The Art of Scent and Perfumery with Pink MahogHany Founder Chavalia Mwamba

Chavalia Mwamba is the founder of Pink MahogHany, an independent fragrance brand. She is a self-taught niche perfumer from Longview, Texas (by way of Dallas.) With a background in both music and education, Chavalia treats each composition as an alluringly intriguing song that takes the wearer on a unique, unforgettable journey.     Chavalia founded Pink MahogHany in 2005, when she began to notice the scents of once favorite fragrances changing without notice. Amidst these changes also came an influx of complaints from those whom she conversed with. Frustrations from an inability to wear or use certain fragrances due to adverse reactions such as headaches, rashes and other allergy-like symptoms placed urgency on her quest to create a line of products that gratify the senses without the addition of some of the less than desirable ingredients. Through her constant research and many forms of trial and error, Chavalia aims to educate and provide transparency, all while helping others feel more confident about using fragrance on their skin and in their space.   In this episode, we discuss Chavalia’s journey from a music teacher to a perfumer, why scent is so important to her, what phthalates are and why Pink MahogHany never uses them, the surprising parallels between scent and music, her creative process behind designing a scent, how she evokes emotion to design her fragrances, how she designs fragrances in layers, how she finds inspiration from music, experiences, words, and other unique places and how she translates those to scents, the unique ways she tests her fragrances, and more.    Follow Pink MahogHany on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pink_mahoghany  Visit Pink MahogHany’s website: https://www.pinkmahoghany.com/  Subscribe to Version 1's substack: version1podcast.substack.com/  Follow Version 1 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/version1podcast/ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/waverlycolville