Living near the base of the Blue Hills in Milton, perfumer Sandy Carr has always had an appreciation for the natural beauty found in New England. After many explorations of the verdant wooded trails near her home, as well as bloom-filled city gardens and sandy beaches on the South Shore, she set out to create a line of scents inspired by the mood and magic of these locales.
“A fragrance can whisk you away to other times and places. It can provide a brief escape by calling up a special memory,” says Carr, who launched Bluehill Fragrances last fall. Her debut collection includes three dynamic perfumes: Metrogarden, an homage to Boston’s majestic public garden; Back Bay, a fresh, “green” scent with just a hint of earth and ocean air; and Beach Rose, a honeyed floral scent infused with the essence of wild beach roses, nurtured by sun and salty ocean breezes.
From the time she was a child, Carr has been inspired by her natural surroundings and attracted to the sensory arts – fascinated with visual imagery, sounds, textures, and unique and compelling smells and tastes. Her journey to become a perfumer was fueled by innate curiosity and the desire for a little adventure. After spending 11 years developing multimedia and web-based programs for Harvard Business School, she was ready for a change. She decided to follow her heart—and her nose—to learn the art of perfumery.
Carr started out by taking several perfume courses in New York City and reading every book she could find on fragrance. Eventually, her adventurous spirit brought her to France where she studied at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery. She spent her days learning to identify raw materials, studying both synthetic and natural ingredients and discovering the delicate alchemy of creating heady aromas. “I loved learning about the families of scent and how to recreate the formulas for classic French accords,” says Carr.
She returned home more enthralled with the art of perfumery than ever. She set up a home laboratory in her daughter’s old bedroom, where she tested out new combinations of ingredients until she found just the right blend. She paid close attention to every detail, including choosing elegant bottles and labels. The result is a distinguished and versatile collection of scents, designed to appeal to discerning buyers and appropriate for both special occasions and everyday occasions. Carr has sold her fragrances at fine Boston-area boutiques as well as on her website. This summer she will be releasing two new limited-edition scents (Water’s Edge and Zest), which will be locally available at Joye in Scituate.
For more information on
Bluehill Fragrances, visit bluehillfragrances.com.