Charna Ethier founded Providence Perfume Co. in 2009. The New Hampshire native, the daughter of “hippie farmers,” has created a line of natural botanical fragrances. As an adult she worked for large fragrance companies and wondered why there were few fragrance options available for consumers who loved the scent of flowers and real plants.
Providence Perfume is the result, an all-natural line that has provided Ethier with the smell of success.
Here is a conversation with Ethier. The full interview can be found here.
Charna Ethier calls natural perfumery a combination of art, science and alchemy because it is a creative endeavor.
“The fact that I’m an independent small, you know, niche perfumer means that I pretty much get to do what I want, and tell stories through my fragrances, which is what I do,” she says.
Not only does Ethier tell stories. She also is like a fragrance guide.
“And people definitely need it more when smelling natural perfume because they’re not used to natural smells anymore,” she says. “Our entire life is surrounded with synthetic fragrances from our laundry detergent, to our hair products, or whatever.
“They might think they don’t like something, but they’ve never smelled the natural version of it. So it’s really like, kind of an educational process.”
While perfume may seem to be mysterious, it really boils down to three categories when looking at ingredients — top notes, heart notes (also called middle notes) and base notes.
Ethier says when creating a perfume, it is ideal to choose ingredients from all three categories.
“Top notes are what you smell first,” she says. “So in natural perfumery, top notes tend to be citrus, spice, herbs, things like that.
“Heart notes are what they sound like. They form the heart of the fragrance,” Ethier adds. “And so heart notes are almost always flowers.
“And then base notes are things like woods and resins. You know, vanilla, patchouli, frankincense, vetiver, things like that.”
Ingredients from all three categories are needed to make the perfect blend.
“Fragrance is really magical,” Ethier says. “I really love the magic of what fragrance does for me and how it can make me feel.
“I think the magic of fragrance is related to memory and the strong tie that our sense of smell has with our memories.”
Ethier said the farm she grew up on was “more like a commune.”
“I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid,” she says. “I collected acorns and, you know, so I was kind of that type of kid. So I was always familiar with natural smells and kind of drawn to nature.”
“My goal is to ditch the past hippiness and embrace a more modern style of natural perfumery,” Ethier chuckles.
