In 1870 a barber shop was born, and almost 150 years later continues to be part of the streets and the history of England. Penhaligon’s was a barber shop when it first inaugurated by William Penhaligon and during the reign of Queen Victoria, it was appointed as the Royal Court’s Barber and Perfumier, and this began the story of one of the most traditional perfume brands in England.
With many stores, the brand has in its line over 50 fragrances, that come in and out of catalog when they are created. Currently the line has approximately 40 perfumes. The fragrances are created after a lot of research, the studies done go beyond simply aromas, and each perfumes has over 20 different notes that together tell a story, taking colours, places in the world, e what the perfume wants to tell.
Besides the brands own creations, there are perfumes created for the Royal Court – not only for the English Royal Family, but other Royal families have (and still do) make special orders from this brand.
The inspiration behind the creation of this perfume in 2003 was the English National Ballet. Its aroma has the intension of taking us to the ballet’s backstage, the note are a reminder of makeup, the leather on the ballet shoes. If you have ever been close to a dance spectacle, you will be able to imagine this sensation.
This perfume was ordered by a Maharaja. This Maharaja wanted to celebrate his granddaughter’s birthday, and so he ordered this perfume with a special request – that it had the aroma of his palace’s gardens. And so it was done. After much research and studies made, the result was exactly the luxurious perfume of the summer gardens of the palace.
There is strong tailors tradition in England and Sartorial was a perfume created to celebrate this tradition. In London, for example, there is a street dedicated to tailors called Savile Road. The notes on this perfume takes you directly to a tailor shop, it is possible to feel and relate the smell of fabrics and the metals (scissors, needles, etc.) of a shop like that. It is hard to explain without using the sense of smell while we talk about the perfumes, but if you have the opportunity the perfume store, it will be easy to remember this explanation.
The inspiration behind this perfume was Gin. Its aroma is very sharp, strong and fresh, which reminds a lot the Dry Gin. The freshness of the perfume is largely due to the juniper. Since this drink has great importance and great tradition in the country, this perfume is to celebrate the main ingredient to so many cocktails.
The story I am going to tell about this perfume is not about its creation, but about a person who adopted this perfume as part of their daily life. This is the oldest perfume in the brand, and the opera singer Maria Callas liked to have this perfume scenting the stage during shows , so before her presentations they sprayed the Hammam all over the stage. This fragrance is strong and eccentric, doesn’t go unnoticed, just like Callas, and maybe this is the reason behind her choice of this perfume. All the stories i’ve learned are interesting and together with the aroma of the perfume make sense and tell a story through the aroma, this makes the brand interesting and unique. With time, the brand is becoming more modern and creating new products like the line for beard, bath and beauty, as well creating a line of amenities for travel with a few products from the main line, all that without losing quality.
One thing I cannot go without saying is the candle line the brand has. Here in the United Kingdom it is very traditional to have candle at home, many beauty , decoration and other brands have a line specialised in the creation and selling of these products. The Penhaligon’s line, besides being extremely aromatic, it also has interesting collections such as the fragrances from the perfume line or inspired by a tea collection.
