MICHAEL PAUL’s journey from the stage of corporate magic shows to the world of perfumery is nothing short of enchanting. Discover in this talk how he became a perfumer and founded DAY THREE, an artisan fragrance house born out of faith and family inspiration. Michael explains how a call to “make perfume” set him and his wife, Vanessa, on a path they never anticipated. Day Three quickly gained international recognition with its authentic scents inspired by the Dominican Republic, winning the prestigious Golden Pear Aftel Award. Dive into Michael’s captivating story, where magic, faith, and artistry intertwine to create memorable fragrances.
So, Michael, could you please tell us how you got into perfumery? What’s your background? At what point did you feel inspired to start your own fragrance house?
My background is actually in the entertainment industry. I was a full time magician, working mostly for corporate audiences, and in hospitality suites for large trade shows. During that time, I had a piece in my act in which I would hand someone a cocktail napkin, which was folded into the shape of a rose; then I would ask them what their favorite flower is… and when they smelled the cocktail napkin/rose, it smelled of their favorite flower. Of course, as I can’t actually do “real” magic, I needed to figure out a way to reproduce the scent of various flowers, and that is where my interest in perfumery started (at a very basic level). For many years after that, I used perfumery as a hobby, which I could fall back on when I needed a break from thinking about my act. Having perfumery as a secondary obsession (behind magic) allowed me to take a lot of time just getting to know the nuances of various raw materials. I did this for well over ten years.
Shortly after COVID lockdowns, my wife and I began questioning the direction of our careers. She was in a very high-stress medical care job, and I was still entertaining, but the lockdowns negatively affected my income. Everything felt shaky. At one point, the stress and uncertainty started to become a little overwhelming, and we began praying for guidance. Then, suddenly (and rather clearly) we received an answer to our prayers; “make perfume”. I told Vanessa, “hey, I’m pretty sure I feel God leading us to start a perfume company”, to which she gently suggested that I keep praying just to be sure… because starting a financially viable fragrance company takes an unbelievable amount of knowledge, investment, connections, and resources. We had none of those things.
It wasn’t more than a week later that my daughter, Kota, was sitting on the floor in my office, holding a scent strip that she had dipped into a pear/rose accord that I was working on. She put the strip to her nose, took a sniff, and then just casually stated, “you should make perfumes and sell them”. I explained to her how difficult that would be for a variety of reasons, and how fiercely competitive the space is. But she had an unexpected response: “Why do you need to compete? What if someone wanted to buy this bottle? Wouldn’t you sell it to them? Just do that.” That moment felt like a confirmation.
And that was the day we decided to start a fragrance house.
Day Three was founded quite recently, in 2023. What’s it like being a new indie brand in a market flooded with other new brands and releases each year? What sets you apart?
Day Three was founded in the later part of 2022, and honestly, I had no idea how we were going to grow the company. We just leaned on our faith, believing that if God really was calling us into this industry, we just needed to be obedient, and He would take care of the rest. A couple of months later, we received an email from The Institute for Art and Olfaction, notifying us that we were selected as finalists for the IAO Golden Pear award. It didn’t feel real. Ultimately, we ended up winning the award for “La Tacita De Cafe“, and suddenly, people knew our name. We went from a completely unknown artisan perfume company to internationally recognized award winners overnight. It was wild.
The IAO award didn’t really increase our sales numbers, but it did provide us with the visibility and credibility that we needed to convince bloggers, influencers, and YouTube reviewers to give us a shot. So we sent out samples to anyone and everyone with a platform, and waited on pins and needles to hear what they had to say. The reviews began pouring in, and they were overwhelmingly positive. To our surprise, there was a sudden “hype” around our brand. Reviewers loved our novel themes (mostly inspired by the people and culture of the Dominican Republic), and our easy-to-wear approach to perfumery. We never really made an effort to “stand out” per se, instead, we just created perfumes that authentically represented our family culture and scent memories.
We believe that as long as we stay true to who we are and produce art that is genuinely personal to us, the “creativity” part will take care of itself.
What does it mean to be an artisan brand in practical terms? We’d love to know how Day Three operates, from conception to distribution.
