OTS1_ISSUU

ON THE LAUNCHES l CREATIVES l NEWS l COMMUNITY

SCENT ISSUE #1 SPRING 2026

OH, FRESH! Perfume’s magic (orange) tree

MEET THE FRAGRANCE FOUNDERS

Schiaparelli’s shocking scented legacy

CONTENTS

5 NOTES FROM THE EDITOR 6 SPRITZ!

New stores, brands, collections and more

14 PERFUME’S MAGIC (ORANGE) TREE

It gives us neroli, orange blossom, petitgrain

24 SCHIAPARELLI’S SHOCKING SCENT LEGACY

Celebrating the designer who made scent history, subject of a stellar show at the V&A

34 THE CASE AGAINST DUPES

From rebellious perfumer Pia Long’s new book

39 THE SCENTSCAPE The season’s key trends and launches

52 THIS CREATIVE LIFE

Master Perfumer Christian Provenzano talks to us about all his myriad inspirations

58 MEET THE FOUNDERS

Quite literally – at Barnes Fragrance Fair

64 ON THE SCENT OF...

MOUNTAINS

© Toa Heftiba - Unsplash

Alice du Parcq has the last word

CONTRIBUTORS

ON THE

SCENT EDITOR

Jo Fairley

jo@josephinefairley.com DESIGNER

Jenny Semple

studio@jennysemple design.com SENIOR WRITER/ PODCAST

Suzy Nightingale suzy.nightingale @gmail.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Maggie Alderson CONTRIBUTING EDITOR/ PODCAST

PIA LONG

AMANDA CARR

Pia is a Finnish-born, UK-based perfumer and co-founder with Nick Gilbert of Olfiction, a fragrance consultancy with its own perfume brand, Olfiction Labs. An award-winning industry expert, Pia has created hundreds of home fragrances and numerous perfumes for niche and designer clients. She recently published a memoir/ manifesto, Demo Accords, featuring 10 of her formlations. You can read an abridged version of her chapter about dupes, on p.34.

(Spoiler alert: she is not a fan.) @olfictionlimited

Amanda is a multi-award-winning journalist and trend forecaster, with an obsessive interest in independent fragrance brands, innovative fragrance retail and gorgeous ways with scent. Passionate about helping people discover scent in a relatable, style‑led way, Amanda is also the founder of the hugely popular Barnes Fragrance Fair (see p.58), which she started in 2022 to give independent brands a bigger platform from which to shine. @barnesfragrancefair @wewearperfume

ALICE DU PARCQ

NICOLA BONN

Alice – who transports us to the mountains of France, on p.64 – is a fragrance journalist with a life-long love of scent, adored for her engaging content on Substack and Instagram. With several Jasmine Awards to her name, Alice is a contributor to a wide range of leading UK media titles, including Vogue, Glamour and The Telegraph, and is an accomplished perfume event host and interviewer. She is currently working on her first book (about fragrance), to be published later in 2026. @aliceduparcq

Nicola was a radio and TV broadcaster for 15 years, presenting on Classic FM, Heart and Smooth. She was also the in-house beauty expert at Global Media. In 2018, she started the ‘Outspoken Beauty’ podcast which soon became the UK’s number one audio based beauty destination. In 2021, Nicola first interviewed Suzy Nightingale, which eventually led to them starting their ‘On The Scent’ podcast – and the rest, as they say, is perfume history. @outspokenbeautynicola @onthescentpodcast

Nicola Bonn CONTRIBUTING EDITOR/ EVENTS

Amanda Carr BUSINESS: ADVERTISING/ BRAND PARTNERSHIPS

Sharon Whiting

sw@sharonwhiting.com

Follow us... @onthescentmedia

Contact us... info@onthescentmedia.com

On The Scent is published by On The Scent Media Ltd. All content is protected under UK and international copyright laws; reproduction or distribution of any material, in whole or in part, is not permitted by a third party without our written consent. However, the original copyright of individual features, words, and images remains with their respective writers and creators. All details and prices were correct at the time of going to press. Note: affiliate commission may be earned via any links which appear in the online edition of the magazine; this will never influence our editorial choices and coverage. On The Scent is an independent publication, and neither this magazine, nor the website onthescentmedia.com, has any assocation with The Perfume Society, its publication, website or any of its products. © 2026 On The Scent Media Ltd.

