragrances for both perfume and soap will include Seattle Chocolate and
California Chocolate. I expect to do more educating than anything else. It’s
not even 9 PM yet, and everything is ready to go! I’ve gotten quite efficient
at packing for shows.
MONDAY, JULY 27: The show is over, and played out pretty
much as predicted. The venue was a large, suburban hotel next to a bleak
freeway exit in the south end of Bellevue, just across the lake from Seattle.
As far as I could tell, it was only accessible by car, ruling out attendance by
anyone who did not drive, as well as any walk-in attendees.
Most surprising was the fact that the hotel was undergoing a
major construction operation, so the vendors and public had to walk through a
maze of plywood and plastic tunnels to reach the so-called “ballroom” where the
event was held. Given the nature of the venue, its location, and its condition,
I’m surprised that attendance was as good as it was.
The vendors were a mixed conglomeration of businesses,
ranging from high-end chocolatiers who had flown in from Florida through Northwest
tea retailers, a street-fair jewelry stand, and a financial consultant! I
thought I would be the odd business out, but clearly I was wrong. I actually
featured some chocolate-themed products that stimulated the chemical senses.
This strategy had its pros and cons. The fact that I
highlighted chocolate-themed fragrances made me fit right into the mainstream,
but it also resulted in more than a few people asking how to eat my products!
More than the usual number of people informed me that they
were “allergic to perfume”. I think there’s a correlation between driving
everywhere and being “allergic” to everything. If they really had allergies, I
imagine they would have fled as soon as they smelled the moldy carpet in the
ballroom, which was hard to ignore. Oddly, some of the “allergic” people asked
me if I had scented candles.
As I expected, I sold more soaps and body balm than perfume,
although the travel sprays were a popular item. This show was like a typical
orchid show in that Red Cattleya was the fragrance preferred by the majority,
with many of my other perfumes just evoking puzzled looks. That’s fine. I
explained that not every perfume has to smell like walking into a Sephora shop.
If even one person’s olfactory horizon expanded by a few molecules, I did my
job.
Perfume shows are always good for discovering new types of
anosmia, in this case an inability to smell the incredibly strong patchouli in
my newly-minted Patchouli Lover’s soap!
Overall, it was an interesting day, not particularly
profitable, but an interesting session of observing the people of the Eastside
who go to chocolate shows and, with any luck, expanding their horizons.
[All photos are mine except for the one with the Quantum Demonology book and Devil Scents, which is from the Taste TV Fragrance Salon Facebook page]
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