ScentXplore 2023 (Virtual Event)

ScentXplore is the world’s pioneering HYBRID International Niche Fragrance Convention, offering fragrance enthusiasts the flexibility to attend the event either in person at the heart of New York City or virtually from the comfort of their homes anywhere across the globe.

ScentXplore Homepage

Like I have previously mentioned in this article about my unboxing of the 2023 ScentXplore box, I stumbled upon this event by pure chance through @oliviaolfactory's excitement about the event. I became, myself, quite hyped up about this event, having only recently finished exploring the designer side of things and ready to take on the niche side of the fragrance world. Since I couldn't attend the event in New York, I figured I'd try the event virtually and would then try it in-person one day. I also decided I'd be contributing to Parfumo by writing an article about my experience with this virtual event. That way, people who have never heard of this event might be tempted to participate next year and those who are curious will be able to attend through my observation. For those who know nothing about ScentXplore, here is how they describe their event:

The event mission is to provide fragrance lovers the opportunity to share and discover top leading, innovative, exclusive, creative, and high-quality driven niche fragrances whilst connecting with brands, industry professionals, and other fragrance enthusiasts in a fun, educational and inspiring way.ScentXplore Homepage

Here are the events that virtual attendees could attend during the first day:

• 1PM - 2PM EST: ScentXplore virtual activities live stream interaction of the moderators with virtual attendees
• 2PM-3PM EST: Masterclass: Parfums Micallef: The New Evolution.
• 3PM-4PM EST: Masterclass: Givaudan X Arquiste – Rodrigo Flores-Roux & Carlos Huber “The truth of the matter’’: 12 years of Arquiste Parfumeur.
• 4PM-5PM EST: Masterclass: Wiki-Parfums & intro to American Legends w/ Michael Edwards – Fragrances of the world.
• 5PM-6PM EST: Roundtable - discussion panel with industry experts/perfumers/content creators.

And here are the events that virtual attendees could attend during the second day:

• 1PM-2pm EST: ScentXplore virtual activities live stream interaction of the moderators with virtual attendees.
• 2PM-3PM EST: Masterclass: Sospiro Fragrance Mastery | Unveiling new scents with perfumery techniques.
• 3PM-4PM EST: Fragrance du Bois Masterclass: 10th year anniversary.
• 4PM-5PM EST: Masterclass: Amouage - 40 years Celebration | New Launches/Previews.
• 5PM-7PM EST: ScentXplore People's choice Niche Fragrance Awards ceremony.

The virtual event could be accessed through a virtual platform with a link provided to us through an e-mail sent a few days prior to the event.

First day impressions

I do have to admit I was expecting a lot going in as it was their fourth edition. The beginning of the event was tainted by technical difficulties. Video and audio quality was lacking while the moderators explored the floor of the live event. The english live feed cut 30 minutes in and we were sent to the portuguese feed where I didn't understand a thing. I did get a sense of what was going on at the live event, wishing I could be there talking with the representatives and getting my nose on those niche perfumes. Parfums M. Micallef's Masterclass was also a victim of the bad audio and video quality. They tried showing videos about their new bottles and the evolution of the brand, but the sound was almost non-existent. I did kind of zone-out at this point and my expectations were on the ground.

Fortunately, the Givaudan X Arquiste Masterclass was a delight to attend. I could sense Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Carlos Huber's enthusiasm as they talked about the evolution of their brand and the thoughts going into the creation of their perfumes. There were a few stories and explanations behind the concept of their fragrances which I admittedly enjoyed hearing about. They hyped me up about their newest release, L'Or de Louis, which I own a sample thanks to Etiket, but also got me curious about trying out Indigo Smoke that I have spotted, but haven't jumped the ship for a sampler yet.

I finally discovered the amazing resource that is Wiki Parfum with the last Masterclass of the day. As a librarian, I have a lot of love for databases and I really enjoyed exploring this website. Michael Edwards also spoke about his numerous books which got me interested in checking them out (hopefully I will be able to borrow them from a library). Anyways, I signed up immediately on Wiki Parfum and started copy-pasting my reviews from Parfumo in the database. I'm pretty sure this resource will be used in future perfume proposals for Parfumo Research. For those who don't know Wiki Parfum, here is an explanation of what they do:

When you create an account with Wikiparfum, you can configure your scent profile based on your favourite ingredients and fragrances.

