Daily Inspiration: Meet Michael Salazar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Salazar. 

Michael, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The real beginning is when I was a chef back in the early 2010s. I had experienced a horrific accident in a kitchen and left me with first-degree burns on my face and second-degree burns in my nostrils. One day right before I was leaving work, the owner of the establishment asked me to take something out of the microwave. I did not know what it was and just opened the microwave and took out the pyrex measuring cup. It had hardboiled eggs still in the shell. I stared for a second and was dumbfounded as to why someone would do this. I put the cup closer to my face to see if my eyes were really seeing in the shell eggs, and that’s when *BOOM*! The eggs exploded. Covering my face in molten egg. I, fortunately, wore glasses at the time. But it blew my head back. With my ears ringing, I stumbled and realized I couldn’t see because my glasses were covered in egg. I took the glasses off and immediately started to feel burning on my face; I began to try and wipe the eggs off my face and realized I was also ripping off layers of skin that had burned. Then I noticed I couldn’t breathe out of my nose. Hot molten egg had shot up into my nose and clogged it. I blew out, and all of this nasty stuff, eggs, and shells, came pouring out. That is when the burning of it all set in. I was immediately rushed to an urgent care, where they were able to help with the burning and clean all the eggs off my face and in my nose. It took a few hours, but they did a great job. The doctor had told me that if I wasn’t wearing glasses, I would probably have gone blind. When the healing began, I, of course, couldn’t smell much of anything. Taste was also almost gone. It became a depressing time in my life not being able to taste or smell very well, as I was a chef, and these factors were crucial to what I do. After a while, I just wanted to give up and just realize that it was gonna be permanent. The doctors ensured me it would come back, but it would take a while. I have polyps and permanent scarring inside my nostrils. But that is when I found sanctuary in fragrances. Something amazing to smell and uplift. To train my nose to smell again. So, it all began right before covid. I never really cared much for fragrances or to wear them. But it was something that suddenly sparked my interest. I began collecting them and learning all the different types of smells and ways they could be different. The sky was literally the limit on them. But after a while, I started asking myself, “how do they get made? Why is one bottle $20 and another $500?’. So, I decided to embark on a journey of learning to make them and understand the industry. So, I began to experiment with materials and mixing this and that. Learning the different materials and studying them. Making my own concoctions. I am a part of these fragrance Facebook groups that have thousands of people from around the world who are all also fragrance enthusiasts. I would share my experiments and my findings with this community. I wanted to teach people what the fragrances really were. After posting some of my creations. I received a bombardment of people who wanted to purchase it and try it. I didn’t originally set off to make a business or brand out of it. But I decided to give it a go. I sold out within a couple days. This was the beginning of Aromas de Salazar. At the time when I first started this venture, I was working full-time in an emergency room as an ER tech. So, on my off days and when I was off of work, it was spent working on formulations, evaluations, business, marketing, and everything related to perfuming. All of which I had no experience in. Even when I was at work and had a few moments of downtime, I would research different materials and techniques and learn as much as possible. It went like this for about 8 months working both full-time. It was nonstop. But I loved every second of perfumery. It wasn’t till recently that the business has really taken off, and have been fortunate enough to be able to quit my job in the hospital and now pursue my dreams full time! It’s exhausting and terrifying. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely has not been a smooth road. I have received lots of hate and negative criticism. When I first started selling them, people berated me, saying it’s wrong to sell them since I technically don’t know what I’m doing. I had done a group study and sent samples to multiple strangers from the Facebook groups to try and tell me what they think. I received lots of positive feedback, and that’s when I decided to sell, as I felt I had a viable product. I still get lots of criticism. But that comes with the territory. People will always put you down no matter how successful you are. So, I have kept pushing, and it pushes me to do more and work harder. I want to be clear that I value criticism. But constructively. I always tell my customers, “It’s ok not to like it, but tell me why you don’t like it. Not just say it sucks. And if you love it. What do you love about it?”. I am always opened to feedback and will always hear and listen to what anyone has to say. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
So, my brand specializes in making high-quality, hand-crafted, unique fragrances. We use the best quality materials we can find. We specialize in the unique and different. We don’t want to be a mass appealing or basic fragrance company or designer brand. We want to create different stuff no one has ever seen before. We use materials not used often or at all in modern fragrances or combinations you never see. For example, one of our first creations was Cafe Fiesta. This is centered around notes of juicy pineapple, green mandarin, Moroccan rose absolute, vanilla, benzoin, and a C02 coffee bean pure extract. Coffee and pineapple off the top of your head sounds odd. But it was composed and formulated to wear it is something truly special. We are most proud of our brand as a whole. For pushing through all of the naysayers and really letting ourselves be creative and opened with our process. The perfumery world is a very secretive one, but we pride ourselves in our transparency as a company with our processes and even have shared some of our formulas to educate the community on its production since it was the reason we started this in the first place. What sets us apart is out commitment to quality and standards of practice. In modern perfumery, most fragrances are composed of aroma chemicals (which isn’t bad), but we strive to use as many high-quality natural ingredients as possible. We don’t see ourselves as an all-natural brand as we use aroma chemicals as well. But it is a much higher percentage of all real material that we use. The aroma chemicals are used to support the naturals. This is our belief. Natural materials have certain aspects which are very difficult or hard to produce synthetically, so if it is available on the market, why not use it? It can be costly as natural absolutes and materials are very expensive. But this is how we produce our best fragrances, by not compromising quality for price. 

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We are easily reached via Instagram @Aromasdesalazar, or you can contact us through our website at aromasdesalazar.com. We have a contact us section, or you can actually directly message us there as well. Support can come in just sharing our brand with others and getting our names out there! And, of course, you can always purchase our fragrances and give them a try and see which one you love most. We have quite a selection and truly have something for everyone. 

Pricing:

• We sell our fragrances in 3 sizes
• 10ml is between $25-30
• 50ml is between $115-$125
• Sample sets are 8 3ml fragrances of your choice for $50

Contact Info:

• Website: Aromasdesalazar.com
• Instagram: @Aromasdesalazar
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/194419382573579/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyj81zOorG9ms-3_J2fwWAQ

Image Credits
Jon Bookout