It’s kind of funny, because an “artisan fragrance house” could mean there’s just one guy mixing essential oils in his mom’s basement for friends. That’s the “artisan” stereotype, and there’s nothing wrong with that type of perfumery, but Day Three isn’t one of those operations. By definition, we are an artisan brand, which just means that we handle every part of production, without outside help of any kind. Yes, we create the formulas and compound the materials, but we also do the hazmat certs, compliance testing and paperwork, payroll, batch tracking, and all the fun technical stuff that you never hear anyone talk about because it would bore you to death.
Practically speaking, being an “artisan” company just means that we have ultimate control over absolutely everything. We can put our nose on every single material. We can constantly upgrade our packaging and presentation. We can quickly adapt and pivot according to customer feedback, without having to go to a board or get approval from anyone else. We don’t need to create perfume according to an outside brief or rely on some other perfumer’s interpretation of our vision. Being an artisan company means there are no walls between our artistic work and our audience, and we think that’s special.
How did you become a perfumer? What were your biggest challenges during your training? What were the most difficult ingredients and accords to master?
I’d first point out that there’s a difference between “challenges” and “difficulties”. Perfumery itself is challenging because it is vastly complex. There’s the chemistry, math, philosophy, and artistry aspects. Beyond that, it can be very expensive to practice, which can also present a challenge. I wouldn’t say that any particular material is necessarily difficult to work with. Some materials take a little longer to learn because they can cause interesting chemical reactions (like aldehydes for example), but usually when a perfumer says that a material is “difficult” to work with, they mean that the material is really powerful, so you need to be careful about dosing it. In those instances, it’s just a matter of figuring out how much it needs to be diluted before using it.
There are certainly accords that have given me a hard time though! That’s mainly because my inspirations tend to be rather concrete, and I find myself trying to replicate specific scent memories. For example, in our perfume, “Del Mar“, I wanted to recreate the scent of the jasmine that grows near the beaches in Del Mar California. When I experienced that scent for the first time, there was a breeze that would come off the water, across the sand, and then blow through the jasmine bushes in the front yard of the beach house we were staying at. The scent was just breathtaking, and I wanted to recreate it in a perfume. So when I was working on the jasmine note, I didn’t want it to feel like sticking your face into a flower; it needed to feel “breezy”, as though the fragrance was being carried by the ocean breeze. It took a very long time to get the accord to have the right feel.
Basic accords can be easy to execute, but putting them into the context of a specific environment or memory adds an extra level of difficulty, and sometimes frustration.
What are your favorite raw materials, whether natural or synthetic? How do you source them?
Favorite raw materials… I have so many! Of course, I love the popular materials like rose de mai, jasmine sambac, agarwood, etc. But we stock a very special vanilla absolute here in the lab that is just indescribable. As luck would have it, the owner of a small vanilla plantation found our perfumes, and offered to supply small batches of his vanilla to us directly. Because of the environment it’s grown in, this vanilla has a really complex floral facet, and I’ve never smelled anything like it. We use this vanilla in “Filosofia” and it will also be in a very special upcoming release.
On the synthetic side, I’ve really taken a liking to Orcanox from Mane. It’s an ambroxan product that dries down to a sweet, almost musky amber. I used quite a bit of it in “Escandalo“. The rest of that formula is made up of elegant and transparent florals, so the Orcanox really helped build a rich backbone to anchor the formula. Mane does amazing work with their products.
Would you share how you conceived and executed a specific fragrance?
Making “Bani“. So much of my inspiration comes from the people and culture of the Dominican Republic. My wife’s side of the family is from DR, and many of them still live there. I get to see the old family photos, hear the stories, and enjoy the family recipes (our family Dominican cake stands out as a favorite). One of the stories that my wife shared with me was about her grandmother’s house in Bani (a town in the Dominican Republic). She would tell me all about picking mangoes off the tree in the backyard, and eating them over a bucket (to catch the juice). Bani is known for having some of the most aromatic and juicy mangos in the world. In fact, they even have a famous, yearly “Bani Mango Festival”. Along with the mangos, kids in Bani also enjoy chewing on pieces of freshly cut sugarcane.
