Meet Carolyn Dunne,
Founder and Scent Artist at Escentuelle

Hi! I'm Carolyn, lover of dogs, chocolate, and wine--preferably all together.

I’ve been scent-crazy my whole life (surprised?). It started with a couple of small vials of perfume my grandfather gave me when I was about 9 years old and progressed to my trying on every scent (for women AND men) in every department store in my teens, much to my best friend's amusement.

But I wasn’t inspired to dig into what perfumes were made of until I was gifted a beautiful scent, Trésor by Lancôme, that I loved in the bottle but made me sad every time I wore it. This led me to discover and explore essential oils in 1998, before most of the world had even heard of them, and I started blending them with other all-natural ingredients into perfumes.

Having taught myself initially and honed my skills face-to-face with master perfumers in France, online via perfume-blending groups, and through a formal certificate from the Natural Perfume Academy, I’ve been fortunate since 1998 to be able to compose unique, highly personal scents that expressed the people who wore them.

It started with friends and family. It was so much fun playing with scents and experimenting with their infinite combinations, like an artsy mad scientist. It was my creative escape from technology (a big part of my then-career in scholarly publishing) and the go-go-go of the world. But I was fortunate to be tapped by a perfumery in Grasse, France, to use their ingredients in a studio of my own, which I opened in 2015 in historic Downtown Cary, North Carolina.

The location has shifted, initially as a result of COVID-19, and my offerings have kept pace with remote requirements, but what my clients receive is the same: a fun, educational, creative experience that results in a beautiful scent that's completely their own.
 
I truly believe a person’s fragrance should reflect and celebrate who they are. Each of my studio guests is unique, with a lifetime of precious memories she carries in her heart. I feel blessed to guide her, step-by-step, in discovering and combining the scent ingredients that tell the story of her—who she is and what she loves—so that she can shine a light to the world that is purely her.

Are you ready to create a fragrance that's just...you?