Exotica Perfumery Noir Perfumes Gale Bez Signature Scent ~ Riche’ review and Interview with Artist Gale Bez

Passion……..raison d’etre.

Early on, I intentionally moved away from a notion my art teachers tried to instill in me – “an artist works diligently to master only one artistic discipline”. This idea of singularity did not and still does not resonate within me. The world is far too interesting and too large to be myopic, confining oneself to only one topic and one point of view.

My parents gave me the opportunity to explore and participate in several art forms; dance, visual arts, creative writing, vocal and instrumental music. I lived for those creative moments! Much of my young life bordered on agony, while I endured waiting-time in my school classes, until I was released back to my artistic pursuits. At a young age, I understood the arts are where I find meaning, purpose – where I feel most alive, stimulated, authentic. Being encouraged to simultaneously learn multiple art forms blurred the edges, removed restrictive “creative think” boundaries. I learned that arts expression is a flow of communication that reaches through all the arts, across cultures and in the best moments…..the driving force of creativity is passion.

After 40 years of working professionally in the arts, I’ve come to understand that “being” an artist is a state of mind, rather than a conferred job title. It’s how one perceives, communicates and walks through life. If there’s been any apparent singularity, it’s recognizing that my how, why and what is to create beauty with the passion of my hands, eyes, heart and mind.

Wearable art in apparel, accessories, millinery, jewelry, fine natural perfume is my focus. All are shaped by my ancillary background in stage performance of dance, theater, chanteuse and my private life of gardener, wife, mother, grandmother and foodie/cook/taste bud sensation junkie.

I love lush visuals, textural layers, sensual dark and dangerous beauty, elegant form, lyrical, yet edgy sensibility, evocative odors, the taste of rocks, inspired conversation, romantic thought, experimental music, dramatic lighting.

…..and water, always the water.

I like tepid, but only in the temperature of my tea <wink>!

You are clearly very nature inspired, was it a conscious choice to work in naturals to create your perfumes? How did you make that choice/ why?

A life long avowed perfumista, everyday is a cause celebre’ to wear perfume. Throughout my life, I’ve worn many mainstream scents: Magic Noire, Buecheron, vintaqe editions of Jicky and Tobac Blond (when I could find them), Poison, several perfumes from the house of Frederick Malle, not to mention Annick and Camille Goutal – j’adore!!

Unfortunately, in recent years, my body has begun to “talk to me” with rashes and sinus allergin reactions. I now have to be careful what I breathe in, what I ingest and also what I topically apply to my skin. When the pain in my joints flare, I know I’ve come up against some un-natural substance that my body doesn’t want near it. I believe my reactions are an accumulative sensitization to the chemical additives we live with in our modern world

and my early gardening exposure to pesticides, before I changed to growing all natural.

Unwilling to give up wearing perfumes, I began an exploration into natural perfumery. Happily, there’s much information readily available. I read everything I can find about the materials as well as the formulation process. I compare notes and gain insight from interactions with other natural perfumers. I continuously self educate, blending with botanical materials and furthering my scent recognition vocabulary.

Passion for what I do, the process of creating beauty and the beloved challenge of subject matter – these are my driving forces and ultimately what defines my creative spirit.
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You describe Riche’ as your signature scent. How did you choose the notes that went into the composition, how is this blend “you”?

This Fall, I debuted a perfume, Riche’ that has become the signature scent voice of my perfume business, Exotica Perfumery. This perfume embodies the central idea of many of my perfumes – twisty opening, powdery heart, gourmand or leathered/spicy base notes.

The blending of most of my perfumes is a process of mental “imagineering” – thinking the perfume through – researching the proposed aromatics – then beginning the blending. My method relies on working with aromatics that I know play well together and incorporating selections from my hand prepared wild crafted tinctures collection. As the blends age, materials adjustments are made to reach the desired outcome. Nose intuition plays a large part in my blending – discerning along the way, which aromatics will enhance each other.

In the case of Riche’, I dropped a surprise aromatic (something I was not so sure would enhance) into the blend to create jangle. The results thrilled!

Riche’ is at once twisty, rich with powdered flowers and sensually, deeply comforting.

Who knew, I would fall hopelessly in love with the perfumers artform!! Unraveling, understanding the varied aromatics interactions…the scent maturing magic that happens in my formula bottles – this excites me!

Perfuming is a passionate arts expression. It fires my imagination, fuels my creative process and is a natural extension of and compliment to my other forms of wearable art.

Gale’s Websites

Lily Fleur Wedding Style — http://lilyfleur.etsy.com/
Tattered Rouge — http://tatteredrouge.etsy.com/
Ravish Couture — http://ravishcouture.etsy.com/
Noir Fumes — http://sweetnoir.etsy.com/

Exotica Perfumery — http://bez-arts.com/