As summer holidays come to an end, 50 Best has compiled its list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023.
04.09.2023 - 22:41 / forbes.com
In the saturated market of high-end beauty, luxury fragrance brands abound. Few, however, have a story that’s as compelling as MEMO Paris.
The Parisian fragrance house launched in 2007 by Clara Molloy and her husband John. Rather than a traditional, nice smelling perfume, the couple approach fragrance as a grand journey and create each scent in their line based on different destinations around the world.
Think Marfa, a heady combination of orange blossom, tuberose and white musk that’s homage to the Texas town or Corfu, with notes of sandalwood and amber, named after the island in Greece. Sicilian Leather, meanwhile, is lush with bitter orange, lime and coriander seeds- it unmistakably evokes this southern part of Italy.
As a writer who frequently covers travel and is always in the midst of planning her next trip, I may be biased, but there’s no question that MEMO Paris’ scents are beyond divine and each more inspired than the last.
The Parisian-Catalan poet Clara and the Irish globetrotter John craft each fragrance with raw, pure ingredients, and their dedication and talent shows- both to their many loyalists and to the admirers around these fans who have the pleasure of taking in the scents. I can tell you from my personal experience that I rotate between several MEMO fragrances daily and am showered with compliments from nearly everyone around me.
This September, MEMO Paris debuted Inverness, taken from the Scotland city at the mouth of River Ness that’s known for its water bodies, centuries-old castles and thick woodland. With it’s notes of sandalwood and cedar, it envelops you in with its warmth and coziness.
I spoke with both Clara and John recently and learned more of the backstory about this fragrance brand that I love. Our conversation follows.
How did you get the idea to start the brand? What was the inspiration?
CM: From our interest in the diversity of cultures, our curiosity for people, our appetite for emotions, rituals, and secret ways. Being born in Paris from Spanish parents, getting married to an Irish man, we got very early on the feeling that the richness of the world was something so precious that it must be celebrated somehow in a creation. That’s how MEMO began: eager to tell the beauty of the world, by using the magic of olfaction. Because scents have this power to connect everyone immediately to a souvenir, a person, or a place, it can transport you everywhere! This said, perfumes have been part of my imagination since childhood, always intriguing me, and I had the great opportunity meeting the talented French perfumer Alienor Massenet when making a book on the best olfactory experts (also called “noses”) around the world. Her vision of perfumery and her creations intrigued
As summer holidays come to an end, 50 Best has compiled its list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023.
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