Towards the end of 2011, I wrote a blog titled Apples to Apples and discussed the various challenges associated with producing a high quality, natural-smelling apple fragrance. At the time we were getting fairly close to finalizing Apple Press, a new addition to the Corner Café fragrance category in Scentsy’s Fall/Winter catalog. The challenge of delivering a natural-smelling, long-lasting and strong apple fragrance was a great opportunity to raise the bar in the home fragrance arena.
Some of you may remember or even still have a bar of Red Delicious (circa 2004)—it has even returned as a part of Bring Back My Bar. The new Apple Press has a fresher, bolder quality.. Think of the apple as a whole – from the stem, to the skin, to the juicy flesh with just a hint of Golden Delicious apple notes—resulting in a fragrance that reminds me most of a Gala apple. More importantly, this new version doesn’t have any “plastic” or “candy” notes, which are common in many competitive apple fragrances. Scentsy’s new Apple Press is also relatively sweet—linking the experience more closely to your taste buds.
What may be surprising to you is the actual scent pyramid of Apple Press, which ties to another blog post of mine titled, Fragrance 101:
Top Notes: fresh ozonic breeze, autumn rose
Mid Notes: Bartlett pear, McIntosh apple
Dry Down Notes: orris, white woods, sweetgrass
As you can see, we did indeed have to use pear notes to complement the apple notes (like I mentioned in my Fragrance 101 post)—and we had to push them both into the Mid Note segment to get the fragrance to last. But I’ll bet you didn’t see the rose notes or the orris notes as helping contribute to a natural apple, did you? Truthfully, I didn’t either, but they definitely work as intended. The “fresh ozonic breeze” note would be a clean/damp air-like note similar to the crisp smell of an apple peel.
Be careful how many cubes of Apple Press you use at one time—this fragrance is strong and long-lasting, so for those of you looking for a more subtle version, try half a cube.
Speaking of subtle – one option you may really enjoy is mixing! Take advantage of the 10% off August deal and stock up on Scentsy’s Sugar fragrance (in the soon-to-be-discontinued Spring and Summer Seasonal line) while you still can. I could see a half cube of Apple Press mixing well with a couple cubes of Sugar or perhaps a couple cubes of Vanilla Cream. Mix or don’t mix, Apple Press won’t disappoint.
As a reminder, you can expect our top performing Spring and Summer Seasonal fragrances (which are about to be discontinued for a season) to return next year, so don’t panic. With any luck, you may have already discovered another favorite new fragrance that was announced at convention—and if you did, I’d love to know what it is and why you like it so much. For those of you who attended convention and went through the fragrance evaluation room—thank you! We set a new record: 4,867 people came through the room—with an additional 7 people representing the UK and Ireland. Your feedback is invaluable as we finalize new fragrances for the Spring/Summer 2013 catalog.