In Indie Perfume Brand Spotlight, we question different brands to find out more about their brand and the people behind it. This time we question Whitney “Wit†Swales from Wit & West.
About you
Tell us who you are.
I am an indie natural perfumer and co-owner (along with my husband) of Denver, Colorado-based Wit & West Perfumes.
How did you get into the perfume industry?
Before Wit & West Perfumes, I spent two decades in the corporate world working in the financial services and hospitality industries in finance and marketing leadership roles.
About 5-6 years ago I told my husband Rob that I wanted to do something different, something that could allow me to express myself artistically while connecting to others through a sensorial experience…and then it hit me, perfumery.
Growing up, perfume and everything scented including body oils and body powders, soaps and candles were a staple in my life. Both my parents wore perfume, and my dad owned a boutique in Colorado Springs called Swale Hall (named after our last name) that featured British home goods, teas, candies, as well as perfumes, soaps, and scented body powders from Floris of London.
I had considered perfumery as a career years ago, but I was not sure what that meant or how I would get there. This time I had decided I was not going to let my fear of the unknown stop me.
I consider myself a lifelong student of perfumery (I do not believe one could ever stop learning in the vast world that is perfumery), but before launching my brand, I spent 2+ years studying on my own as well as under other natural perfumers and have since continued my journey of learning the art of perfumery through coursework at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery.
After a few years of studying, my husband and I came up with our vision for the brand and Wit & West was born. Wit is a play on my name, Whitney, and West is a play on Rob’s last name which is Westendorf.
What was the first perfume you ever purchased?
As a child of the 80s and 90s I had several of the staples in my fragrance wardrobe, but if I had to try and remember the first purchase made by me (since I believe my mom got me Love’s Baby Soft prior)…I am going to say it was two fragrances by Coty; Ex’cla-ma’tion and Tribe.
What is your favourite meal?
After traveling to Italy several times, I have developed an obsession with the Roman pasta dish, cacio e pepe. While simple (but delicious), this pasta dish (‘cacio e pepe’ means ‘cheese and pepper’ in Italian) requires a type of cheese called pecorino romano which isn’t always easy to find in the USA (at least not one that tastes like the version you can purchase in Italy), so everytime my husband and I visit Europe and it is on the menu I am definitely going to order it.
Where is your favourite place?
My husband and I love to travel so our favorites change periodically once we discover a new hidden gem. Currently at the top of the list is Buenos Aires and Mexico City.
Do you have an interesting party trick or any hidden talents?
I am not sure if this is considered a party trick, but I am also an amateur ballroom dancer (another artform that is a lifelong journey).
I dance what is known as “9 dance” in the American Style of ballroom dancing which means I dance all 9 dances in both the American Smooth and American Rhythm categories including waltz, tango, foxtrot and Viennese waltz (American Smooth category), as well as cha cha, rumba, mambo, bolero and East coast swing (American Rhythm category).
Who would play you in a film of your life?
If I was picking who I would want to play me in the film of my life, I would pick Audrey Hepburn.
About your Brand
Describe your brand in one sentence.
Based in Colorado, Wit & West Perfumes is an indie artisan all-natural perfume house with a focus on rare ingredients and unique scents that don’t smell like everything else.
Who are your perfumes for?
My perfumes are for those who seek things outside the mainstream and who don’t want to smell like everyone else.
Tell us about your latest perfume.
Released in 2023, The Violetear, is an eau de parfum in the Wit & West Reserve Collection that is the first in the series centered around the art of enfleurage in perfumery.
Named after the Mexican hummingbird, ‘violetear’ (for its violet coloring on its ears), The Violetear is a fresh and sparkling fougére-style fragrances that features 100% all-natural ingredients including our in-house artisanal iris enfleurage extrait handcrafted from bearded irises (iris germanica) in the Wit & West garden as well as bergamot, lavender, geranium, mimosa flower, rose absolute (rosa centifolia and rosa damascena), frankincense, tonka bean and oakmoss.
In 2023, The Violetear was named a Top 10 Perfume 2X by ÇaFleureBon.
If someone wanted to try your fragrances, which one would you recommend they try first and why?
It depends on how “experienced” the individual is with perfumery and/or if they are familiar with natural perfumery. To me, natural perfume is a genre or style of perfumery (similar to music genres), so I think it’s important to understand that it will not be the same olfactive experience one gets from more conventional perfumes.
We have 16 fragrances in the Wit & West line so it can be overwhelming to figure out which fragrances to try, but if the individual is a perfume aficionado, I would point them towards sampling one of our most “advanced” fragrances such as La Valse, Honeysuckle Halcyon, Jasmine Pet Noi, The Violetear and/or Brumaire Woods.
If the individual is new to natural perfume (or perfumery in general) I would recommend a sample set such as the New to Natural Perfume Sample Set which has 5 of our most popular fragrances (we have several other sampling options including individual samples as well as our Signature & Cologne Sample Set which also includes a $20 gift card toward a future purchase).
What challenges do you want to overcome for your brand?
As an indie natural perfumer, I am always thinking about how I can be a positive force for natural perfumery by helping others to see its beauty from the lens of an artistic genre or style of perfumery, rather than a lens of natural somehow being “better”.
I think because I work with only natural ingredients people think I don’t like synthetic ingredients or that I think they are somehow “bad” or “unsafe”. Not only do I love all types and styles of perfumery (regardless of whether they are all-natural, non-natural or somewhere in between), I am definitely not someone who is going to tell you that natural equates to safer because that’s simply not the case (many natural ingredients including rose and lavender include well-known potential allergens).
For me, natural perfumery is something I do simply because I love working with natural ingredients. I love their depth and complexity. They are challenging and finicky, and I love a good challenge. I also have a love for the historical and classic styles of perfumery as well as artisan methods of extraction including enfleurage, tincturing and distillation. My goal is to show people that natural perfume – as a genre of perfumery – is beautiful and unique in its own right.
What is unique about your brand?
Wit & West Perfumes is unique because we approach things from a place of always remaining authentic to our core of creating unique handcrafted fragrances in small batches that do not smell like everything else. Yes, we are an all-natural brand, but first and foremost we are a brand committed to perfumery as an artform and creating compositions that honor that artform.
Every fragrance we create is based on something that either myself and/or my husband has a connection to – whether that’s art, music, travel, dance, a memory, or a place. We do not create fragrances based on trends or what we think people will like (though of course we hope you will like them!), we create them because we want to. Everything about what we do is slow and methodical.
New creations are not a regular thing for us. Sometimes it might take me 6 months to create a fragrance, sometimes several years. Our fragrances are not only thoughtfully handcrafted in-house and in limited quantities, but also bottled to order. This means that when you make a purchase from us, we do not simply retrieve a pre-boxed bottle from a shelf. Instead, West and I personally hand pour each bottle, including our samples, directly from the most recently compounded, aged, and filtered small batch.
Find out more about Wit & West on their website.
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