4 ON THE SCENT

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR Time for something fresh Welcome to the debut issue of On The Scent magazine, which celebrates the boundless creativity of the perfume world, its news – and the fragrances we love, wear and dream of. We’re quarterly, available for free online, and with print copies available via onthescentmedia.com.

Excitingly, On The Scent mag is just one pillar of a new multi-channel platform which brings together scent expertise and award-winning talent – meet some of the team, opposite.

Alongside breaking news stories and fascinating interviews on the website, you will find Nicola Bonn and Suzy Nightingale’s podcast (also titled ‘On The Scent’). You will also be able to keep up with our calendar of events – our own, plus a curated selection of those organised by trusted colleagues and contacts.

Look forward to encounters with perfumers, scent entrepreneurs, brand experiences, perfumed walks, workshops and more.

Across all our platforms, what the team at On The Scent shares is a deep love of perfumes (and all kinds of aromas). We know, from our own experience, that not only can fragrance make us feel all dressed up, be worn almost as armour, or to soothe (never mind to seduce). Beyond that, in a world in which we spend so much time on our screens, we truly feel that fragrance has the superpower to take us out of our heads and reconnect us to our senses.

And we can’t wait to see – and smell – where scent takes us next.

JO FAIRLEY Editor FROM TOP: Perfino’s perfumed pendants.

The Barnes Fragrance Fair poster for 2026.

Tailor’s dummy flacon for Schiaparelli Shocking LEFT: How our On The Scent website appears on all your devices

onthescentmedia.com

THIS SPRING… I’ll be freshening up my fragrance wardrobe, via the zestiness from perfume’s magic orange tree (see p.14).

Its citrusy zing is just what’s needed to blow away the last of winter’s cobwebs.

I’m looking forward to Barnes Fragrance Fair. On p.24, read about some of the indie brands who you can meet in real life on 16th May 2026, at this highlight of the UK scent calendar.

There’s also a date in my diary to visit the V&A’s Schiaparelli exhibition. After all, she did make my wedding perfume – as you can read about on p.28.

I’m enjoying wearing perfume in a new way.

Perfino’s pendants feature a lava stone that can be soaked in scent, to waft through the day via an elegant piece of jewellery.

(Find them at perfino.co.uk.)

And I’m listening to… the ‘On The Scent’ podcast, like clockwork. As one fellow listener commented, ‘Suzy and Nicola… take you on perfumed journeys with their stories. Beware, however: this is highly addictive stuff. You will want to smell every perfume they discuss and might become obsessed with seeking them out (and buying them).’ I’m ready. Are you?

ON THE SCENT 5

SPRITZ! COLLECTIONS, CANDLES, OPENINGS TO SNIFF OUT FOR SPRING 2026

NOSE TO NOSE

P

erfume aficionados have been waiting for this: the arrival of Essential Parfums in the UK. This is haute perfumery, showcasing the work of many of the world’s most famous noses, an A-list team pulled together by fragrance industry veteran Géraldine Archambault. Pictured above, left to right: Bruno Jovanovic, Nathalie Lorson, Géraldine herself, Anne Flipo, Antoine Maisondieu, Calice Becker, Sophie Labbé, Quentin Bisch, Natalie Gracia-Cetto and Fabrice Pellegrin. (The stellar line-up also includes Dominique Ropion and the late Olivier Pescheux.)

This is a standout collection that’s brilliantly priced (and, joyously, available as a 11 x 2ml discovery set, too). £86 for 100ml eau de parfum £25 for 11 x 2ml EDP Discovery Set johnlewis.com

6 ON THE SCENT

Essential Parfums’ impressive perfumer line-up

NEWS

Lizzy and Georgia May Jagger.

RIGHT: Jo Malone London’s pear fragrances

The perfect pair for perfect pears Jo Malone London’s new ‘faces’ are the so-stylish Jagger sisters, Lizzy and Georgia May, chosen to front a new campaign for cult classic English Pear & Freesia and English Pear & Sweet Pea, which celebrates sisterhood in all its forms. English roses, photographed in an English orchard, reminding us: summer really is a-coming in…

From £56 each for 30ml Cologne jomalone.co.uk

COCO MADEMOISELLE – READY-TO-WEAR

NOW THEY ARE SIX… Amouage’s second Essences Trilogy features 30% fragrance oils, for staying power and a sublime sillage. Creamy, sandalwood Line 618, spicy incense-ambrée Remain, and Sequence, fusing ambery woods, oudh and a lycheeraspberry accord, are decanted into tactile ceramic flacons.

