Task 1, Presentation. #fcp

Today we had a group presentation which was our first task in our fragrance project. The task was to find our story which meant we were required to demonstrate an understanding of the context of the scent market. We had to present 3 potential opportunities/ insights that we have identified through research and find new narratives, future brand messages and innovation.

Our first idea was to create a scented mist that can be worn in the sun as women want to be able to wear perfume on the beach and around the pool without getting sunburnt from it. Unfortunately perfume attracts the sun to your skin and can burn the skin very badly even with sun cream on top.

“Prescription drugs, over-the-counter pain relievers, herbal remedies such as St. John’s wort, perfumes, exfoliating skin care products, and even some sunscreens can increase sensitivity to the sun” (Elizabeth Lee). People get really serious burns because of applying perfume directly to the skin and then exposing it to sunlight due to the chemicals and oils that are used in perfume. 

This perfume issue is increasing health concerns of sun burn leading to cancer. After doing a survey we received many positive responses about having a perfume that worked as a sun cream as many other women have experienced bad sunburns just from wearing perfume. 

Women said that the experience of burning due to perfume had ruined their holiday as they had to wear a t-shirt over their burn and also they experienced their skin peeling on their chest due to the perfume burn. 

Our second idea  was to create a fake tan that smells like a perfume as 89% of consumers complain about the distinct smell of fake tan. Results from our survey showed that 29/66 people wanted their fake tan to smell of their favourite perfume. Everyone that we asked stated that they disliked the smell of fake tan as it is a giveaway that its being worn. Consumers also said the smell of the fake tan puts them off purchasing which obviously harms the companies income. Fake tan has become a huge trend across Britain and the consumer’s demand has increased vastly over the past few years.

St Tropez is one of the leading self-tanning products in the UK and sells three bottles of bronzing mousse a minute around the world. Nowadays, 41% of women use self-tanning products which is  very high percentage. Websites such as vouchercloud.com search for fake tan increased by 243% over the past 12 months. Although there are products out there who have claimed to have masked the notorious scent, masses of online reviews and answers from our peers show that there is still a gap in the market for our idea

Our final idea was to create a sporty fabric softener that reacted to the smell and feel of sweat. The trend of having a healthy and active lifestyle is very popular at the moment as more people are attending the gym, eating healthy and following healthy lifestyle pages on social media. Most women that we spoke to said that they are afraid to go to the gym because of the way they will smell and sweat. Fitness bloggers/Instagramers are creating many opportunities for sports brands and sports products so we thought we would have a go at one. In April 2015, it stated that 63% of users agree that long-lasting fragrance is the most important product attribute and 42% of deodorant users agree that deodorants do not last as long as they claim to. Deodorant brands have already tried to target the sports market with long lasting sprays eg. 48 hour protection, although not for clothing only for the skin (armpits). 

We found that our perfume that can be worn in the sun was our favourite idea as we knew it would benefit many people and we knew out consumer profile straight away.

A blog about task 2 will be up soon so keep checking out my blog! 

Shelby xxx

An Introduction to Perfumery.

Here's a few science facts about perfume.... A sense of smell is in my opinion underused as smell can define a taste, it can trigger memories and it can remind you of certain people or objects. You can only smell something that evaporates into your nose and you smell with something called the olfactory bulb. The reason we can smell is because impulses flow to the brain via the hypothalamus. Perfume today is 95-99% synthetic and natural due to the popularity of using natural ingredients that smell fresh and new. 

What is fragrance? 

It sounds like a simple question when in fact its much more than what you think. Fragrance is a way of communicating without words. It's a way of triggering memories that have been lost for years. These memories then create a range of emotions which then cause reactions. So a fragrance isn't just there to make you smell nice. It can be anything from the terrible smell of cow poo that can trigger the best memories or the beautiful smell of a candle that can trigger the worst. 

We were told that when creating our fragranced product we needed to think if it reminded us of something which will then help us create the promotion around the idea. It is very important when it comes to communication and promotion to use words that others can understand because if no one can understand the main word, then no one will buy the product so the words must be kept within out target market. 

Perfume is formed in notes. The top note, the middle note and the base note. The top note is the first impression of the fragrance. This evaporates most quickly off the skin and is the selling point as it is the first impression. The middle note is the heart or characteristic of the fragrance. This includes smells such as rose, jasmine, herbal and floral. This stays on longer than the top note. The base note gives body and longevity to the fragrance that includes smells such as coumarin and vanillin. This note is synthetic and smells a bit like ice cream. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post about perfume. There is more to come.

Shelby xxx

My Opinion on the Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Contour Kit.

When I went to New York, I purchased the Anastasia Beverly Hills cream contour kit from Sephora in shade light. I have to admit, I am not 100% satisfied with the product but that could just be because it doesn’t work well on my skin, it’s obviously going to be different for different people. I find the application of the make up quite challenging as I find that when it is on my face it is hard to blend in and when it is blended it doesn’t give me the look I want, but maybe that’s just because full contour doesn’t suit me, I don’t know. 

