If you walk through the hallway to Julia Zangrilli's space in Williamsburg, you're immediately hit by the smell of jasmine. Jasmine is my favorite scent, so I was at home in her studio, a small but cozy environment for the very intimate, customized scents that Julia makes for her clients under the label NOVA.
Opening Ceremony first became hooked on NOVA via the perfumer's launch of Chakra, a musky yet floral scent that dances between masculine and feminine. But, the custom side of her business is what she's known for. Read on to find out more about NOVA's creator and her sense of scents.
Shop all NOVA here
DANA MELANZ: Let's start with the story behind the OC-exclusive kits.
JULIA ZANGRILLI: I was kind of talking shop with OC's Carol Song and Clara Cornet, and we wanted to do a handful of different sets to tie back to the custom aspect of the business. So, we tried to figure out the best way to introduce custom scents in a retail setting and landed on four kits with four scents each.
What are the different scents inspired by?
They're meant to represent different decades. There's the '60s, which is kind of like tiki surf. The '70s was based on photos of Woodstock, and just rock musicians from the period. (I wanted to make it modern and wearable, so it has lots of different, great wood notes.) Then the '80s is like pop—it came together from photos of Kelly LeBrock and other random '80s babes, and magenta prints and vibes. The '90s is very Calvin Klein ads: black and white, super sharp, and kind of unisex.
And the idea is to have four scents that you can mix and match?
They kind of function as single notes even though each spray has several ingredients in it. They’re fragrances in themselves and you can absolutely wear each one alone. Each set has two top notes and two base notes, so you can layer.
How do you create your custom scents with a client?
Basically, through the process of making the fragrances, you end up learning about certain materials, so I introduce the customer to the different olfactory families. It's a quick rundown of the materials you're using in perfumery. We go through the scents and they choose what they like, and then I create a few different samples which they can then choose their final scent from.
How did you get your start in perfume?
I was really just looking for a hobby. When I started, I took a class with MCMC Fragrances. Then later, I went to Grasse and studied there. It was really a raw materials course; it was intensive and it was only a few weeks. I didn’t go and do formal laboratory training, but I did get a certification in raw materials. I went to see different rose fields and learned about distillation processes. It was a really amazing experience. But, I learned shortly that I was going to have to teach myself the creation aspect. There are a lot of places to learn about materials, but creation training is scarce.
What were you doing before then?
I was acting. Actually, I'm trying to get back into theater—not acting itself, but trying to get back into working in that area through scent. I want to develop some sensory exercises for actors using scent memory.
I've never thought of something like that. So, a method actor would wear a specific fragrance for their character?
I think a lot of actors do that, actually. There are different schools and training. Fragrances are the strongest tie to memory for humans. It’s a fact that they’re in the same lobe of the brain and it’s a really str
Opening Ceremony first became hooked on NOVA via the perfumer's launch of Chakra, a musky yet floral scent that dances between masculine and feminine. But, the custom side of her business is what she's known for. Read on to find out more about NOVA's creator and her sense of scents.
Shop all NOVA here
DANA MELANZ: Let's start with the story behind the OC-exclusive kits.
JULIA ZANGRILLI: I was kind of talking shop with OC's Carol Song and Clara Cornet, and we wanted to do a handful of different sets to tie back to the custom aspect of the business. So, we tried to figure out the best way to introduce custom scents in a retail setting and landed on four kits with four scents each.
What are the different scents inspired by?
They're meant to represent different decades. There's the '60s, which is kind of like tiki surf. The '70s was based on photos of Woodstock, and just rock musicians from the period. (I wanted to make it modern and wearable, so it has lots of different, great wood notes.) Then the '80s is like pop—it came together from photos of Kelly LeBrock and other random '80s babes, and magenta prints and vibes. The '90s is very Calvin Klein ads: black and white, super sharp, and kind of unisex.
And the idea is to have four scents that you can mix and match?
They kind of function as single notes even though each spray has several ingredients in it. They’re fragrances in themselves and you can absolutely wear each one alone. Each set has two top notes and two base notes, so you can layer.
How do you create your custom scents with a client?
Basically, through the process of making the fragrances, you end up learning about certain materials, so I introduce the customer to the different olfactory families. It's a quick rundown of the materials you're using in perfumery. We go through the scents and they choose what they like, and then I create a few different samples which they can then choose their final scent from.
How did you get your start in perfume?
I was really just looking for a hobby. When I started, I took a class with MCMC Fragrances. Then later, I went to Grasse and studied there. It was really a raw materials course; it was intensive and it was only a few weeks. I didn’t go and do formal laboratory training, but I did get a certification in raw materials. I went to see different rose fields and learned about distillation processes. It was a really amazing experience. But, I learned shortly that I was going to have to teach myself the creation aspect. There are a lot of places to learn about materials, but creation training is scarce.
What were you doing before then?
I was acting. Actually, I'm trying to get back into theater—not acting itself, but trying to get back into working in that area through scent. I want to develop some sensory exercises for actors using scent memory.
I've never thought of something like that. So, a method actor would wear a specific fragrance for their character?
I think a lot of actors do that, actually. There are different schools and training. Fragrances are the strongest tie to memory for humans. It’s a fact that they’re in the same lobe of the brain and it’s a really str