Wikiparfum

The website feels quite modern with an aerated mise en page. The thing I appreciated the most is the quadrification that allowed me to "see" a perfume. It made discovering perfumes more accessible to those who are starting out and those who prefer visual support. In addition to the quadrification, the website classifies fragrances into families and subfamilies (based on Fragrances of the World guide books written by Michael Edwards). I tested the website by entering all of my favorite bottles (or perfumes that are about to become full bottles) as favorites on my page. Wikiparfums then gave me my scent profile, which you can see here:

If I compare it to Parfumo's profiler, I'd say it's pretty spot on, even though the families and subfamilies used by both websites sometimes differed by names. I'd also like to add a small caveat: I wasn't able to add all of my full bottles as favorites on Wikiparfum since they do have missing perfumes on their website. They do state that they collaborated with Givaudan, IFF, Firmenich, Robertet, Symrise, Mane and Takasgo which makes me think that independent and less well-knowned perfumes haven't yet been added. The website does mention that they have more than 24 000 perfumes in their database so I'm hoping, one day, they'll add those that are currently missing.

Last but not least, was a roundtable featuring industry experts, perfumers and content creators. They spoke about fragrance concentrations, AI in the perfumery world, what made them fall in love with perfumes, flankers, and dupes (quality of a perfume vs its price point). It was a pleasant end to a long day. All in all, I'm still a bit moody about the video and audio quality, but the last two masterclasses were nice to listen to. At this point, I was cautiously optimistic about the next day, but not enthusiastic.

Second day impressions

Second day had slightly better video quality (but still not anything 2023 would be proud of). The audio was still lacking (as if someone was speaking through a pillow), but there wasn't as much lag and stuttering. The Zoom webinar chat was also open this time, while yesterday it had been closed. The english live stream lasted about 20 minutes before cutting back to the portuguese speaking moderator for the rest of the hour. I could feel the moderator's enthusiasm which was lovely, but since I couldn't understand his langage, it was hard to follow what was going on.

The Sospiro masterclass was clearly not for those attending virtually. They spent around 30 minutes on the same slide, going around the room and making people smell raw ingredients from a bottle. They also asked the public to guess what was the raw ingredients. It was a boring moment for those attending virtually. After about 30 painstalking minutes of this, they finally moved on to talking about their three brand new fragrances: Dolce Sonata, Traviata and Maraschino. They went again around the room, making people smell the perfumes, which considerably slowed down the presentation. It was an unprepared mess of a masterclass where I learned nothing new.

Thankfully, the next Masterclass by Fragrance du Bois was a nice change of pace and mood. The presentation was professional and well rehearsed, even though it all happened quite fast (25 minutes). There was a bag already handed out to the attendees so they could smell the brand's fragrances without any time wasted (looking at you Sospiro). The representative was enthusiastic, had charisma and a clear voice. He talked about Fragrance du Bois' new summer fragrance release Lovers and their inspiration behind the scent. They also went through a few of their perfumes, keeping the public involved. This overall did feel like a brand representative trying to sell their products, but I enjoyed hearing about the different fragrances. My interest about this brand has been piqued.

Perfume is like cocktails without the hangover; like chocolate without the calories, like an affair without the tears, like a vacation from which you never have to come back.

Marian Bendeth

The final Masterclass was held by Amouage. The presenter took the time to speak about Dia 40 and Jubilation 40, their two new releases. Samples of both of these perfumes could be found in the ScentXplore box. This presentation was the only one I was able to follow with the samples I had received in my box. They also spoke about the making of "Cristal & Gold Man | Amouage" and "Cristal & Gold Woman | Amouage" bottles. The rest of the presentation was about sharing their love and philosophy behind Amouage.

