Using carefully selected essential oils known for their positive impact on hormonal wellbeing, natural fragrance house Abel releases its newest functional scent, Pause.
Launched in line with World Menopause Day on October 18, the rich floral scent was co-created by Abel founder Frances Shoemack and French perfumer Dr Fanny Grau to bring confidence and sophistication to women experiencing perimenopause and other hormonal changes associated with this stage of womanhood.
Viva beauty editor Lucy Slight had the exclusive opportunity to speak with Dr Fanny Grau about the fragrance's conception and the hopes the pair has that this scent will facilitate more conversation around the subject of perimenopause.
Viva: How did the idea for Pause come about?
Dr Franny Grau: Pause was created when Abel founder Frances called me to talk through her own experience of hormonal change.
It was a eureka moment for me to understand my own body and a fascinating space to explore the use of scent and essential oils.
So essentially, Pause was born from the desire of two women to celebrate and support this natural phase of life and all the wisdom that comes with ageing and settling comfortably into your body as nature takes its course.
How would you describe the scent itself?
Pause is a luscious and uplifting rich floral fragrance with a soft woody background. A very mesmerising scent, I think.
Can you please talk about the research that went into selecting the essential oils for Pause?
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Advertise with NZME.Frances and myself did a lot of research on ingredients that would bring balance to a body in hormonal flux.
We connected with worldwide specialists to provide expert knowledge on essential oils to alleviate anxiety, boost the mood, reduce depression, improve the libido and relieve upset organs. All symptoms those voyaging perimenopause will know too well.
What are the hero ingredients and how do they support the body during perimenopause?
The hero ingredient is Mimosa, and apart from being an incredibly beautiful golden pompom flower that smells extraordinarily good, it also has uplifting mood properties and it is known to be an aphrodisiac.
Pause opens with a sparkling and refreshing verbena which has potent therapeutic qualities in science-backed studies including stress reduction and aiding sleep. In the drydown amyris promotes meditation, providing a sense of emotional calm during a physically gruelling time.
How long did this fragrance take to formulate and how did you settle on the final iteration?
Once we’d settled on the creative direction it was about seven months of formulation time, and a lot of samples travelling from Brasil to New Zealand to get to the final Pause. A labour of love.
What does it mean to you to have been able to create Pause?
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Advertise with NZME.It is an amazing achievement in my career and my life, as a female perfumer, to be able to honour the wise women of this chapter.
I feel extremely grateful to have been able to create this fragrance together with Frances and hope it is well liked but also opens up new conversations ones that are as enlightening about our bodies as the one I had with Frances when we first started this project.
What do you hope customers will feel when they wear this fragrance?
I hope this fragrance will bring delight, serenity and harmony when worn.
Abel Pause, $175, is available now via a selection of global stockists and online at Abelodor.com
Alongside the fragrance, Abel is launching Pause Library, an online resource centre for women to better understand and feel prepared for perimenopause. It’s a space where the global Abel team (made up entirely of women) collect and curate their favourite podcasts to listen to, hormone experts to follow, community groups to join and articles and books to devour to improve their own hormone literacy.