In some ways I do wish I got the powder contour kit, as I have found out that powder works better with my skin, and I find it much easier to blend powder. However, after applying the product then applying my usual powders after, the product left me with a beautiful contour finish which I am extremely happy with, as now it defines my face more than it does using just my powders. I definitely think I just need to practice more and watch more tutorials on how to use the product as I am not going to lie, I’m not the best at doing make up. 

I do recommend this product, as the colours are great for contouring however, I do advise people to either ask someone in the store to help you choose the right tone and whether to choose cream or powder or even test it on your skin first before buying it. I have no regrets on buying this product and it is a great kit I definitely just need practice with it. 

I hope you found this useful! 

Shelby xxx

The Fragrance Market.

At university at the moment we have been given several tasks to develop a brand and a big idea that is a fragrance. In our lecture a few days ago we learnt about the fragrance market. I found this lecture very interesting as it looked in depth at the points that need to be included when entering your brand into the fragrance market so I thought I would share some of these points with you. I found out that to be successful within the fragrance market your fragrance will need to include a story, insight, opportunity, research and strategy. The types of research we have to do to create a successful brand is academic such as secondary and primary, theoretical and market research. The lecturers also got us all thinking about how much we thing a £100 bottle of fragrance would cost to make and the answer was around £1-10 which left us all speechless due to the fact we were spending so much on this fragrance.
Every fragrance brand is trying to tell us a story whether it is about love, power, loss, fame, desire ect. For example, the Miss Dior perfume advert has always been about seduction and love by having the well known model Natalie Portman, stare sexually into the camera while wearing little clothing and posing seductively.

Opportunities that the brand has to promote and sell their perfume is the packaging, delivery system, consumer, personalisation, ingredients, retail experience, price and innovation at every stage. Throughout this year learning fashion communication and promotion we have always been told that the most important thing is to know your consumer. Without knowing your consumer, you will now know what colour theme to have, what the product should include, the price of the product ect.

A blog post will be up soon about the first task of this project which is to do a presentation of three insights.

Shelby xxx

London Fashion Week.

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to go to London for London fashion week as one of my friends on my uni course managed to get tickets through her mum’s work at Mercedes. When I found out I was beyond excited and I straight away panicked on what I should wear because I wanted to look smart casual yet be warm and stylish.Arriving in London with no hesitation we went straight to where fashion week was held and outside the building were many photographers snapping people’s different and interesting clothing. I thought this was really exciting and I could have just stood there for ages looking at some of the crazy stuff that people were wearing. However, we arrived very early and we could not enter the building until 3:30pm so we decided to have a wonder round the beautiful parts of London. When we were finally let into the building, we were happily greeted with a small bottle or Prosecco and we explored different designers work. The clothing and accessories shown were very different and interesting to look at, it was almost like an art show.

At 4pm we went into the show room to watch the catwalk. To our surprise in front of us was a row of celebrities which we all recognised so we all got a bit over excited however, we knew we weren’t there to see celebrities so we sat back and enjoyed the show. The designer we saw was called Xlioli and I thought her designs were stunning with the use of colour and material. The music she used in the show fit perfectly as it was not too loud and off putting, and it had a good beat which linked to the models walk.

I can definitely say that was one of the best experiences of my life and I think London in general is just an amazing place to be and I am really looking forward to going back and visiting more of the fashion events. 

Shelby xxx

Pinterest.

For my FCP (Fashion Communication and Promotion) course at uni I have created a Pinterest account to create mood boards whenever I have to plan a project or a photo shoot, or I just use it for my own entertainment by creating boards of house decorations I like or clothes that I like ect.

I really recommend creating a Pinterest account as it allows you to merge all of you creative ideas onto one board for example, one of my boards convey colours that are personal to me in the sense of what I wear and what I have around my house. It is also perfect for planning an occasion, as you can place all of your ideas onto one board. I love going on Pinterest and exploring the different trends from the past and present and figuring out why this was the ‘happening’ trend at the time. 

Here is a link to my Pinterest account to see the boards that I have created so far. I hope the interest you!

https://uk.pinterest.com/shelbyphillips7/

Shelby xxx

Joining University. #fcp

I have created this blog in order to express my personal interest in fashion and the world around me. I used to have a blog on Tumblr however now I wanted to create a more professional blog now that I am more comfortable with it.

At the moment I am studying Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University and I want to portray this beautiful place and all of the interesting places there are to visit in my blog. During my first year of A levels, I was very indecisive about coming to university and I had my head set to not going however, I thought I would at least have a look round, read some books and research what courses some uni’s have to offer. I came across Fashion Communication and Promotion at NTU and as I read the description I couldn’t think of a better course for me as this course is so much more than fashion. It’s events, it’s journalism, it’s promotion, it’s marketing! So I knew straight away that this is what I wanted to do as my interests lie around fashion and events management. After spending two terms on this course I can honestly say that it is the best decision I have every made. I have met some wonderful people and I have really enjoyed going to my lectures and seminars (even the 9am's!) and cannot wait to get further into the course and learn more about something I love. 

Thank you for reading this and I hope that this blog will interest many of you. 

Shelby xxx