Beauty beyond the senses

Can the loss of a sense be compensated by those who remain?It seems that yes, as shown in the testimony of Sylvie Raphoz, a Malvoyant Geneva passionate about the world of perfume (read below).This sixties teacher collects bottles and literature dedicated since always.Auxiliary software and means allow him to consult everything that is written.It even holds an Excel file to manage its treasures and gather the information concerning them.

Listening to it, we understand that if beauty manifests differently, her daily life looks like that of all women who like to take care of them.Surprisingly, few companies facilitate access to their assortment to visually impaired.In notable exceptions, the Occitane has included Braille on certain packaging since 1997 and has engaged in the fight against preventable blindness in the world.A specificity linked to the personality of its founder, Olivier Baussan, deeply humanist and a bit idealistic.At Yves Rocher too, there are many initiatives.The brand has been a partner since 2003 in disabilities so that every woman has access to beauty.

"I collect perfumes, I have over 200 of them"

Sylvie Raphoz, visually impaired since the age of 10

I had a very pretty mother and grandmother.I remember having seen them perfume themselves, I admired their gestures, the beautiful bottles.I lost my sight around the age of 10-11 years, following a glaucoma and a detachment of the retina.It is said that the loss of a sense exacerbates others;I think that at home, smell was already very developed.In adolescence, I performed very much, I loved the smells, that of my father, who was very dandy and who wore co -op of the rooster, of Guerlain.I have a passion for wooded, based on oud, incense, amber also and the orientals, those of Serge Lutens especially.I also appreciate leather notes, animal notes.

"I don't put any perfume anymore and I wash more often, because I don't feel"

Valérie Blanc, anosmic for a year

I celebrated at the end of March 2021 a year of loss of taste and smell ... I sometimes have some sensations that come back, a little taste, a little smell, but overall, I don't feel anything.Paradoxically, I have never eaten so well.Normal, this is my job, I produce content related to gastronomy.Food is my whole life.When such a thing falls on you, you have no other choice than to reinvent yourself, otherwise get hanging immediately.I hardly cook anymore.As I feel nothing, I'm afraid to burn the dishes or leave the gas on.I put alarms!It has completely changed my way of life.I saw my way of eating, I focus on the textures, the quality of the products.I became a superexigating on the cooking.For beef or pole nets, for example, no need to put sauce, I want a perfect fish, that's all.I saw several specialists, but they have given me little hope.I also try to re -educate my brain because, in some, when things come back, they are distorted.They have smells that do not correspond to the product they feel!

On the hygiene side, I no longer wear perfume, I'm afraid to put too much, I have always hated it in others.I wash much more, because I can't feel if I sweated, if I got hot on the feet.I have to detach myself, overcome my ignorance and ask others if I feel bad, to laugh too.I have not bought new brands of cosmetics, I keep the ones I know, because the smell of creams is important and I do not know if they will suit me.

At the beginning, by my job, I said that to choose, I preferred to lose the smell that the taste.Now, I really want to find him, feel the flowers, the seaside or the smell of my grandson!

The first six months, I didn't say it too much because people would die in hospitals and it would have been unwelcome.Now I really suffer a lot, it's a disability on a daily basis.What is hard, psychologically, is to be in the most complete vagueness as for it whether it comes back or not and to know that this virus is still in me, that I can't do anything, if notHope and continue to try to live as normally as possible.

A pioneer brand

Occitane en Provence offers a braille reading on its packaging since 1997.In addition, the brand markets a product each year whose recipe finances programs to combat blindness.The Occitane Foundation was born in 2006 with the priority field of action.It works in a local and international way, in partnership with NGOs like UNICEF.Some 285 million people are blind worldwide and 80% of these visual disabilities could be avoided or healed.

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