Introducing a new line of original scents:
Skunkadelic!™

​Skunkadelic™ is part skunk, part funk! These three new trademarked perfumes celebrate multi-sensory creative inspiration of the 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s and the era of Y2K. Skunkadelic is Midwestern Motown and Urban Funk; Chicago Blues and Cleveland Soul.
read more...

Essense was featured on WMUR's NH Chronicle,
           February 7th, 2017; August 10th, 2017; and February 6th, 2018!

Here is the link to the 1st whole show.  If you want to watch the Essense segment,
it begins at 2.25 minutes.

Photo by Jay Philbrick

Photo by Sarah Dennehy

Photo by Sarah Dennehy

The Essense Experience

The “Essense experience” is a journey of wonder led by your nose! Perfume can be as mysteriously complex or as joyfully simple as you'd like to make it. There are no rules, except Coco Chanel's: “fabulous.”

Perfumery is a traditional old-world craft using art and science, inspiration and magic. With over 31 years of experience in this trade, as well as a Master's degree in Behavioral Science, I consider myself both an alchemist of scents and a translator of memory and emotion.  I love my vocation as a perfumer because it allows me to work with people in a connected  interpersonal way, while guiding them on a mini-tour of creative self-discovery, via the sensory aspect of scent and smell.

Because of the intense connection between the sense of smell and  memory, making perfume can be intensely emotional and uniquely personal.  I love hearing the memories and stories that my customers are willing to share,  as well as creating perfumes and therefore new memories for them.

Essense features pure perfume oils and fragrance composite perfume oils, collected from all over the globe, as well as many natural essential oils for aromatherapy. Essense has created many original trade-mark perfumes, available only here. Additionally, Essense carries a selection of “ready made” designer-type fragrance oils that can be applied directly to pulse points, or further customized.

Essense is the original "indie" perfumery of New England. With over 550 perfume oils available, you are invited to sniff out every possibility of combinations, while creating your own unique signature scent. Prices range from $15 to $200 depending on how many perfume "notes" are blended together into a bottle. When stored properly a bottle of  this high quality Essense perfume will last for years. Nothing evokes memory as quickly as scent. Essense is happiness in a bottle!

Whether you come to create, watch, or just relax, your visit to Essense Parfumerie will be an occasion to remember.

I had a personal fragrance created by Essense almost 29 years ago, and I still use it! Not only has it become my signature scent and an element of my identity, but the oils last so long that its makes an economical choice for fragrance. Tamsan is the sweetest and so enthusiastic about what she does, she's made re-ordering my oils easy and effortless. She will help create a blend uniquely for you, or you can choose from Essense's delicious custom blends. Perfection!
                                       ~ Darcie S. NY, NY

Thanks to my thousands of FABULOUS Essense customers for their enthusiasm and loyalty, some for over 52+ years! Thanks also, for the shared adventures in "sense." All of you adventurous patrons have put the "SENSE" into ESSENSE, while you've helped to create some of the most intoxicating, unique, alluring, custom-blended perfumes and "signature scents" on the planet! There is nothing like a BEAUTIFUL scent to lift our  SPIRITS, to immerse ourselves in JOY.  Life for many of us has been be quite confusing and difficult during these last pandemic/post-pandemic years; but the right scent is always captivating, no matter what turmoils may come our way.
​Sensory and sensual enjoyment bequeaths variety to our senses; UPLIFTING our emotions and moods; giving us the ENERGY as well as INSPIRATION. The word "inspire" means literally "to breathe in." Creating, mixing, and making perfume is a sacred and vanishing art that has everything to do with INSPIRATION.

Essense site design by Janina Lamb • Lamb & Lion Studio

       OPEN for appointments now, beginning April 1, 2025. Walk-In Saturdays start on Memorial Day Weekend, May 24th.

