Scent and memory are deeply connected.
When we inhale a scent, airborne molecules enter the nose and interact with the olfactory bulb, a structure in the brain that processes smell. Uniquely, the olfactory bulb has direct connections to regions responsible for processing emotions and storing long-term memories. Because of this, the sense of smell is one of the most powerful and emotional triggers for humans.
That includes Shelter Island perfumer Shannon Lords, owner and founder of 84 Shelter, her collection of signature scents. For Lords, the connection between scent and memory is not only powerful, but deeply personal.
“I started during COVID, in 2020 on Shelter Island, formulating my first couple of scents,” she says. “My other business is the film business, and so we were completely shut down. I had a lot of time on the island and I had taken classes in perfumery. I’ve always loved everything scents, so, for me it was a natural thing to sort of explore.”
84 Shelter’s seven signature scents, as well as one limited edition perfume, are made at Lords’ studio on Shelter Island. (Photos courtesy of Shannon Lords)
She initially set out to create a scent her husband was fond of that they couldn’t find anymore.
“I thought, ‘I can make that,'” she says. So, she did.
During the process of making the scent for her husband, a smoky-tobacco fragrance, Lords was immediately brought back to her childhood, growing up in Montana, with her father, who smoked a pipe. That visceral relationship of scent and memory sparked an immediate interest for Lords, who quickly began to create three more scents.
“It started me on this journey of thinking about things I loved or places I wanted to create or a moment that I was loving, and I wanted to make something that smelled like that,” she says.”Most of my scents that are in the collection now started like that, linked to a memory or a place.”
Named as a nod for her address on the island, Lords’ 84 Shelter contains seven, unisex signature scents: Bond, Aura, Camp, Eden, Pipe, Shore and Shelter. Additionally, there’s the limited edition scent, Love, made in collaboration with Lynn Park Charveriat, owner of the newly opened Garage in Sag Harbor and one of the locations the perfumes can be purchased at.
For Lords, the perfume-making process is just as personal as her connection to the finished product, as she often is considering her natural surroundings for inspiration.While crafting her scent Shelter, an ode to her beloved Shelter Island, Lords says, “I started thinking ‘what does Shelter Island smell like?’ And then I realized, ‘well, I’m out in the garden all the time,’ so I really had to consider the smell of the soil, the way all the green things growing smell, and all those sorts of things. And that’s when the research for each element really gets going.”
A self-described “mad scientist in the studio,” Lords hand pours and mixes all of her scents, using ethically sourced oils from three different suppliers based in California, New York and Oregon, respectively.
84 Shelter scents are currently available at The Garage in Sag Harbor. (Photo credit: Emily Toy)
“I have my beakers and stirrers. I literally hand pour and hand mix everything,” she says, initially applying drops of the oils to paper test strips to see how they work together. “My formulas basically start off as drops of things. So, maybe 10 drops of lavender and 15 drops of ambergris. You know? And I sit with my beakers and I put every single element in. I mix it, then I let that initial mixture set for a day. After about a day, I make adjustments.”
Using fractionated coconut oil as her carrier oil, praised for it’s clean, hypoallergenic properties, Lords then pours her scents into 15 milliliter bottles. Each scent is $75 each. Additionally, there’s a room scent available for $35 as well as a discovery set containing all seven cents in smaller, two milliliter bottles.
In addition to being available for sale online as well as at The Garage in Sag Harbor, 84 Shelter scents can also be found locally at Ganeaux in Amagansett along with White Flower Garden and White Flower Farmhouse in Southold.
