Charabanc is a brand that deals in travel. With your senses and your transportation. They produce luxury items that deliver beautiful fragrances specifically for your car. The aromas can take you on a journey to far off places or allow you to experience the freshness of the Peak District.

Charabanc is the combination of friends Carrie Hindmarsh and Barbara Behan who met at M&C Saatchi. They had the idea that luxury cars deserved luxury fragrances, not the standard air fresheners on the market.

This idea was formed a few years ago and it has taken them until September 2018 to get the correct product ready for launch. They did this at the world famous Goodwood Revival.

The two ladies set up a stand, took down a Charabanc and promoted their fragrances which met with great response. In a busy few months, they have also secured a beautiful area within Harrods where they sell the items.

The fragrances are encased in a beautifully designed metal pomander that is very versatile. It can hang from a lanyard and drape from your rearview mirror, have a clip attached to it so it can fit nicely into the air vents, magnetically attach to another piece of metal and finally it is shaped to fit in any cup holder. brilliant design thinking.

The manufacturing is nearly all done in the UK with very specialist parts sourced abroad. The company takes great pride in using UK based suppliers.

Every piece that goes into the final product is the best quality, from the Spanish hides that produce the leather to the fragrances that have been created by one of the most globally-renowned perfume houses.

The scented ceramic pastilles have been handcrafted using a wet press by the third generation at the helm of a ceramics factory founded in Valencia in 1956. This is an age-old yet innovative and environmentally friendly technique and the quality of the ceramic’s porosity is greatly appreciated by perfumers.

Charabanc has produced five fragrance each taking you on a journey. Across Pennine Fells, Along the Plain of Castellucio, The Road to Samarqand, Journey to Tai Mo Shan and Monument Valley Drive. 

The five fragrances have been blended very carefully to exude the aromas of the areas they take their names from. Each has an additional note of leather and wood to evoke the olfactory microcosm of a vintage car.

I would not advise shutting your eyes and being taken to the area of the fragrance you are smelling, but on some occasions, you may just want to sit in the car and escape for a while.

Relax and be transported to Arizona, Italy or any of the other places the fragrances have been designed around. Pure escapism.

Ideal for Christmas as a superb gift for car lovers.

Find out more here: https://charabanc.com/pages/charabanc-journey

Prices:

Racing Green pomander sold with Across Pennine Fells fragrance - RRP £145

London Tan sold with Along the Plain of Castelluccio fragrance - RRP £145

Orient Black sold with Tai Mo Shan fragrance - RRP £145

5 x individual refills each retailing at RRP £35 

A Voyager Gift Set of all 5 fragrances - RRP £145

Additional information:

Across Pennine Fells The idyll of driving along country lanes, dry stone walls and hedgerows and battalions of resinous Scots Pine, enhanced by the clean and earthy scent from the landscape and the unpredictable British climate.

Top Leafy, Freshly- Cut Grass, Resinous Pine

Middle Sage, Lavender, Mint

Base Fir Balsam, Cedarwood, Leather, Amber

Along the Plain of Castelluccio Travelling in the tradition of the Grand Tourists, destination Italy. A fragrance influenced by the now iconic Umbrian hillside that has orris or iris root, amber and cacao at its heart. Unusually, British Lavender is to be found in this landscape also.

Top British Lavender, Sage, Calabrian Bergamot

Middle Iris Pallida, Amber, Cacao

Base Vetiver, Patchouli, Leather

Golden Road to Samarqand Venturing East along the Silk Road’s hot, dusty, exotic route with spices and scents that make you swoon.

Top Pink Pepper, Green Coffee

Middle Cedarwood, Vetiver

Base Oud, Smoke, Amber, Leather

Journey to Tai Mo Shan An intoxicating mix of meandering streams and volcanic rock from the Jurassic age with an earthy note to evoke the mists that characterise the mountain.

Top Egyptian jasmine, Orange Blossom

Middle Incense

Base Vetiver, Sandalwood, Leather

Monument Valley Drive Big sky, big open road country, big scents and jaw-dropping vistas and the sort of route that everyone wants to drive.

Top Raspberry, Violet Leaves, Thyme Middle Cypress Oil, Saffron, Jasmine

Base Amber, Black Leather, Mate