IT ALL MADE “SCENTS”
AFTER CANVASSING DUTY FREE SHOPS, DEPARTMENT STORES AND BOUTIQUES ACROSS THREE CONTINENTS IN SEARCH OF A FRAGRANCE THAT DEFINED ME, I DECIDED TO CREATE MY OWN 20 YEARS AGO – SAOR. THE WORD SAOR (GAELIC MEANING BE FREE) IS HOW I FELT WHEN WEARING SAOR.
FOR YEARS I WAS STALKED IN HOCKEY RINKS, GROCERY STORES, PARKING LOTS...BY WOMEN AND MEN ASKING, “DO YOU MIND ME ASKING, WHAT PERFUME ARE YOU WEARING?”
WITH THE CONTINUOUS REQUESTS TO SHARE MY “SECRET FRAGRANCE”, I APPROACHED AN INTERNATIONAL PERFUME COMPANY TO INQUIRE IF THEY WOULD CREATE MY SIGNATURE FRAGRANCE AND HAVE SAOR TESTED FOR UNIVERSAL DISTRIBUTION. SECURING IFRA (INTERNATIONAL FRAGRANCE REGULATORY AGENCY) APPROVAL, I LAUNCHED SAOR IN 2016.
MY ORIGINAL PERFUME OIL, A HAON (GAELIC FOR #1) INFUSES FRAGRANT BERGAMOT, FRESH WHITE TEA AND AIRY MUSK CREATED TO CALM AND CAPTIVATE. MY SECOND PERFUME OIL, A DÓ, (GAELIC FOR #2) IS A WARM SENSUOUS SCENT INFUSING SPICY NEROLI BLOSSOMS, CANANGA, AND THE WARMTH OF CEDAR + SANDALWOOD - A SCENT FOR A DÓ (TWO): A CAPTIVATING UNISEX FRAGRANCE.
IN 2021, SAOR INTRODUCED A TRÍ (GAELIC FOR #3) BORN OUT OF A REQUEST FROM LULULEMON’S ANN ARBOR LOCATION TO GIFT CLIENTS WITH A SIGNATURE SCENT. SAOR’S A TRÍ INFUSES PERFUME NOTES OF UPLIFTING GRAPEFRUIT, SOOTHING GINGER, AND WARM CEDAR, ENCAPSULATING THE NUMEROLOGICAL DEFINITION OF #3: CREATIVE SELF-EXPRESSION, OPTIMISM, AND SOCIAL INTERACTION.
MANY PERFUMES ARE 90% WATER AND ALCOHOL. SAOR IS PURELY FRAGRANCE OILS INFUSED INTO THE HIGHEST-GRADE JOJOBA OIL. I CHOSE JOJOBA OIL AS THE CARRIER OIL AS JOJOBA IS MOST LIKE OUR SKIN’S NATURAL OILS, DIDN’T CONFLICT WITH ANY OF MY FRAGRANCE OILS AND GIVES MY FRAGRANCE OILS THE LONGEST SHELF LIFE. A LIGHT APPLICATION OF SAOR IN THE MORNING TRANSPORTS YOU FROM DAWN TO DUSK.
AFTER FIVE YEARS, ECOMMERCE CUSTOMERS ARE NOW SAORING IN 40+ STATES AND INTERNATIONALLY IN CANADA, IRELAND, UK, EUROPE, AND AUSTRALIA. IN 2018, SAOR EXPANDED INTO BOUTIQUES AND SPAS ACROSS THE USA.
Photographed by Lesley Whitehead