I am a member of Lush’s internet forum. Lush are launching a range of perfumes under a sub-brand ‘Gorilla Perfumes’. As forum members we were invited to see this range first at a preview that had been specially arranged in London. The event was opened to the forum on Monday, Press on Tuesday and the general public from Wednesday to Sunday. I was in the area having spent the weekend so decided to extend my holiday by a couple of days so I could visit the event.
The day started with me and Richard making our way from Aldgate, where we were staying, to Shoreditch Town Hall. As we walked down the street approaching the venue there was a whole shop front that had been painted black with flowers. The entire design and logo were impregnated with the new ‘Tuca Tuca’ scent and it was scratch and sniff! The smell was actually wafting up the street in the breeze so you just had to sniff the wall, no scratching was necessary.
We were the first people to arrive at the venue (11.30am) as breakfast at the Breakfast Club was quicker than expected. Other people started arriving around 11.45am and at 12pm Mark Constatine appeared at where we were all waiting to welcome us into the event. As we walked through the door to the basement of the hall there was loud Italian music playing and the scent of violets in the air. The first room we arrived in was the ‘Tuca Tuca’ room. Two dancers were dancing the Tuca Tuca dance and everyone gathered around to hear what was to happen.
Mark and his son Simon gave a small speech to the 30 or so people who had made their way into the room and advised as we were the first people to see the collection we would be taken around in small groups and given the story behind each perfume. Simon explained how the collection of perfumes was like an album, a love song, a pop song and so on. ‘Tuca Tuca’ was the pop song of the ensemble.
We were the first group taken through and Simon was to be our guide for the first half. The first perfume shown to us was actually made of three parts. The first ‘Old Delhi Station’ was inspired by a trip to India. The second ‘Fire Heart’ was inspired by the old cultures of Australia and the final part ‘Oudh Heart’ a trip to meet a tibetan monk who ran a charitable organisation. Each scent had their own distinct fragrance – but together they combined to make ‘The Scent of Freedom’. This fragrance was very complex and rich – but, as with most of the album it will suit men or women.
The second fragrance we saw was a reinterpretation of the ‘Dirty’ scent (originally sold by B Never). This display was like the inside of a gents toilet – apparently! The scent had been revamped since it appeared at B and made more sophisticated. It was spread over a few different products. There was a shaving cream, shower gel, and hair gel. These products combined to make the scent of the body spray (I believe that’s how they worked). This is a very minty and fresh smell – perfect for blokes and lads (not men – there is a difference) and really works well on girls too.
The next room was pink. Very, very pink and it smelt of beautiful roses. The room was bare except for a bubble machine pumping out little fragrant pink bubbles. Simon explained how he had wanted to make a perfume from only the best roses available. This perfume is all of these amazing roses with a little note of talc and a big dollop of lovliness. It was named after his new baby daughter, Imogen Rose. This is the perfume I have been waiting for forever, it is quite simply perfect and luckily suits my skin.
The next room was full of recycled trees. We were given little strips of flavoured rice paper to eat that were very orangey and fresh. The fragrance was called Orange Blossom and smelt of orange blossom and neroli. I don’t think this room did the fragrance justice as it wasn’t as highly scented as the others.
At this point we switched guides and were taken to a different room by Mark. The first room he took us to was quite dark with one lit corner. There was a man behind a bar in the corner with little glass bottles in front of him. Mark explained this fragrance was called ‘Hairdresser’s Husband’ and was a limited edition for the preview. It was based the film of the same name, particularly the scene where they get drunk on various alcoholic hair chemicals! We were given one of the bottles from the counter. Mark explained that this was a cocktail based on the perfume, we could drink it! It had been blended from various spirits to compliment the fragrance. It tasted very citrussy, whilst also being very strong!
We were then led into someone’s bedroom! This room had evidently been decorated by a messy teenage twilight fan with a drinking problem! The perfume on show here was called ‘Lust’. A heady blend of jasmine and ylang ylang and is to be worn when you want to ‘get some’ – male or female!
Most people in this room were distracted by the Lush holdall from Tawain – there is now a campaign on the forum to have them made here!
We were then led into a narrow room with three mirrors on one wall and three portraits on the opposite wall. These were the ‘3 Ladies’ – The Duchess, The Heiress and The Actress. Each perfume was a limited edition of only five bottles. There was one of each bottle for sale on the day of the show for £1,500. A little too expensive for me sadly! Each scent had been inspired by a certain woman – I have forgotten their names but Mark explained their influence and how he came to blend each perfume. They seemed to all suit their characters, with The Duchess being my favourite of the three. Each smelt of a different kind of lady, you know that smell a proper lady has – flowers, occasional hint of alcohol, musk and sometimes a little sweet note – but each was very different.
The final room we saw was for ‘The Smell of the Weather Turning’. This fragrance had been a work in progress for over two years. As we walked into the very dark room there was the sound of a bird singing with thunder. There were occasional lights flashing to represent thunder. A bath ballistic full of the scent was dropped into a bowl of water and passed round for us all to have a sniff. This is a very rich and earthy perfume with a mint top note. Very fresh and captures that amazing smell in the air just after a big storm on an otherwise dry and sunny day.
We then made our way into the shop where we could try all the perfumes and buy any that took our fancy!
We bought solid perfumes of ‘The Smell of Freedom’, ‘Imogen Rose’ and ‘Orange Blossom’, sprays of ‘Imogen Rose’ and ‘The Smell of the Weather Turning’ and an oil of ‘Old Delhi Station’. My husband also chose a bottle of the ‘Dirty Springwash’ shower gel which was a beautiful blue colour. I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket so the final total wasn’t too bad. I also bought one of the canvas bags with the banana logo on – it will make a good lunch bag and a couple of the solid perfumes as a treat for my mum.
As I post this the event is still happening and is on until Sunday this week (18/07/2010) more information can be found here. If you like perfumes, smelling nice and are in the London area – I would recommend you pay it a visit.
We finished the day by chatting with old friends and making some new ones. We then traveled across London to Benito’s Hat which came highly recommended on Trip Advisor. Beautiful mexican food with the most amazing limeade I have ever tried. I also recommend the hibiscus drink – gorgeous.
Emma Warley 