We’ve three words to sum them up: divine, divine, divine.

Hang it from a wrist. Slip it into a bag.

However you use it, this limited edition, refillable spray is the chicest-yet way to spritz CHANEL Coco Mademoiselle. £170 (including 3 x 7ml eau de parfum) chanel.com

GLISTEN UP

Les Exclusifs de CHANEL just added Le Lion and Comète to their Body Oil collection, sublime scents to turbocharge your scent’s staying power, or simply add a veil of silky-soft, luminous, fragrant nourishment. £258 for 250ml chanel.com

£355 for 100ml essence de parfum amouage.com ON THE SCENT 7

NEWS

1 2

LONDON’S SCENT SCENE More fabulous reasons to plan a perfumed pilgrimage to the capital

1

Penhaligon’s Regent Street boutique (above) has been reimagined – a veritable temple to their craftsmanship, heritage and theatrical scent storytelling that is already a roaring success.

125 Regent Street, London W1B 4HT penhaligons.com

2

The new Marylebone Village boutique for Edinburgh’s Jorum Studio (left) now showcases their poetic Scottish perfumes in a warm yet minimalist setting. Slow smelling encouraged.

2 Marylebone Street, London W1G 8JQ jorumstudio.com 3

3

Matière Première’s just-opened Covent Garden flagship (left) doesn’t simply invite exploration of perfumer-founder Aurélien Guichard’s fragrances and candles; you can smell the actual matières premières – the individual resins, woods and flowers – in essence form, to help you journey from field to flacon.

31 King Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8JD matiere-premiere.com

TOP HATS French interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon reimagines the Acqua di Parma ‘Chapeau’ candles as a two-in-one, with a 400g candle in the base, a 100g version in the colourful hat-shaped lid.

The scents? Orange for Buongiorno, yellow for Luce di Colonia, blue for Mirto di Panarea.

So clever! £263 each acquadiparma.com

4

With silver sofas signifying their modernity, exquisite panelling a nod to their fabled history, and an in-store bar, we’re raising a glass to Clive Christian’s fabulous new Bond Street outpost (below). Sipping and sniffing? We’re in.

118 New Bond Street, London W1S 1DP clivechristian.com

4

C’est chic Designed like a lipstick, these are actually solid perfumes.

Select one of three pastel shades of Miss Dior Mini Miss Case, then choose between Miss Dior EDP, Miss Dior Parfum and Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet, to slip inside. Fabulous.

Case £30, refills £47-69 dior.com

8 ON THE SCENT

NEWS

Jones Road cleans up Self-confessed fragrance obsessive Bobbi Brown just added a top-to-toe body collection to her Jones Road beauty line: five skincare-first formulas infused with a fabulous spa-like citrus scent, for a ‘just-showered’ vibe.

From £36-50 jonesroadbeauty.com

MODERN OPULENCE Following the revival of legendary Ambre Antique, COTY have plundered the vault for three more archival amber treasures.

In COTY Osmiums de Parfum, Fabrice Pellegrin and Dora Bagriche radically reinterpret Après L’Amour, L’Amour Pourpre and Encore Une Fois, amplified with 41% fragrant oils. Our noses could not be happier. £285 for 40ml eau de parfum libertylondon.com

THE NEW RITUAL OF ORPHÉON Love Diptyque Orphéon? Then you’ll adore the layerable ‘fragrance gestures’ infused with the jazz club-inspired woody-floral. A sublime Hair Mist, Body Lotion and Hand Cream just launched alongside a new eau de toilette. £145 for 100ml eau de toilette; body products £36-62 diptyqueparis.com

Scent stars MATIÈRE PREMIÈRE’s debut candle collection puts ingredients centre stage, each built around a single ‘star’ raw material in high concentration, from creamy sandalwood to smoky labdanum via ravishing rose. We want them all… £85 for 200g matière-premiere.com ON THE SCENT 9

