The Scent of Luxury
How do you identify an extraordinary perfume? Is it through its use of only the finest and rarest natural ingredients? Is it in the way the fragrance lingers in the air, leaving a sense of an unforgettable personality? Or in the quality and care evident in every step of its creation—from imagining its aromatic character to packaging it with superb artistry? Or is it in the way all these luxurious distinctions are evident from the moment a discerning customer encounters an AMAFFI perfume?
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, AMAFFI maintains exclusive boutiques in New York, London, and Singapore, where the experience of shopping is like none other. Each boutique is designed like a starlit jewel box, with exquisite aromas wafting through the air and the glittering perfume bottles displayed in elegant glass cubes. In a festive ceremony, a beautifully uniformed sales associate opens the cubes and removes the perfume, then applies the scent to a blotter, and places it in a hand-signed envelope, ensuring that the interaction is as personal and unique as the perfume itself.
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AMAFFI’s perfumers are the greatest and most famous fragrance creators from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They are artists, meticulous and unhurried in crafting their masterpieces. Unconcerned with fashion or trends, they seek to create perfumes that conform only to their own visions to achieve the highest quality.
Notes Madame Amaffi, the founder of AMAFFI perfume house, the creation of a new scent is comparable to having a baby: “from the wish to have a child until its birth. You know exactly what the scent should be like in terms of character, emotions, and individuality. You also choose the name.” Indeed, the titles of her perfume collections evoke nobility and strength. The Royal Range, for example, includes Power, Richness, and Glory for men and women, while scents in the Gods and Goddesses collection are named for classical deities.
Eschewing artificial ingredients and added pigments, AMAFFI employs superior natural, organic, sustainably grown flowers and plants—approved by the International Fragrance Association—including the rare centifolia rose from Grasse, France, the most expensive variety of that fabled flower. Extracting its essence is notoriously intensive: 10 tons of petals are required to produce just one kilogram of essential oil from this rose. The range of flowers used is another unusual element for this industry; other contributing scents to AMAFFI fragrances come from iris, jasmine, narcissus, Magnolia champaca, and orchids, as well as sandalwood, ambergris, and oud.
Equally important is the high concentration—22 percent—of perfume in each formulation and the reliance on alcohol in combination with natural oils. No water dilutes any of the mixtures, allowing for extraordinary stability, projection, and sillage (the scent trail a perfume leaves behind in the air as it evaporates).
Produced in small quantities for connoisseurs of beauty and quality, AMAFFI perfumes are packaged in ornate bottles and boxes that reflect the individuality and preciousness of their contents. Handcrafted in Germany and France and decorated with crystals and jewelry or plated with gold or silver, the containers themselves are works for art, enhancements to the decor of any room. Each one also contains a 50 mL companion bottle for the convenience of having the scent with you during the day or while traveling.
But the allure of the perfumes goes far beyond the expense of the ingredients and packaging. These fragrances denote exclusivity and sophistication. That message is evident in the AMAFFI manifesto, which proclaims, “We are exclusive. We are not for everyone. The perfumes are the embodiment of class, elegance, and culture.”
The presentation of an AMAFFI perfume speaks to the taste and refinement of both the giver and receiver. An exquisite gift for any occasion, it is destined to never be forgotten. And once you have tried AMAFFI perfumes, you will return to them again and again.
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