The Home-Scent Maker
Shelley Callaghan | Seattle Peel a grapefruit at the beach and you'd have a pretty good idea of what Shelley Callaghan's house smells like. The cofounder of the fragrace line Antica Farmacista, best known for its revolutionary reeds-in-oil room aromas, infuses different spaces in her classic Seattle colonial with her favorite Antica products: Grapefruit in the kitchen and Aqua in the family room blow a citrus-sea combo through adjoining areas. "A lot of people are afraid to use more than one aroma at home, but they really shouldn't be," Callaghan says. Blending can be creative and gratifying’Äîbut more important, she adds, "you'll have a house that smells completely unique. I love the idea that my kids are growing up with fragrance that will always remind them of the special smell of home."
Shelley Callaghan | Seattle Peel a grapefruit at the beach and you'd have a pretty good idea of what Shelley Callaghan's house smells like. The cofounder of the fragrace line Antica Farmacista, best known for its revolutionary reeds-in-oil room aromas, infuses different spaces in her classic Seattle colonial with her favorite Antica products: Grapefruit in the kitchen and Aqua in the family room blow a citrus-sea combo through adjoining areas. "A lot of people are afraid to use more than one aroma at home, but they really shouldn't be," Callaghan says. Blending can be creative and gratifying’Äîbut more important, she adds, "you'll have a house that smells completely unique. I love the idea that my kids are growing up with fragrance that will always remind them of the special smell of home."
Antica Farmacista home and body
The enormously popular room-scent diffusers made by Callaghan and partner Susanne Pruitt are ingeniously simple. Thin birch reeds soak in an apothecary bottle of fragrance, a blend that includes natural essential oils. You flip the reeds, and the oil scent floats into the air. You can control the potency by flipping just a couple of reeds at a time. There are 12 blends in two sizes (the minis are great for bathrooms), plus room-and-linen sprays. And the company recently launched a line of body products: moisturizer, bath and shower wash, and perfume, in sumptuous aromas that match the home line.