By The Beauty Book
New Zealand-based natural fragrance house Abel has released its newest innovation, Pause, to coincide with World Menopause Day today (October 18).
While World Menopause Day would not normally be the most obvious fit for an international fragrance launch, it makes perfect sense when you equate that Pause is in fact the first functional fragrance designed to support hormonal harmony during Perimenopause.
Co-created by Abel founder Frances Shoemack and French perfumer Dr Fanny Grau, Pause is a response to their own journeys of hormonal change and a desire to bring confidence and sophistication to this stage of womanhood.
From the rich floral scent profile to the vibrant bottle design, Pause offers functional benefits alongside its symbolic and aesthetic features.
Abel has explored therapeutic perfume previously (a previous creation was the pregnancy-supporting Nurture), and Pause features carefully selected essential oils including Mimosa (for its mood stabilising properties); Narcissus (for its ability to support sleep) and Violet Leaf (to aid in stress reduction).
“No other functional fragrance exists to support this chapter of hormonal change and Abel is proud to be the first,” says Frances.
“When Fanny and I connected, and realised that none of our girlfriends talked about, or felt prepared to enter this transitional period, we knew Pause needed to do more than smell amazing. It had to empower and reflect the strong women we knew would want to be part of a new dialogue around Perimenopause.
For perfumer Fanny Grau, the inspiration for Pause was always very clear.
“It’s an ode to the wise women of the world. Mimosa the hero ingredient is a comforting, mesmerising scent which to me really represents strength and beauty.”
The launch of Pause is accompanied by Abel’s own resource centre, to help women better understand and feel prepared for Perimenopause before it happens. This space is where the global Abel team (made up entirely of women) can collect and curate their favourite podcasts to listen to, hormone experts to follow, community groups to join and articles and books to read. The Pause Library can be found online at abelodor.com.
Pause is available online now.