Colleen Speights of Wiggle Perfume
By Ashley Brooks
Published: January 5th, 2011 | 8:23am
When I think of the art of making and bottling perfume, I picture a sort of laboratory set-up, complete with white coats and beakers fizzing up and overflowing (with a little bit of maniacal laughter thrown in). Colleen "Nani" Speights assures me that it's nothing so dramatic. Her online shop, Wiggle Perfume and Sundries, has been thriving for two and a half years, run by pure talent and ingenuity as opposed to any sort of weird science. Wiggle Perfume has bloomed into an Etsy giant. With over 90 items listed in her shop (all homemade) and more than 5000 positive reviews from happy customers, one might think that Colleen has been doing this since birth, or at least enlisting the help of an assembly line to process her many orders
Neither is the case. Wiggle Perfume is a one-woman show, fueled entirely by the enterprising Ms. Speights, who did not become interested in perfume until she stumbled across a shop in Atlanta that introduced her to middle eastern perfume oils and incense. After a friend showed her Etsy.com, she became inspired. After what she describes as "lots and lots of reading, and even more spectacular failures", Wiggle Perfumes and Sundries was born.
Her storefront is instantly inviting with gorgeous photographs depicting each perfume bottle surrounded by flowers or old-time portraits of glamorous women, coupled with Ms. Speights' flowing poetry-like descriptions of each scent. It's easy to get tempted to purchase one (or five). Colleen offers samples of each fragrance for affordable prices so you can "try before you buy" and even offers gift sets and a few scents for men. With such a wide variety, does she ever feel as though she's running out of ideas?
Not likely! Colleen draws inspiration from the world around her, building scents from pieces of songs that get stuck in her head, silent movies, fantasies of far-off places, and even some things closer to home - the women in her burlesque troop, for instance. The name Wiggle came from a similar inspiration. After her move to the Northwest, she put on ten pounds. She says, "As I approached thirty I was doing a lot of thinking about womanhood and what it meant to me, and how that squared with the rest of the culture. Those ten pounds felt great, and how much my husband loved them felt great... the classic wiggle dress became my best friend as I embraced my new ladylike figure... and from there evolved my current philosophy that we should worry less and live more." Colleen's live-in-the-moment attitude translates well to her business, as she is always coming up with new ideas and fresh takes on old scents to keep both new and recurring customers on their toes.
This spring, Colleen recommends:
- Sakura - "Sakura has a beautiful cherry blossom note, and around here they're one of the first things to really come alive as the weather warms up."
- 101 - "101 has a hint of peppermint that mimics a still-brisk breeze and balances the ripe freshness of grapefruit and pink flowers."
- Anna May - "Anna May is a soft blend of wisteria, peony, and tea, very feminine and delicate, all clean florals with a drop of lychee on top."
Link: Wiggle Perfume and Sundries
Issue #29
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