I have to admit I was quite tired at this point, nonetheless I decided to stick around for the reward ceremony. This was not professional in the slightest degree. The people called on stage to announce each category seemed to have been randomly picked among those who were attending in-person. Most seemed flustered and were clearly reading out of the cue cards provided by the organizers. I appreciated ScentXplore's transparency in showing the percentage of votes each finalist got, but oftentimes it was shown on the screen but presentators forgot to mention it. I congratulate Fragrantica for being this year's Most Impactful Content Creator – Writing winner, but I do hope that one day Parfumo can rise to the top with the help of people like you and me who are contributing articles. Fragrance of the Year finalists were Althaïr, Gntonic and Guidance. Winner of the ScentXplore Niche Fragrance of the Year was finally Althaïr who took a lot of the votes in. The giveaway at the end of the award ceremony was chaotic, at best. I don't know where they got the list of names used in the random name wheel generator but a few names that popped up were without a family name and thus had to be skipped. There was also confusion about virtual attendees being part of the wheel. It was quite... disorganized. The event finally ended an hour earlier than stated, after the giveaway, when the Zoom videofeed was cut off abruptly.

The 2023 Award Categories were: Brand Concept & Portfolio, Brand Approachability, Rising Star Perfumer, Up-and-coming niche brand, Distribuitor/Retailer, Most Impactful Content Creator – Writing, Most Impactful Content Creator – Vlogging and Fragrance of the Year. ScentXplore Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Dominique Roques.

Conclusion

It was quite clear by reading through the Zoom webinar chat and the technical support chatroom on the virtual platform that most people were disappointed about their virtual experience. The audio and video quality were quite subpar for a 2023 presentation. Better thought should have been given to the virtual attendees' experience. The organization was also lacking. Brand representatives were almost never at their virtual booth. It was almost impossible to speak with someone about the brand's perfumes. There were a lot of messages that were left unanswered in the booth chatrooms.

Next year's presentation should take a page out of Arquiste and Amouage's masterclasses. Both of those brands had well-rehearsed presentations. The people who spoke during the masterclasses were professional, had charisma and the knowledge to go with it. The timing of the presentations were impeccable: a good portion was reserved to the making-of their newest releases and the brand's other products. They also shared interesting industry tidbits and there was a moment reserved for questions. I also really enjoyed Michael Edwards presentation of WikiParfum. It allowed me to discover a new database and new books to fuel my addiction about fragrances. His calm, professional demeanor kept me enthralled by his presentation. I could feel the years of experience behind him.

I've read about many people's disappointment in the ScentXplore boxes. Many hardcore fans and amateurs were expecting a lot more. I can't really speak about this since I'm only starting out in niche territory, but to me the box was worth it (price vs quantity and quality). I got loads of new niche fragrances to try out, from brands that may never ship to Canada or who are hard to find here. I do have to admit there could've been a lot more 2023 releases (they did miss out on an opportunity here), but the diversity of brands and type of perfumes made it up for me.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the box I received, but disappointed with the virtual experience. I've not entirely given up on ScentXplore since I'm still interested in attending the event in-person, but I do admit that this year's experience might deter most people from being interested in attending the event in the future, may it be in-person or virtual. ScentXplore needs to hire people with experience in organizing big events, hiring presentators with charisma and clear voices. They need to take a look at which audience they want to cater to: influencers, perfume industry people or the general public. They also need to think about the virtual experience. Video and audio quality need to be better. I still don't get why and how the quality was this bad in 2023.

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed reading my recap about ScentXplore. The ScentXplore website should update in a few days and list any details I may habe omitted here such as the award finalists and winners of the other categories. I will probably be paying for another box in 2024, but I'm not sure I'll be dedicating two complete days in attending the virtual event. I might save my money and attend in-person instead, who knows? Fortunately, ScentXplore has not crushed my desire to attend perfume events, rather, it has ignited a cautious curiosity. I might one day save my money and take a trip to Milan or France. I hope enjoyed my article about this event. Don't forget to leave a like, comment and subscribe. I'll be seeing you in the next article. Cheers!