What's in a Name?

I stopped in my tracks upon learning of a new perfume that's about to drop called, Mothafuqueur. Someone has their tongue in cheek. When creating names for Anu Essentials Perfumes, the first thing I consider is the type of scent I'm building. Is it floral, oriental, woody, or fresh? The essences used to create the perfume and the feelings that the aromas conjure up, are the other aspects that I contemplate when naming my fragrances. Once all these elements come together, the name eventually reveals itself. In this blog post, I share how each of the names for Anu Essentials Perfumes came to be.

Take a look at the inspiration behind the names of Anu Essentials Perfumes~

Sita – Share Your Inner Goddess ~ Sita is the name of an Indian Goddess who was known for her beauty, charm, and sweetness. As a long time practitioner of yoga, I wanted to give a nod to India for the gift of yoga and to the idea of a sensually beautiful Goddess. Sita is such a Goddess. Indian oils in this formulation include sandalwood, jasmine, cardamom, coriander, and cloves to name a few. There are two Sita Perfumes –  Red Sita is multi-layered,  sensual, woody, and compelling. Yellow Sita is a much lighter version that is flirty, sweet, and sparking. I love wearing the two of them together. Want to invoke the Goddess within? Wear Sita! Nola – Experience Your Sensuality ~ I desired to create a very sensual perfume using the hypnotic magnolia essence. My inspiration for Nola was the sexy and independent Nola Darling, the ingénue of Spike Lee’s movie, She’s Gotta Have It. Then there were those steamy days and nights spent in New Orleans. In addition to Magnolia, there’s coffee, tobacco, civet musk, and Bulgarian rose, blended to create this sensually gorgeous perfume. Want to bring out the sensual you? Wear Nola. SunRayz – Let the Sun Shine In ~ Without sun, there is no citrus. In this instance, I was looking to create a fruity perfume, for a woman. I decided on citrus since there are so many choices when it comes to citrus fruits. SunRayz is a mélange of citruses that include clementine, bergamot, Mandarin orange, bitter orange, and white grapefruit. Blended with a host of floral notes including the bespoke Neroli, white flower of the bitter orange shrub. This citrus beauty is a spring and summer, must have! Want or need to feel like the beauty of sunshine? Wear SunRayz. Mocha – Bespoke Coffee and Chocolate ~ It’s taken me nearly 60 years to learn that coffee plants grow an exquisite white flower. This is what gives Mocha its warm and hypnotic aroma. Blended with cocoa, linden blossom, Roman chamomile, and neroli, it’s quite a distinctive fragrance. Mocha is an amazingly luscious, honeyed floral, so sexy and animalic (growl). Want to feel sultry and compelling? Wear Mocha! MeadowLark – Allow Nature to Heal You ~ Since I am a lover of nature I wanted to bottle the feeling of being embraced by nature, the feeling of rolling down a grassy hill while the aroma of earth, grass, and the exotic wildflowers warmed by the sun surrounds you. Nature heals and comforts, and that is the feeling that Meadowlark offers. Essences of oakmoss, cedarwood, fir needles, Vetiver, juniper, rose, and jasmine oils are a few of the thirty nature notes that create Meadowlark.I could not come up with a name of this one until I heard an interview of Meadow Lark Lemon, the former basketball player of the Harlem Globe Trotters. He shared his love of joy and making others happy, and I knew I had the name of my perfume. When I researched the word Meadow Lark, I learned that Meadowlark is a bird that sings in open fields. How perfect! Want to feel inspired and uplifted? Wear MeadowLark. Shaman– Invoke Your Inner Power ~ ... and smell amazing while doing so!  I am in awe of those who devote their lives to the Divine, priest, and priestesses of all religions around the globe sacrifice their lives doing spiritual work the help others and help to save the planet. I have added the highest quality of sacred notes to the perfume. They include Frankincense from Oman, myrrh, Opoponax (sweet myrrh) and a few animalics (animal musk) to evoke the power of the work of Shamanic men and women the world over. Want to feel innately powerful? Wear Shaman Perfume! Sterling - Of Noble Character ~ Ever been in the presence of a person with a noble character? This is the inspiration behind Sterling. The dictionary says, “a person of the highest quality: a person of sterling character.” When you see anything made of high-quality sterling, it speaks. It has a clean, cool, and elegant effect. This was the energy I was looking to invoke in Sterling Perfume. Its cool notes include exquisite lemon peel, cognac, bergamot lavender, and oud. Want to evoke the noble part of you? Wear Sterling. Vetiver- Nature Calls Again ~From the first sniff of this wild grass essence, I was transported to an earthy, and ancient place in my mind, and I knew I wanted to make a perfume with its name. I was a bit afraid to tackle it, but I finally got up the nerve to go for it. Perfume critic Monica Miller said of my Vetiver Perfume, “I must say, this Vetiver speak to me of what I always dreamed Vetiver wanted to be paired with. I don’t know how Anu did it, but Vetiver shines from a deep earthy place without being muddy, there’s an almost fruity texture to it without a specific fruit. It’s musky, aromatic, and grassy.” Notes include petitgrain, cognac, prickly ash, baronia, Thai ylang ylang. Want to experience nature’s exotic wildness? Wear Vetiver.Shop our fragrances today!