PETALING JAYA, Sept 18 — Aien Mokhtar remembers the first time she set foot on Yugoslavian (now Serbian) soil.
Just 10 years old at the time, it was her first solo trip to Europe, to visit her mother who had been posted there under Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stepping out of the airport, she took a whiff of the crisp air and it is that sensorial memory that has stayed with her.
“I’ve always been sensitive to scents, I remember places by how they smell,” says Aien, the founder and Chief Fragrance Designer of OLFAC3. Her foray into scent-making actually began in 2002, when she was gifted an aromatherapy kit that contained single oils and blends.
“That ignited my passion; I was intrigued and began diffusing the oils to create my own scents,” Aien recalls. She started making bath and body products for herself and those close to her — whom she calls her Very Important Guinea Pigs — including her mother.
One of the earliest scents she created for herself was inspired by Bvlgari Pour Femme, her favourite perfume at the time but which the company has since discontinued.
Scent-making was just a hobby at the time as Aien was pursuing a corporate career in corporate communications and later, as a project manager for an urban retreat.
“I was flying to Bali regularly to procure items for the retreat and it struck me that I was travelling a lot but missing out on exploring and seeing the place,” she reveals. “I felt that I had learned what I needed to, and it was time to pursue my passion.”
In 2010, she set up Unguentarii, named after an ancient Greek word for perfume. Her brand has thus been six years in the making but the self-professed perfectionist (“that’s why it’s taken so long!”) only just launched it earlier this year.
During that time, she travelled widely to learn about scents and aromatherapy, attending classes and workshops in Australia, Thailand and France.
Her brand name, OLFAC3, is a play on the word “olfactory.” The number 3 refers to the troika of layers that make up each scent. The base note, mostly woody aromas, is the fixative that pulls the entire blend together and defines the”‘dry down”, which is the scent you pick up after a few minutes.
The middle note or heart is the one that lasts the longest, and is usually a floral tone. The top note is what you discern at first whiff and is typically of something light like citrus or herbs.
Aien does the research and development herself, tinkering with some 100 essential oils at any one time and works with manufacturers in Thailand, Australia, the UK and France.
“I enjoy the creative process, working with natural ingredients like local herbs and spices. I think that any opportunity we have to work with Nature, we should. Ultimately, I hope to have my own distillery.”
Currently, OLFAC3 offers two collections, Scentasia and Aspirations. Scentasia is a range of veil and linen fragrance in 100 millilitre bottles, meant for all sorts of fabric covers, from apparel to bedsheets, curtains and upholstery.
They can also be used to freshen up the air around, one’s hair and even pets. “I spray them on my cats too!” Aien reveals, adding that there are nine scents and all are built from a base of lavender water, except for the jasmine and mandarin variants, which feature their respective floral waters.
She uses natural essential oils sourced from Thailand and adds a small amount of stearyl alcohol, which is halal, so that the scents transfer better. “If you spray the Jasmine over your sheets, it will be like sleeping in a bed of the flowers.”
More than just smelling good, each of the variants offers different benefits too, which are listed on the labels. Frangipani, for example, relieves stress and has calming and refreshing effects.
Aien recommends the Geranium as “an arsenal for women” as it helps regulate hormones and blood pressure, fortifies the immune system, and is also an anti-depressant.
She also offers this tip for practical usage: “I always carry sample sizes of the Scentasia range. Some of them have astringent effects, which I use to disinfect the seats at public toilets while the scents help cover unpleasant smells.”
While Scentasia is about scenting the outer layers, the Aspirations range is more personal and intimate, and revolves around the rose, the Prophet Muhammad’s favourite flower.
Aien created four blends that were inspired by and named after four of the most prolific women in history: Khadijah and Fatimah, the Prophet Muhammad’s wife and daughter, respectively; Maryam, the Lady of the Immaculate Conception; Asiyah, the wife of the Eqyptian Pharaoh in ancient times.
“I wanted to showcase the rose and pay tribute to the four women; we all need more role models in our lives, people we can learn from,” Aien reveals. “I thought about what each of them represented and how they would express themselves in a scent. Fatimah to me is a sweet, girl-next-door so I blended the rose with vanilla and neroli. Maryam represents innocence and an ‘anything is possible’ spirit, in a rose-lychee scent.”
The four scents take the form of EDP and solid perfumes, packaged in five-gramme jars with a rose-shaped lid. The latter are alcohol-free, and are made of beeswax, jojoba oil and fragrances. They’re ideal for refreshing yourself with throughout the day and you can even use it to tame frizzy hair.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Aien is still tweaking the range while working on her third collection. Named Memories of Malaysia, it captures facets of the country as Aien translates it.
As she writes on OLFAC3’s website, the scents are inspired by “Kuala Lumpur metropolis by day and by night, the East Coast beaches, the rainforest of Borneo, the tea plantation in Cameron Highlands, the orchards of Negeri Sembilan and the spice gardens of Johor.” There will be four variants — Bunga Raya, Matahari, Borneo and Ombak — presented as solid perfumes, EDP and possibly soaps as well.
Memories of Malaysia is slated to launch later in the year and in the meantime, Aien is also focused on organising her monthly Scent Party. Held at Talent Lounge in Damansara Perdana, where OLFAC3’s collections are available, Aien gathers friends and perfume enthusiasts for coffee, cakes and signature scent profiling. “I keep the parties to a maximum of 20 invited guests each time, and everyone gets a one-on-one session with me during which I help them create their personal scent,” Aien explains.
Scent profiling is yet another of OLFAC3’s offerings, and it’s an interesting process. “I start with their favourite scent, then come up with something that they would like. If they don’t have a particular choice, then we’ll go through the palette of scents to find out their preferences,” she elaborates. “I also smell their skins so I know what works for them.”
It sounds strange, yet makes perfect sense when Aien describes the “function” of perfumes: “Scents should bring people together, not repel. It’s also a very personal experience; you don’t need everyone to be able to smell you but it should make you feel good. Like makeup, scents should enhance you, not change you.”
Perfumery itself, Aien says, is also an intuitive art with no real secrets behind it — you just need to know what oils go together. Short of booking a signature scent profiling session with Aien, here’s another way you can create your personal scent. “It’s all about layering, from your shower gel to body lotion to what you spritz on yourself or your clothes. After all, everyone is unique so why should your scent be generic?
Shop OLFAC3’s collections at www.olfac3.com, www.facebook.com/MYOLFAC3/ and Talent Lounge at Block A, Menara Mustapha Kamal, PJ Trade Centre, 8 Jalan PJU 8/8A, Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya Opens 9am-6pm, Mon-Sat
Vivian Chong is a freelance writer-editor who focuses on travel and lifestyle writing. Read more of her stories at http://thisbunnyhops.com/