XXXXXXXXX

WE’LL DRINK TO THESE

From an exciting, bartender-founded brand, Tayēr Aromatic Cocktails are fabulous, perfumery-inspired bottled drinks – think Bergamot Margarita, Vetiver Negroni, Cedarwood Old Fashioned and Sandalwood Martini. Chin, chin! £35 for 200ml tayer-elementary.com

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PIA

ELEMENTAL LUXURY Ormonde Jayne founder Linda Pilkington based her ‘Corners of the Earth Reimagined’ on three of fragrance’s most fabled ingredients, with Patchouli d’Atlas, Bijou Safran and Oud Liaisons. Steeped in myth, memory – and really rather marvellous, with it. £225 for 100ml eau de parfum ormondejayne.com 10 ON THE SCENT

On p.34, enjoy an extract from Demo Accords, the semi-autobiographical book

by Pia Long, with input from her Olfiction Labs co-founder Nick Gilbert.

Through 10 chapters featuring 10 perfume formulas, Pia brilliantly weaves politics, protest, trauma and joy through scent.

Book £25; accompanying Sample Set £60 olfiction.com

Eight & Bob’s new chapter Honouring the legacy of Eight & Bob’s founder Albert Fouquet, the Fouquet Collection explores his travels and friendships via a sublime line-up of storytelling scents, with luminous citruses, woods and resins infused with quietly luxurious French élan. Parfait. £196 each for 100ml eau de parfum eightandbob.com

NEWS

Guerlain’s mix and match Guerlain L’Art de Vivre is all about personalisation. First, choose your bee-bedecked jar. Then fill it with your choice of nine scented candles, spanning smoky Encens d’Hiver through to Jasmin Grandiflorum via seasonally-perfect Muguet de Printemps. (Even better: they can be refilled time and again.)

Customisable Scented Candle/£130; Candle Refill/£70 guerlain.com

FIND YOUR TRIBE Wales Perfumery’s founderperfume Louise Smith draws on ancient rituals, archaeology and elemental landscapes for a new five-strong collection, The Celts, imagining Ireland’s icy wildness, warrior feasts in her Welsh home country, the honeyed warmth of Breton mead and more.

From £27 (for 7.5ml) to £120 walesperfumery.com

A SENSORY RETREAT Absolutely one for the fragrant bucket list, this. The Scented Circle launches in September, offering immersive perfume retreats in Grasse, the heartland of fragrance. A small group of guests will take a nosedive into olfactory experiences, guided by a local art and perfume historian, with four nights’ accommodation in a stunning 18th century bastide, delicious food – and as if that doesn’t sound relaxing enough, there’s (optional) yoga and meditation on the itinerary. thescentedcircle.co.uk

There will be lab visits (above), as you get to know the sun-baked town of Grasse

ON THE SCENT 11

NEWS

Perfume poems from Bruno Cuccinelli ‘A dialogue between poetry, nature and the human soul,’ created in collaboration with Master Perfumers Alberto Morillas and Jordi Fernández. Woody-spicyamber Silenzio, floral-woody Ricordo and floral-citrus Segreto are exquisite odes to olfactory mastery, joining the Incanti Poetici collection. £225 for 100ml eau de parfum harrods.com

FIND YOUR MARBLES Striking additions to Baobab’s permanent diffuser range, choose from Pearls, Feathers, Stones and – pictured here – the Sand collection, with Sonora (saffron/myrrh/patchouli), Atacama (bergamot, musk, Earl Grey tea) and Siloli (tonka, cedarwood, green lemon). We’d love them all to waft this way.

From £180 for 250ml baobabcollection.com

CHERRY BLOSSOM TIME You can now luxuriously layer on Floris’s tribute to the Japanese cherry blossom celebrations, via this petal-perfect fruity-floral infused into sweet-scented, skin-softening self-care.

Too, too pretty.

Cherry Blossom Bath & Shower Gel and Cherry Blossom Body Moisturiser, each £32 for 250ml florislondon.com

12 ON THE SCENT

Light a candle to Lalique Tales of Light ‘open the door to René Lalique’s universe’, taking their Art Deco curvy design from the Lalique glass factory furnace. Home fragrance inspirations include the glass artist’s childhood home, the studio he worked in and the theatres of the Roaring Twenties – such a creative curation.