Essense completed its 53rd year in business, with the ending of 2024. Beginning in April 2025, visits by groups of 1-4 people are available, by appointment only. Please email [email protected]; text or call 603-409-2799; to reserve spots. Please call or email for directions, if you're not familiar with the area. GPS coordinates on smart phones do not always work for this location, as the Essense Barn At Rock Ridge Farm is located between 3 lakes, a stream, and a river, at a point at which 3 towns merge. Essense is not in downtown Meredith, but on the other side of Lake Waukewan. 

Perfume-Making and Creating Personal Essences, sometimes referred to as "Signature Scents" at the Essense Studio and Essense Barn At Rock Ridge Farm is By Appointment Only. Make appointments onTuesdays through Saturdays, from 12-Noon until 6 pm, for 2025.
 Text or Phone 603-409-2799.

For those who have experienced Essense in the past, you already know that making a perfume takes a minimum 1/2 hour per person, and often longer than that.
Although I’ve often had “parties” of 4 to 14, such as bridal parties in the past, this involves so much time together in a confined space that it couldn't be done safely the last 3 seasons, due to Covid-19.
For the 2025 season, appointments for 1~4 people are welcome. Please estimate spending 1/2 hour for each individual member of the party. This activity is time intensive creativity: time spent together within an enclosed space. No masks. We all have to use our noses: customers must use their noses to identify the fragrances they love most. This involves handling the apothecary bottles, and lots of sniffing.  Customers should enjoy the process: smelling; comparing; choosing; and mixing. For each, this means picking the best scents to mix together, from amongst the 550+ fragrances available. "Inspire" literally means to "breathe in," or "inhale." Making a unique perfume for yourself, or for others, requires both inspiration and time. This is not a process to be rushed, because the process of discovery is also the process of creating a one-of-a-kind
"signature scent" for yourself and others.

Between groups of visitors, the perfume bottles are wiped with disinfectant as well as the perfume bar and seating stools.  It's important to leave enough time between appointments, especially with larger groups, in order that I may clean and reorganize the apothecary bottles before the next customers arrive.  Please, DO NOT ARRIVE EARLY for appointments.  I give equally focused attention to all who come to experience this sensory adventure; therefore the time-slots allotted are for those who've reserved them, and for clean-up time in between customer sessions. If you do arrive early, there's a lounge seating area in the barn, with plenty of books to look at, and vinyl records to play, while you wait for your scheduled appointment time.

I'm looking forward to working with all of you in 2025 ~  new customers, recent customers, and those who've visited again and again over several decades now. After 33 years, I still love my artisanal vocation as much as ever, in part because I love meeting all of you.❤️ I understand that for some, scheduling an appointment may feel less spontaneous, and perhaps less "vacation-y" than simply walking-in at whim, but calendar appointments guarantee that all of you will have individualized, personalized experiences,  here at the Essense Parfumerie at Rock Ridge Farm.

How to Make an Appointment

Summer months of July and August are extremely busy for Essense, as new visitors to our NH Lakes Region soon discover. Please do consider visiting Essense during Spring month's May and June; or Autumn month's September, October, and November.

Appointments available with 24 hour notice, or same day only by luck or chance. Appointments can be made Tuesday ~ Saturday. Hours for appointments are 12 pm until 6 pm. The climate-controlled parfumerie has 4 stools at the perfume bar, so groups of 2~4 people are welcome. When scheduling, keep in mind that approximately 1/2 hour is spent with each member of the group. During warmer weather, larger parties at the Essense Barn are possible, with pre-arrangement and pre-payment.
Appointments can be scheduled by calling or texting phone number  
603-409-2799.

Or email: [email protected]

Please note that "ESSENSE" is spelled with 3 "S's," and no "C,"
because the word SENSE is part of the ESSENSE experience.

Sir Ruggles, CCO (Chief Canine Officer) of Essense Parfumerie

Mail-order perfumes available year-round.
​Check the Buy Online page for House-Blend and Essense Trademark Perfumes!