On Saturday, My friend Candice, the Editorial Director for (www.beautynewsnyc.com) invited me to attend Sniffapalooza. What’s a Sniffapalooza you ask?

Sniffapalooza is the brainchild of Brainchild of Karen Dubin, a fragrance freak since the age of 4, who owns over 700 bottles of perfume as a personal collection. We can only guess what her corporate holdings are

Candice and Karen

In 2000, Karen wasn’t getting enough information on the corporate level and had started writing fragrance reviews for (www.makeupalley.com). Karen realized that her reccomendations translated to purchases – so in 2002 she started (www.snifapalooza.com). She currently has over 500k members that could challenge any Saatchi size magnate to give better demographic and tastemaker information to brands. The fragrance industry loves her because she has the “informed, saavy consumer who buys a lot – that the industry wasn’t aware existed”  Karen also became the champion of market segments that companies didn’t understand and to her credit, Karen is keeping the fragrance industry alive.  She’s a modern day version of the parfumer in the book “Perfume”,  however far more socially well adjusted .

“Sniffapalooza does not criticize fragrances” says Karen “Rather we embrace scents”.

The pairings of wine, chocolate and fragrance were well designed and allowed the fragrances to really accentuate the taste of the chocolates while pulling out all of the notes within the wines.

The wines ranges from a Monte Degli Angell Monteferrato Pinot Noir to a homemade port, Proscecco and a Chateau Montaud Cotes de Provence Rose.

Each wine was paired with a flavored chocolate and of course, fragrances that opened the bouquet of the wine and intensified the flavor of the chocolates.

Chocolates were sourced from 2 Chicks with Chocolate, yes that IS their name, even though it sounds a bit naughty (http://www.2chickswithchocolate.com/)

If you’re a fan of fragrance – Snifapalooza.com is definitely worth checking out.

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5. A Twist on the Traditional Valentine’s Day Flowers and Chocolate