Today we are getting to know the San Francisco niche perfumery, Ineke.
Ineke Ruhland is a classically-trained perfumer who creates beautiful, original scents in her independent studio in San Francisco. She studied perfumery at ISIPCA in Versailles, France and then apprenticed for three years at a fragrance house in Paris. Ineke moved to San Franciso, where she makes her lovely fragrances.
Each fragrance in her alphabetical collection begins with a consecutive letter of the alphabet: A - After My Own Heart; B - Balmy Days and Sundays; C - Chemical Bonding; D - Derring-Do.
The Deluxe Sample Collection contains spray samples of all 4 fragrances wrapped in a soft bag for travel. The $12 price is fully redeemable with any product purchase and is a terrific way to try the scents. This company is very customer-service oriented. When I ordered my sample set, it had insufficient postage (short by 34 cents). I didn't give it another thought, until a few days later I received a personal phone call from "Bill" at Ineke asking me to please call him and let him know of any postage due which he would gladly refund. Of course, I didn't report the fee, but I was very impressed that he had taken the trouble to ask.
The scents themselves are quite pleasant and wearable. My favorite is After My Own Heart, which Ineke describes as "the scent of fresh lilacs floating on the early breeze." It's soft and sweet, in a good way, and really does smell like the lilacs that bloom in my yard in May.
Balmy Days and Sundays is a chypre green scent; Chemical Bonding has sparkling citrus notes with a powdery dry down; and Derring-Do is citrusy-woodsy and the most unisex scent of the collection.
What others are saying:
Grant Osborne at Basenotes.com writes, "It is surprising no-one has done this before (as far as we know). San Francisco-based independent perfumer, Ineke Rühland has just launched four perfumes, each named after the first four letters of the alphabet. Ineke plans to launch 'E' in 2007, and the rest of the alphabet over the next ten years." Grant's article
Cait Shortell of Legerdenez writes, "Like all of Ineke's fragrances, Chemical Bonding is transparent and eminently wearable. In spite of its seeming simplicity, a careful analysis reveals..." Cait's article
The Scented Salamander writes, "My first impressions are that Ineke's perfumes are clean, pure, modernist, and original. They have a definite very contemporary feel to them.... " Scented Salamander article.
Scent update: even as I've been writing this while wearing two of Ineke's scents, I find that Chemical Bonding is proving to be very delicious. I highly recommend it.
For purchasing information, please see Ineke's website.
1 comment:
The purchase price for a sample pack is now 25 dollars. It includes 5 fragrances instead of four. Still, talk about inflation! The money still goes toward the purchase price of a full bottle.
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