Fall has its own special scents: The first home fires of the season burning, apple pies laced with cinnamon baking, cloves in warmed red wine mulling.
Kim Perry, owner of Perry Home Naturals, has created a set of room and linen spray scents that appeal to her customers’ love of the season. This is the time of year she sells a lot of “Solstice Spice” – made with witch hazel extract and cinnamon, clove, and sweet orange essential oils – and “Black Cat,” a scent she created for Halloween but now sells all autumn long.
“It contains patchouli, which people either love or hate, or they associate with somebody they knew in college,” Perry joked.
The earthy fragrance also contains cinnamon and clove.
Perry’s Winter Wonderland scent, “cool and icy,” is obviously for the holidays, but it’s also a top seller in fall. It’s made with peppermint and vanilla. “That one smells sort of like a sugar cookie,” Perry said.
Perry, who lives in South Paris, started working with essential oils and herbs 20 years ago, when she was about 19. She eventually became a high school English teacher, but when she had her daughter in 2009 Perry left teaching to stay home with her. After a while, though, she wanted more to do and a little income. She started her Etsy.com site with her daughter bouncing on her lap. She harvested lavender from her garden to make sachets and, later, made eye pillows filled with herbal blends.
Perry went back to teaching in 2015, but after a couple of years she realized she couldn’t do both of her jobs well. So, just last June, she quit teaching again and since then has devoted herself to expanding her business.
Perry says her products can comfort users and help them tap into a state of calm. She’s seen this firsthand when she goes to craft shows and people sample her sprays.
“Scent can act like a time machine and transport them to where they were when they first smelled that smell,” she said. “Every single time someone picks up a product, you can see their shoulders drop and they relax.”
Perry suggests spritzing her sprays around a room, but also on pillows and clothing – even on stinky gym bags. She warns, however, to test it on fabrics first.
The sprays – there are 10 scents in all – cost $12 for 2 ounces and $15 for 4 ounces. You can buy them on Perry’s website, perryhomenaturals.com, and on her Etsy.com site. Retail stores that sell her products include Found in Kennebunk, Naples Supply Co., the Serenity Place Store in Oxford, Beelicious in Wiscasset, and Floret on Mount Desert Island.
— MEREDITH GOAD
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