Candles/£90 for 200g (refills £60); Diffusers/£100 for 250ml lalique.com

Dearest Jo, Suzy, Amanda, Sharon & Nicola Congratulations on creating yet another gorgeous platform for all things exquisitely fragrant.

We are so proud and excited to see your beautiful vision come to life.

Linda & the Musettes xx

@muse_communications | www.musecomms.co.uk

INGREDIENTS

PERFUME’S magic (orange) tree The bitter orange tree offers us neroli, orange blossom, petitgrain and bigarade. And for perfumers, report JO FAIRLEY and SUZY NIGHTINGALE, these notes offer an olfactory shaft of sunlight

I

t is the time of year for throwing open windows.

For taking deep breaths of (slightly) warmer air.

And after months when we’ve wrapped ourselves in cocooning, comforting fragrances (not to mention several layers of vests, scarves, woollies and raincoats), there’s a sudden craving for light and vibrancy. A longing for fresh scents, airier concentrations. And so, odds are that we will be veiling ourselves in fragrances which showcase one or more ingredients derived from a single beneficent tree: Citrus aurantium.

For instant luminosity and brightness, there are few ingredients to rival those from this gnarly tree – green, almost bitter petitgrain; sweetly uplifting neroli; opulent orange blossom and ultra-green bigarade. They share a genetic family resemblance, a luminous floralcy, but they sit at different points on the aromatic spectrum, from almost bitter green to honeyed, via bridal white floral innocence.

Some perfumers refer to Citrus aurantium as the ’four-in-one’ tree – and as if that wasn’t abundance enough from one plant, this so-versatile botanical wonder also gives us Seville oranges, to transform into marmalade.

Originally found across Southeast Asia, Citrus aurantium made its way to the Mediterranean via Arab trade routes. The trees are really nothing to look at. Glossy-leaved, yes, but with fruits that are small, irregularly shaped, rough-skinned (and too sour to eat). The bitter orange tree carries its perfumed cargo – waxy, white blossoms – alongside developing fruit, which is partly why orange blossom became a living symbol of abundance and fertility.

Today, Citrus aurantium is cultivated for perfumery across many of the sun-drenched areas that fringe the Mediterranean: Italy, the French Riviera, Spain, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia – where Guerlain, for instance, source the neroli that is a longstanding element of their signature, a harvest that is personally overseen each year by Guerlain Master Perfumer Thierry Wasser, such is 14 ON THE SCENT

its importance to the perfume house. The finest quality comes from specific cultivars such as Bouquettier de Nice – double-flowered, headily scented, and (as the name suggests), specifically bred for perfumery in the south of France.

Intensely manual and seasonal, in many orange-growing areas the harvest is often part work, part village festival. It’s a once-a-year spring event lasting around three or four weeks, depending on local weather. And like many other natural ingredients, the exact timings of the harvest can now vary each year, thanks to the impact of climate change.

Teams of women – and it is mostly women – spread mats beneath the trees, gently picking the prized buds by hand, sometimes having to climb ladders to access the flowers. Twigs and leaves are then removed from the just-picked harvest, before it’s transferred to crates and heads off to be processed.

A few weeks later, those ultra-green stems, leaves and twigs of the orange tree, together with some of the unripe fruits, go on to have their own olfactory moment in the sun – as you’ll discover in our focus on petitgrain, on p.20 – providing those growers with another welcome income stream.

No other plant has Citrus aurantium’s shapeshifting power, in the hands of a perfumer. So, over the next few pages, we celebrate its different facets. Because spring is here. The light’s changed.

We made it. And nothing says ‘OH, FRESH!’ quite like the bounty from this extraordinary tree.

‘FOR INSTANT LUMINOSITY AND BRIGHTNESS, FEW INGREDIENTS RIVAL THOSE FROM THE GNARLY BITTER ORANGE TREE’

INGREDIENTS

neroli

Fresh, luminous and uplifting, neroli is quite simply a breath of fresh air

N

eroli and orange blossom look just the same.

That’s because they are the same flower, starting out as hand-picked bitter orange flowers and buds from Citrus aurantium, harvested in spring’s brief window, mostly around the Med. Yet in a distiller’s hands, these identical blooms are transformed into quite different materials, both of which remain go-to ingredients for every perfumer we know.

