Tomorrow, Esxence, The Scent of Excellence gets underway in Milan.  It’s a trade show extroadinaire running from March 26th – 29th, featuring niche and artisanal perfume lines. Pretty much all that is new in niche. On Thursday and Friday Esxence is open to trade and media, but on Saturday and Sunday everyone can come and take a look, smell some gorgeous perfumes and meet the people behind their creation. There is also a series of events running each day, including the announcement of the finalists of The Art And Olfaction Awards, so I will definitely be going to a few of these and will report back.

Here’s a link to the event list and the brands on show. The roster of perfume brands in attendance is pretty incredible. Here is a sprinkling of just some of the perfume houses that I’m looking forward to sniffing their wares.  Many of which I haven’t yet sampled, and others I have but am keen to meet the perfumer / creative / director / team in person : Aedes de Venustas, Carner Barcelona, Jul et Mad, LM Parfums, Min New York, Masque Fragrances, Neela Vermeire Creations, Pierre Guillaume La Collection Croisiere, Molinard, Puredistance, Stephane Humbert Lucas, Teo Cabanel, and Viktoria Minya.  There are many more but I’ll keep this brief. There are also many brands on the list that I haven’t heard of, so Esxence will also be about discovering new creations.

Vero Kern of vero.profumo will release the much anticipated Rozy Extrait at Campomarzio70. This is an Italian store that sells niche perfume brands including Mona di Orio, Von Euserdorff, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, By Kilian and Ramon Monegal. They are having a cocktail party on Friday evening as well to amp things up a little.

It will be my first time in Milan so I’m fairly excited and will also make sure I do some sightseeing, and get out and about. I’ll provide updates via my Instagram feed and will also do a few posts here as well.  There will be plenty of perfumes to write about and hopefully I will have a few adventures along the way so don’t forget to check back here.

I will also be catching up with other bloggers, which will no doubt be fabulous.  I’ll get to finally meet in person Michelyn Camen, the brains behind CaFleurebon, that I contribute to (and that has just celebrated its fifth anniversary).  I’m also pretty chuffed to be seeing Val The Cookie Queen who writes for  Australian Perfume Junkies (and apparently makes delicious cookies).  Lucas from Chemist In The Bottle will also be in attendance.

Here’s a teaser that’s just been released.