Believe Loves CB's I Hate Perfume

Christopher Brosius is an odd fellow. We admit it. But he is a talented odd fellow. It seems Christopher was born with a natural nose--a rare gift that allows the owner to have a heightened sense of smell that is exactly on target...like a singer with a perfect pitch. He has elevated perfume to an art form. You might say that Believe Beauty Lounge is one of his art galleries, where we showcase his works of art--CB Perfumes.

Christopher considered becoming a scientist when he was a child. We are glad he didn't because we would have missed his innovative scents that have won awards, been featured in museums and are worn by some of the planets most interesting people (which makes his perfumes perfect for Believe customers.)

A natural nose comes in handy if one is a gourmand food taster, a world-class vintner or a legendary perfumer. Christopher Brosius is the latter. His company is named CB I Hate Perfume.

In 1992, Christopher moved back to his parent’s farm in Pennsylvania and, while there, read a life-changing book, “ A Natural History Of The Senses.” The chapter on scent so captivated him; he began making some scents using essential oils. He soon branched out into trying to replicate scents in nature that inspired him…like the smell of freshly turned earth in his garden. He made a perfume that replicated that scent. It was a smash success when it was introduced at a New York department store.

Soon he was creating scents from many things in nature and his next choice, Snow, was also wildly popular.

In 2003, 70 of Christopher’s scents were included in the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum’s Triennial exhibition. It was the first time that a major art museum recognized that scent was designed.  

Christopher relocated his studio to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, opened the CB I Hate Perfume Gallery, and began trying to capture every possible pleasant scent. 

True, some are scents that have never been seen as perfume scents (like the award-winning Snow) but each helps the wearer discover their own unique expression of self.

Asked to sum up his work in only three words, Christopher said,
"Scent is life.” He continues, “ The sense of smell is our first link to the world around us. It reminds us of what (and who) we love. Smell is perhaps the most complex sense we possess and none of the other senses can touch us so profoundly. Not even music can stir the mind & heart so powerfully.”

With his perfumes, Christopher hopes to help each of us achieve the essence of our individuality. “Scent is always individual,” he says. “Your sense of smell is one of the most unique things about you – more individual than your fingerprints, the shape of your ear, the pattern of your retina. Your sense of smell is one of the most important factors that define you as YOU. The way you respond to any scent is unlike anyone else’s – no one remembers what you do, no one feels what you feel. There is a reason you remember certain scents so fondly. Scent is the record of your own special life – it’s your experience."

No animal-derived ingredients are used in Christopher’s perfume, nor is alcohol used, as he believes it evaporates too quickly. Some of Christopher’s perfumes, using lighter ingredients like citrus and jasmine, do wear off sooner than ones with stronger ingredients like sandalwood or leather, but his perfumes are so concentrated, only a little is needed. (Also because natural ingredients are used, if properly stores, the perfumes don’t lose or change their smells even years later.)

CB I Hate Perfume scents can also be used by either men or women and Christopher encourages layering of scents to create the perfect scent for you.

Christopher sums his work as a perfumer up this way:
“Perfume is an art that shows us who we can be if we dare – an invisible portrait of who we are.”

We are proud to support Christopher in his mission to help each of us recognize how we are totally unique and are delighted to carry CB I Hate Perfume scents at Believe Beauty Lounge. Come and discover your scent at Believe

A Short History of Perfume and A Big Announcement

The word perfume is is derived from the Latin, "per fumus", meaning "through smokewhich makes sense as the first perfume was incense. The ancients soaked fragrant woods and resins in water and oil and rubbed it all over themselves. Priests used it in Biblical times (and still do). The frankincense and myrrh presented to Baby Jesus were actually perfumes and reserved for kings and high holy men.

But the smell of their fellow men got the best of them and it was the Egyptians who eventually commanded all citizens to perfume themselves once a week. Soon they discovered that soaking their skin in fragrant oil not only helped fight off the dryness that living in a desert brought about, but it was pleasurable too.

The Romans agreed and conducted lots of their business it the baths. One room was called the "unctuarium" with pots of fragrant oils, and essences. Romans got in the habit of perfuming themselves three times a day. Pet dogs and horses were also perfumed and at feasts, birds were released from their cages to dispense perfume from their wings--a latter-day air freshener. Cleopatra, knew the power of scent. Her arrival to meet Mark Anthony was announced by clouds of perfume before her barge came into view and she greeted him on a ship with perfumed sails. Arabs developed the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation. Avicenna, an Arabian doctor who was also a chemist, first experimented with the rose. Rose water, a delicate scent, immediately became popular.

Catherine de Medici brought her own perfumer, Rene le Florentin from Italy, with her when she ruled France. His laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway, so that none of his formulas could be stolen en route.

Perfume got very popular during the seventeenth century with perfumed gloves all the rage in France. When Louis XV came to the throne in the 18th century, his court was called "the perfumed court" and he demanded a different fragrance for his apartment everyday. Scents were applied to clothing, fans and furniture. Perfume substituted for soap and water as bathing wasn't considered safe.

Napoleon had two quarts of violet cologne were delivered to him each week, and used sixty bottles of double extract of jasmine every month. His wife, Josephine, was so partial to musk that sixty years after her death the scent still lingered in her boudoir. Perfume reached its peak in England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. All public places were scented during Queen Elizabeth's rule, since she could not tolerate bad smells. It was said that the sharpness of her nose was equal led only to the slyness of her tongue.

Perfume underwent a profound change in the nineteenth century. Modern chemistry laid the foundations of perfumery as we know it today. At the turn of the century, perfume was a single-flower fragrance. Rose, violet, lilac, and lily of the valley were in high demand. Floral bouquet scents were introduced toward the end of the first decade and compounds were found to aid in binding fragrances together. Later, abstract fragrances which had no relation to the single floral or bouquet group were introduced.

The 1930's saw the arrival of the leather family of fragrances, and florals also became quite popular with the emergence of Worth's Je Reviens (1932), Caron's Fleurs de Rocaille (1933) and Jean Patou's Joy (1935). With French perfumery at it's peak in the 1950's, other designers such as Christian Dior, Jacques Fath, Nina Ricci, and Pierre Balmain started creating their own scents.

Today's fragrances are crafted by perfumers trained in the aesthetic traditions of the Renaissance. but with modern twists. Believe is thrilled to announce we are now carrying CB Perfumes by Christopher Brosius, one of the most innovative perfumers of the 21st century.

Christopher describes scent as life itself, "Scent is the record of your own special life it's your experience. My mission is to capture that experience. I bottle it so you can have it, use it and love it whenever you wish,he says. "I can give you scent experiences you never dreamed possible. I create perfumes as unique and individual as those who wear them. And I use a great many scents never before thought of as perfume But I know these are just the scents that really hit us where we live they-- the ones we remember and love. To me, this is what the art of perfume is all about.”

Please stop by Believe to experience these life-changing scents and find the one that is as unique as you are. We look forward to helping you discover that perfect scent.