The bright sparkle of neroli comes to us via hydro distillation (blooms are immersed in water and brought to the boil), or steam distillation (steam passes through flowers laid out on a grid above boiling water). As the volatile oils evaporate, their airy, clean freshness is siphoned off as an essential oil; the water that remains can also be used – known as neroli hydrosol, or orange blossom water.

Around a tonne of flowers is needed to produce just a kilo of essential oil. My, that’s a lot of petals – and it’s estimated that just two tonnes of precious neroli oil are produced globally per year, mostly coming from Tunisia and Morocco.

Heavenly as it is, it’s a will-o’-the-wisp – neroli doesn’t linger, in a fragrance. Thus, as Experimental Perfume Club founder Emmanuelle Moeglin explains, ‘neroli is often used as a top or heart note and is quite volatile. It won’t stay on the skin for very long on its own, so it needs to be paired with stronger, more long-lasting ingredients within a composition.’

Citrussy, a little green, decidedly airy, this essential oil can sometimes have a honeyed aspect, occasionally a soapiness. But smell it – and we defy you not to feel cheerier.

AFTER GUERLAIN’S NEROLI HARVEST, PERFUMER THIERRY WASSER TRAVELS HOME WITH WATER BOTTLES FILLED WITH ORANGE FLOWER WATER, ‘for making cocktails when I get home,’ he says. ‘Try two droplets in a glass of sparkling water with a little squeezed lemon.’

MATIÈRE PREMIÈRE Néroli Oranger Drenched in Tunisian neroli, the brightness illuminates the heart of otherwise notoriously buxom orange blossom and ylang ylang.

A delicate floral balance, buoyant with laughter, this is a lifeaffirming tonic for the senses.

FLORIS Neroli Voyage A subtle lap of marine notes conjures gentle waves, neroli’s mesmerising glitter cresting the radiant seascape, endlessly entwined with jasmine, ginger’s simmer and aromatic fennel.

Dusk falls, oak wood and amber soothe, bliss reigns.

BDK PARFUMS Villa Neroli Shall we escape to Capri, to dine at twilight in the orange groves of a gorgeous villa, where candlelight flickers as neroli blossoms fill the air with a fairyland twinkle of fabulousness? Si, si, si!

ERIS PARFUMS Ma Bête Tunisian neroli (aided by fizzy aldehydes) barely restrains the furry raunchiness that throbs throughout. If Honduran styrax and heady jasmine are the seductive purr, neroli’s sharpness is a single claw, carefully warning of passion’s danger.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Néroli Amara Drifts of neroli petals blanket the grove’s grass – blades of greenery peeking through layers of luminescence. Wearing this is akin to gathering a basketful of the beneficent blossoms, carrying them with you all day.

ON THE SCENT 17

INGREDIENTS

orange blossom The magic bitter orange tree shows its va-va-voom side

L

ush, sweet, narcotic. If neroli is crystalline and dainty, orange blossom is often used as an olfactory counterpoint – described by perfumer Véronique Nyberg as ‘sensual, warm and animalic.’ A heart and base note, rather than something that floats and flutters at the top of a composition, orange blossom offers warmth, body and creamy sweetness, and is used to tether floral fragrances, ambers and gourmands. It sometimes makes an appearance in Colognes, used with the deftest touch as a fixative for fast-fading top notes.

The technique that brings us orange blossom is the same as for roses and jasmine: solvent extraction. It’s not romantic, but it’s the best way to tease strong aromatics from the daintiest of petals. Freshly-picked blooms are poured onto layered trays in the extractor – a vast metal vat – which is tightly sealed, allowing the solvent to circulate freely as it bathes the flowers. The same blooms might go through several cycles, before the liquid left behind is then steam-heated until the solvent has evaporated. The residue – sticky, viscous – is known as the concrète, which is deep, dark and intensely aromatic; at this point, it can smell almost camphor-y or medicinal – barely recognisable, in fact, as coming from the same plant as its ‘sister’, neroli.

But wait. There’s one more metamorphosis ahead. For use in perfumery, the concrète is processed one more time, mixed with alcohol and filtered to remove the waxy element. Et voilà: orange flower absolute. And the vial that the perfumer later holds in their hands is one of perfumery’s most-loved ingredients, with orange blossom absolute’s versatile magic reportedly captured in 12% of all the world’s perfumes.

