If Scents Could Talk: Want a Scent That Speaks to You?

Selecting your desirable perfume is a personal experience – and at Sacramentos Wellness Incorporated, a Beijing-based store which is also the home of Velveteen’s Secret Potions, aka VSP, you can even make it more personal with a customized scent of your own.

“This is what I call the VSPellbinding Aroma Session,” explains Fran Hanshing, the owner of VSP, who has called the capital home for more than ten years. “We will first let each customer pick a theme they want. For instance, some people want to smell like the morning after rain, while others might want a smell that describes the feeling of falling in love. Then we will try to interpret the smell our customers want and we will select a variety of notes based on their requests. The final result is your very own La Perfuma Goloso.”

Once Fran is done selecting essences for you, she will guide you through the process of smelling and identifying key components of the perfume and help you select your favorites. Of course, there’s lots of sniffing involved!

You can choose from a range of top, middle, and base notes and even discuss your likes and dislikes with her. If you like the scent, you can add it to your list of chosen notes. Once you’ve narrowed down your favorite scents, Fran will try to nail down the perfect fragrance for you with her own blending magic. 

The sense of smell, for Fran, is an intriguing phenomenon, for she has seen people exhibiting vastly different reactions to exactly the same smells. “Take the smell of basil, for instance,” says Fran, “I have seen customers who might instantly make a face in disgust the second they smell it, but I've also seen people who find the smell to be so delightful that they just won’t stop sniffing it.” She continues: “I find it quite remarkable how our brains process scent in such a unique way. I always suggest that every customer who goes through this experience go with their own gut feelings when it comes to smells.”

Then there are other smells that are strongly tied to memories, with the ability to transport you back to a time, place or person in just one whiff. “My former assistant once told me before that the smell of the luxurious aroma of magnolias reminds her of past encounters with wealthy people in a church in the United States,” Fran tells me.

Scent can also be used to trigger memories of certain people and places, with certain smells reminding us of people we truly care about. The masculine smell of vetiver, for example, always reminds Fran of her husband, while the sweet smells of cardamom remind her of bakeries she used to go to when she was a child.

For Fran, fragrance is like an artwork – a canvas on which she can let her imagination run wild and which allows her to paint her own individuality. Each perfume she creates is unique, tailored to the individual’s needs and imbued with the customer’s own personality.

The first perfume she ever made was for a 14-year-old girl who wanted to smell like marshmallows. “In my mind, when I heard the request I was thinking why not create a perfume that would embody the gentleness of marshmallow?” So, Fran took the idea of sweetness as a foundation and crafted her own unique scent, with ingredients that later allowed her to name it Candy Shop.

The chart Fran keeps of all her fragrances is like a personal dairy, with each scent’s personality noted on it. From perfumes that can heal and make one energetic, to those that make you feel more sexual or relaxed, each has its unique character. In some cases, Fran even has to get creative with finding the perfect name for her concoctions.

For example, there once was a teenager who wanted a beach-inspired scent, but no suitable name came to Fran’s mind. Then one day, a customer remarked that the perfume reminded him of mojitos, and thus the perfect name was born – Everybody Loves Mojito.

Fran then gestures to another fragrance in her collection, this one named She Bangs. She created it for a special friend of hers who is a passionate fan of Ricky Martin, and named it after the singer's famous song. As one might expect, this fragrance is reminiscent of her idol, with a unique and memorable scent.

Listening to Fran describe her perfume is an experience like no other. You can feel her passion and pride for the fragrances she’s created, as if each one is her own child. Creating the perfect scent is a complicated and delicate process, since the same scent can smell different on two people. But Fran's expertise and her unique stories behind each scent give you a newfound appreciation for perfumes. So, if you’re looking to hop on an adventure into the world of scent-making, then you absolutely must visit Fran’s place.

As I am writing this article, I am so excited to announce I just received my new fragrance from Fran! Not only does she make perfumes, she also creates luxurious body lotions, hydrating hand creams, and nourishing face oils. Of course, if you ask me how it smells like, I can tell you the scent is truly unique, and it is a delightful concoction of the aromas I've been looking for. I haven’t yet chosen a name for it, but you know when inspiration hits I’ll let Fran know. Until then, I’ll just bask in the aroma that smells like a garden of exotic and fragrant blooms.

To book a session with Fran, you can add her via WeChat ID: Fran_Hanshing

SACRAMENTOS WELLNESS
143-1, Dongsi Shitiao, Dongcheng District
东城区东四十条143-1号

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Images:  Courtesy of Fran Hanshing, Irene Li