Perfumery is the art of blending aromatic compounds, solvents and fixatives to compose lasting scents. Usually curated in a liquidized form, perfumes are a way to give a pleasant odour to a person. Archaeological excavations highlight the utilization of perfumes in many of the early age civilizations. However, the era of Modern perfumery began during the 19th century with commercial synthesis of aromatic compounds like vanillin and coumarin. No doubt these scents of modern age perfumery are strong and long lasting but aren’t natural. But now, the fascination with nature is back in trend and with that came into the world of perfumery the aspect of Botanical fragrances. On the note of re-smelling nature, LA POLO brings to you the ‘The art of Botanical Perfumery” in conversation with the founder of Cūrata Sustainable Luxury, Serena Rogers.
LA POLO: You highlight Botanical Perfumery. What does it mean? How is it beneficial?
SERENA: Our sense of smell is so important! It is controlled by the olfactory system, which is linked to the oldest known part of our brain: the limbic system. This neural network houses our memories and influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Understanding this, from the early days of conceptualizing what would become Cūrata, I knew our products needed to be fragrance-driven in order to create profound experiences for our customers, connect on a deeper level and become a treasured part of their daily lives. Simultaneously, I was becoming aware of just how toxic many synthetic fragrances, or ‘ parfums’, are. More and more ‘clean’ and ‘natural’ beauty brands are going ‘fragrance free’ to avoid potential exposure to these toxins. In exploring fragrances, we as a team discovered that natural is better for us, the planet and consistently creates more multidimensional scents. From strength to length to hue, our instincts told us natural and authentic were preferable to synthetic. That pathway led us to botanical perfumery. Botanical perfumery on the surface is blending plant-based extracts from leaves and stems, flowers, wood, seeds and resins to create aromatic compositions. At Cūrata, it is about thinking outside the perfume box and pushing the boundaries of blending. We became intimate with ingredients and their natural chemistry to create scents that are delicious and decadently disruptive.
We agree that synthetic fragrances lure us with their strong and attractive smell, but when the chemicals they contain enter our body can result in serious disturbance in the body's natural systems that regulate our health, especially the endocrine system that can ultimately lead to hormone imbalances. Synthetic fragrances harsh chemicals have a detrimental effect on our overall health over time. However, Botanical perfumes are lovely scents from earth and help in maintaining our health. These ingredients are gentle and have a nourishing action on our body. But, the very fact of – not every fragrance is for everyone, cannot be denied even when we are talking about natural perfuming. Serena tells us about the different types of Botanical fragrances that can gel well with different personalities.
LA POLO: As we all know fragrance highlights personality. go with the persona of a party chic, a workaholic woman, a shy girl, a tomboy?
SERENA: Individual perfume notes or essences can highlight and harmonize with specific personal characteristics. For example, sweet orange party chic, the shy girl, caramel the tomboy the working woman. these aromatics are infused into a complex perfume composition like Cūrata’s Dulceo, all types. In short, no matter your personality, a botanical perfumery fragrance like Dulceo will be as individual as you are!
Botanical perfuming is an artist's interpretation of integral perfuming on the parameter of beauty through pure plant extracts. They come from living things and continue their life on our skin. Our very own scent blends differently with different botanical scents and creates a wild, natural and raw fragrance experience.
About Cūrata Sustainable Luxury –
Curata Sustainable Luxury is a lush body care range started by Serena Rogers with the idea to ensure a product’s positive impact on the daily lives of people. The product line of Cūrata blends the amazing extracts of sustainable beauty and botanical perfumery. We asked Serena about her brand and the unique name she opted for it.
LA POLO: Cūrata Sustainable Luxury is an interesting choice of name.What is the story behind it?
SERENA: ‘Cūrata’has Latin roots, meaning to restore or care for. We worked with a marketing consultant on naming exercises based on our values and mission for the brand. One of the options she presented was Curat. Something about this spoke to me. After researching its meaning to cure, to heal and to care for. I fell in love. We decided to soften and feminize the name by adding the last ‘a’ and placed the accent over the ‘ū’ to bring an element of sophistication that draws the eye and adds emphasis to the pronunciation. Additionally, the ‘Sustainable Luxury’ tagline speaks to our values, mission and promise. Our products, Aureo and Dulceo, offer a premium luxury experience, from the branding to the dimensionality of the scents, without harming the women who use them or the world they come from. Every Cūrata product is created with sustainably sourced materials, from organic to cruelty-free ingredients to the packaging, which is produced with UV ink and recyclable glass bottles and forest-friendly paper. And we have the certifications to back up those claims.
LA POLO: What gave you the zest to start a luxury body care brand?
SERENA: The term and concept ‘luxury’ is important to the story of Cūrata. We wanted to create a brand and products of the highest quality and standards. That means materials and business practices that are consistently authentic, pure and transparent. In order to fulfill this vision, we needed to be in the luxury space. This would afford us the opportunity to work with only the best suppliers and go farther by collaborating with third parties to analyze and certify that we maintain the highest standards.For decades now the term luxury has typically been associated with wasteful opulence and decadence. Especially in the beauty industry, some of the highest-priced, sought-after luxury brands are still some of the worst offenders in terms of toxic ingredients and animal testing. I believe that we can change that by creating a beauty and body care brand that does better and shows consumers that you don’t have to sacrifice decadent luxury experiences to do good. ‘Sustainable Luxury’ is in our DNA as a brand; ‘sustainable’ being expressed as certified clean/non-toxic, fair trade and cruelty-free formulas and ingredients, majority plastic-free packaging that is recyclable, and non-toxic, and business practices that reflect these values from conceptualization to the customer experience. ‘Luxury’ for Cūrata means being niche, created with craftsmanship, an elevated attention to detail and the opposite of mass produced.
If you wish to know more about Cūrata Sustainable Luxury or its founder Serena Rogers, visit their website https://curatabeauty.com/en/
Last Updated: 20th September 2022
