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 27 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 27 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 FABULOUS Essense customers for their enthusiasm and loyalty, some for over 46 years! Thanks also, for the mysterious adventures in "sense," to all those adventurous patrons who have helped create some of the most intoxicating, unique, alluring, custom-blended perfumes and "signature scents" on the planet! There is nothing like a fabulous scent to lift our human spirits, to immerse ourselves, at least temporarily, in JOY.  Life can be very difficult sometimes, but the right scent is always captivating: for our enjoyment; for our senses; for our emotions, moods; for our inspiration, personal projected "auras" and our artistic sensibilities...

Essense site design by Janina Lamb • Lamb & Lion Studio

Summer 2021

The 47th Essense Summer Season of 2020 brought all of us new challenges in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic.  After weeks of deliberation, and with consideration of the intrinsically personal process of creating custom-blended perfumes, with and for, my customers, I decided that it was safest decision, in honor of all customers and their health, to remain closed for walk-in traffic last summer. I’ve always been honored that people come from all over the country, to experience Essense and to make themselves memorable perfumes, discovering and creating their very own "signature scents." However, because the Parfumerie’s a climate controlled, more intimate setting than some other places might be, it was best that Essense remained closed for 2020 season.

For those who have experienced Essense in the past, you know already that making a perfume takes a minimum 1/2 hour per person, and often longer than that. Although I’ve often had “parties” of 4-14, this involves so much time together in a confined space, that it couldn't be done safely last season. Additionally, it would be quite impossible for customers to enjoy the process of sniffing, comparing, and choosing amongst the 550+ fragrances, while wearing masks.

Essense hopes to offer "by appointment only" visits for smaller groups of 1-4 people for its 48th season, during the year of 2021. Beginning in May, open walk-in hours are not planned at this time. Customers may email, call, or text, to arrange appointments for custom-blending of their perfumes. Weather permitting, customers may schedule appointments during this current late winter, and early spring of 2021. Beat the crowd by coming in before the weather gets beautiful!

In order to maintain the sanitary conditions that will make the Parfumerie a safe place to visit this season, the perfume bottles must be wiped down after customers leave, and the perfume bar  and seating stools must be disinfected. Additionally, the handling and sniffing of the apothecary bottles must be minimized. This is a “learning curve” for all of us.

Of course, this means less spontaneity. I realize that people enjoy spontaneity during their time off, weekends, and especially during their summer vacations. This summer, as the  last, spontaneity must be replaced with planning and responsibility, to keep people relatively safe. That is simply what needs to happen. There is no guarantee of 100% safety and wellness, no matter what one does, but if people seeking the Essense Experience, would like to visit, either by themselves, or with 1 or 4 others they know, and have quarantined with, they are welcome to do so, with advance notice.  This allows proper preparation, so random groups of people won’t be overlapping and literally running into each other.

Appointments for 1-4 people can be scheduled by emailing requests to Tamsan@Essense.com. You may also text, or call the phone number 603-409-2799. Thanks to all, for patience and understanding, during these very strange, somewhat worrisome, pandemic  times. 

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

Mail-order perfumes available year-round.
​Check the Shopping Cart for House-Blend and Essense Trade-Mark Perfumes!