‘ORANGE BLOSSOM ABSOLUTE’S VERSATILE MAGIC IS REPORTEDLY CAPTURED IN 12% OF ALL THE WORLD’S PERFUMES’ 18 ON THE SCENT

SERGE LUTENS Fleurs d’Oranger Unashamedly feminine, you may think of this as a dewily pretty, perhaps rather buttoned-up affair, at first. But just wait, for the initial flurry of blossoms becomes increasingly bosomy – a honeyed, hypnotic plunge into outright obscenity.

DIPTYQUE Eau des Sens Constantly cascading freshness harvests every aspect of the bitter orange tree – branches, leaves and fruit – in an olfactive tumble to awaken the slouchiest, grouchiest soul. Orange blossom shines steadfastly, a trusty aromatic talisman.

GOUTAL Le Temps de Rêve Recalling Annick Goutal’s dream of becoming a perfumer, the orange blossom here is a tranquil reverie fluffed around the edges by creamy sandalwood, milk flower accord and bran, while slightly camphoraceous myrtle uplifts and revives.

ORMONDE JAYNE Levant Named for the Latin word ‘rising’, we traverse to Mediterranean Eastern shores. With its heart in Lebanon, Levant lifts our hearts sky-high via a glorious giggle of orange blossoms, peony and rose petals frothing forth at sunrise.

BOADICEA THE VICTORIOUS Valiant Representing the Year of the Horse, we’d gladly gallop onwards, spritzed in this.

Dizzyingly beautiful orange blossom permeates the amberinfused hug of the base, cocoa-dusted patchouli a richly resinous kiss as the floralcy valiantly endures.

INGREDIENTS

petitgrain Whoosh! If you love Cologne, you almost certainly love petitgrain

P

ROGER & GALLET Jean-Marie Farina Eau de Cologne Gloriously aromatic – and unchanged since its 1806 incarnation – the petitgrain gives an immediate rush of soulreviving Mediterranean vitality, sensorially suffused with radiant lemon, peppery lavender, and a sun-drenched herb garden of rosemary and thyme.

oised between a floral and a citrus, this almost bitter green note perfectly balances freshness, woodiness, verdancy and floralcy.

It certainly has echoes of neroli, as well as citrusy bergamot, yet gives a sense of being polished and more herbaceous. Perfumers especially love this so-versatile note as a ‘bridge’ ingredient, shimmering its way from top-to-heart to add lift and zing to Colognes, fougères and airy woods.

It gets its name ‘petit grain’ – meaning ‘small grains’ – from the time when this green Citrus aurantium treasure was first harvested. Back then, petitgrain was steam-distilled from the immature, green, cherry-sized fruits of the tree. The snag? It drastically affected the growers’ incomes because harvesting the young fruits reduced the yield of mature oranges for other uses. So, as a result, the practice was abandoned.

Fast-forward. In 2026, it’s the twigs and leaves that are hand-harvested for petitgrain, and growers can repeat pick, when trees are in generous leaf. Nowadays, petitgrain is mostly produced in Paraguay, by small-scale farmers, and distilled as quickly as possible after cutting – but the cycle doesn’t end there, because the leaves and twigs are repurposed after distillation, as animal feed, mulch or fuel for the distillation units.

(Making petitgrain green in every way.)

And there’s one final ingredient we can enjoy, from this same tree, albeit less widely used: bigarade. Extracted by cold pressing the oil from the Seville orange peel, it’s bright, pithy and slightly bitter, adding a tart, dry edge, rather than juicy sweetness. A crisp, sophisticated top note, to cut through florals or gourmands.

Making this a magic tree, indeed.

ÉDITIONS DE PARFUMS FRÉDÉRIC MALLE Bigarade Concentrée The master of a light touch, Jean-Claude Ellena, working with molecular distillation, endows bitter orange oil with a crystalline lucidity. Beaming brightness from every angle, a cool breeze of cardamom and the dry assuredness of cedar are stirred into a muted fizz of pink pepper.

‘IT SHIMMERS ITS WAY FROM TOP-TO-HEART, ADDING LIFT AND ZING TO COLOGNES, FOUGÈRES AND AIRY WOODS’

PERFUMER H Petitgrain Honouring ‘the majestic orange tree and its many offerings’, Lyn Harris weaves petitgrain, orange flower and neroli for an effortlessly effervescent contemporary Cologne-stye.

