By the Independent Malta 20 June, 2016
Gozitan perfumer Stephen Cordina is renowned for his collection of scents and for his luxury range of candles, diffusers, room sprays and toiletries.
Now, inspired by ancient Phoenician materials which used to pass through Malta and his own childhood memories of visits to the Maltese capital with his mother, Stephen has launched The Valletta Scent.
Valletta was where he first discovered exotic fruits like coconuts and pineapples and where his visits to the old market and the specialised shops selling spices sowed the seeds of what was to become his passion and his career.
On occasions, having slipped from his mother's sight, he could be found at original perfume shops like Franks or in an elegant coffee shop like Cafe Cordina, tasting the ambiance and the perfumes then fashionable with smart ladies and businessmen. To this day, he associates the city with a sense of exoticism and freshness that's interlaced with a richness and elegance that make our baroque capital so unique.
As part of The Valletta Collection, Stephen has created a diffuser and scented candle. Like all his other candles, this lavishly scented product melts to become a hand balm that can be applied to the skin as a therapeutic body cream and massage oil.
In the coming months, The Valletta Scent will also be launched as a perfume for both him and her, and it will form part of Stephen's first-ever dedicated personal fragrance range.
Explaining the ingredients that have gone into the scent, he says: "I have used mainly jasmine, oud and grapefruit mixed with other notes. This original mix of smells is what makes The Valletta Scent so original with its earthy, elegant, leathery and rich tones coupled with freshness and energy. It is a product that I truly believe represents our capital."
All of Stephen's fragrances are made in Malta and hand-crafted, reflecting his attention to detail and respect for his thoroughly-researched products.
His dynamic background has certainly made him an expert in the field. After studying in Switzerland and the UK and tutored by various master perfumers (also known as "noses") he spent many years working on combinations of essential oils and other materials to create his own private recipe book. Each blend of ingredients, formulated using his knowledge and experience as a practicing aromatherapist, creates a product which not only emits a beautiful fragrance but is also beneficial to health. The final addition to each recipe is one or more essential oils designed to target the "spirit" and thus promote a sense of wellbeing.
The Valletta Scent had a pre-launch run at Christmas and the initial production released sold out in just two weeks. Following on from this success, Valletta will now join Stephen's permanent line.