So I set out to create a perfume that would take Vanessa (my wife) back to her childhood. The idea was to do a photo realistic mango in the top/heart, and anchor the fragrance with the earthiness of sugarcane. Along the way, I decided to pair the mango with mango leaf in the top, to help trigger her scent memory, and really give the wearer the feeling of being there in the backyard. The sugarcane accord came together rather quickly, mostly out of luck I think. The mango however, took much longer. We used the actual mangos from Bani as a scent reference, and getting the accord to match the actual fruit was important to me, as it was going to be the “soul” of the fragrance. So I went through an obnoxious number of trials before finally nailing it. When it was finished, we gifted Vanessa’s grandmother a bottle. Her response? “This reminds me of my childhood in Bani…”. Her comment sent a chill up my spine. I couldn’t have asked for a better compliment.
What is Day Three’s most popular scent, and which one is the most polarizing? Could you share a memorable story from someone who was impacted by one of your fragrances?
The most polarizing fragrance from Day Three is “Silent Rescue“, as it is strongly focused on the note of frankincense… which is one of those “love it” or “hate it” materials. When we watch someone review our house on YouTube, we find that Silent Rescue typically ends up as either the favorite scent or the least favorite scent, but rarely is it ranked in between.
The most popular is more difficult to nail down. When we ask for feedback from users who have purchased the discovery set, we will usually ask what the favorite was from the set. Most of the time, our users will respond, “my favorite five are…”. Read any of the reviews on our website for the discovery set and you’ll find the same thing. People have a tough time picking just one favorite. According to our sales numbers, our current most popular perfumes are Bani, Escandalo, and Say Less, but I think that’s because we are in the warmer seasons, and those are all high-heat friendly fragrances.
The craziest reaction I’ve experienced from a wearer happened in LA, shortly before the Art and Olfaction Awards:
We were at a cocktail reception for the finalists and judges, and I was making my way through the crowd, trying to find a quiet corner to hide in (I’m very introverted). As I was pushing my way past a group of people, someone reached out and grabbed my arm. I had no idea who this person was, or why they would grab me while I was trying to go hide! It turned out to be an industry professional who helped evaluate the finalists for the competition (I’m leaving this person’s name out, as the conversation felt personal and I’d rather not name drop here). They asked, “Are you the perfumer for La Tacita De Cafe?”. They proceeded to tell me that they found themselves coming back to La Tacita De Cafe and started wearing it almost daily on skin. Then they squeezed my arm harder, as if to emphasize their sincerity, and tears welled up in their eyes, “I can’t tell you if you’ve won, or even how I rated your work, but if you look into my eyes, I think you’ll see how your fragrance moved me, and I just wanted to say thank you.” The moment was so unexpectedly emotional, that I began to tear up as well. That single moment was probably the highlight of my perfumery career thus far. I will never, ever forget that conversation.
In 2023, Day Three received the prestigious Aftel Award, named after Mandy Aftel, an icon of artisanal perfumery, by The Institute for Art and Olfaction. What impact did this have on you?
I think this is mostly answered above, but I think the Art and Olfaction Award went a long way toward attaching a level of credibility to our name. It didn’t increase our sales directly, but it did cause people to stop and take notice, which led to opportunities for reviews, magazine articles, podcast appearances, etc. In such a crowded marketplace, it’s hard to get people to stop and pay attention. We will be forever grateful for the Institute for Art and Olfaction, and the work they do to shine a light on small houses like Day Three.
What mark would Day Three like to leave in history?
When you think about leaving a mark on history, you tend to imagine some sort of impact on a macro level. Some industry changing perfume, technique, or innovation. I have a different view. I like to think that Day Three will leave a mark on history by impacting the individuals we come in contact with, and the memories we help them create around scent. I imagine giving confidence to some people, and comfort to others. I genuinely believe you can change the world just by the way you treat the people you cross paths with.
In 2 or 3 words, how would you define perfume?
Aromatic blessing.
Michael, thank you for your time and for sharing valuable insights with us. Would you like to add something before we wrap up?
You don’t want to miss ScentXplore in NYC this December. Day Three is releasing a very special perfume as part of an official collaboration with ScentXplore! Each bottle will be autographed, and there will only be 300 limited edition bottles sold. Personally, it’s a huge honor to create something for the event, and I can’t wait till people get it on skin… it’s magical.
Follow Day Three on Instagram: @daythreefragrances
Check out Day Three: https://daythreefragrances.com/
(images cortesy of Michael Paul)