Petitgrain steals the show, though, cool and chic as a Hitchcock blonde.

CLIVE CHRISTIAN 1872 Masculine Remarkably, 219 different ingredients make up the composition – but this headclearing blend revolves around herbaceously tea-like clary sage, steeped in petitgrain. While freshness builds, ripe peach and lavender sigh contentedly into spiced cedarwood.

MERCHANT OF VENICE Accordi di Profumo Petitgrain Paraguay Sparkling and green, the steam-distilled twigginess is joined by Litsea cubeba (think: lemon verbena twinned with lemongrass) for a joyfully nuanced, zest-laden dance, imagining a lightly spangled gauzy gown catching the light.

ON THE SCENT 21

PERFUMED PARTNERSHIP

FRAGRANCES OF THE DIVINE Take a team of stellar perfumers. Offer them free rein, to create the scents of their dreams, while harnessing the twin powers of neuroscience and Ayurveda. And what you have is Ataratma, a hugely exciting new fragrance house for our times

A

t On The Scent, we love nothing more than to dive into fascinating founder stories – and they don’t come much more compelling than Ataratma’s.

The vision of Ada Panday – the Indian-born, Dubaibased jewellery retailer and entrepreneur – Ataratma’s story is as captivating as the scents which bear that name. For as Ada told us, ‘With Ataratma, I wanted to create more than just beautiful fragrances. I wanted scents that speak directly to the soul. I wanted to draw from ancient Ayurvedic wisdom, blending it with modern perfumery, to ensure each perfume is crafted with intention and emotional resonance.’

What has blown the fragrance community away, however, is how Ada went about this – by enlisting the talents of some of the most talked-about names in perfumery: Paul Guerlain, Fanny Bal, Caroline Dumur, Nelly Hachem-Ruiz and Tanguy Guesnet. Truly a perfumer line-up of dreams.

So, thanks to their exquisite work for Ataratma, we can now choose between nine stellar fragrances in the collection, spanning exotic white florals to deep, intriguing woods, via beguiling, powdery skin-scents, with something for every fragrance-lover. And what’s more, there’s a beautiful and luxurious Discovery Set, so you can try them all.

ATARATMA’S SCENT STARS PAUL GUERLAIN

•

ORRIS NIRVANA – a meditative, powdery iris, wrapped in leather, patchouli and musk accords.

CAROLINE DUMUR

•

Ataratma Poured at an intense 25-30% concentration, delivering an impressive sillage, these fragrances are founder Ada Panday, more than something to dab onto your pulse-points with the to make you feel that bit more elegant or groomed. fragrance Ataratma is rooted in serious neuroscience, via IFF’s collection Science of Wellness programme, an initiative set up to research the effects of specific fragrance ingredients on our brain. As you may know, IFF is short for International Fragrances & Flavors – where all those A-list perfumers we listed are based, and which also gives them access to ingredients from LMR Naturals, a pioneering division which partners with ingredient farmers to source the finest botanicals, working together in ways that guarantee farmers reliable, secure livelihoods.

But as if that wasn’t credibility enough, Ada Panday also wanted to look to her Indian roots, with this collection. So, the perfumers’ brief was also to embrace the power of Ayurveda, the ancient system of holistic wellbeing dating back at least 3,000 years. The name chosen for Ada’s perfume house sums that up perfectly, drawn from Sanskrit: attar (scent) and atma (soul), reflecting the idea that scent does more than adorn; it can heal, ground, elevate and restore.

As Ada explains, ‘For me, Ada Panday, Ataratma founder scent is not just about how you smell, but how you feel and connect with your inner self. As a female founder, I’ve learned that bringing your authentic perspective into everything you create is your greatest strength. My sincerest hope is that Ataratma leads every soul to a scent that is uniquely, unmistakably theirs. One that does not simply please the senses, but illuminates something deeper within.’

And there are nine glorious ways, to do just that…

“

I wanted scents that speak directly to the soul

”

From £195 to £235 for 100ml eau de parfum Discovery Set/£50 for 9 x 2ml (price redeemable against full size) ataratmalondon.com

SMITAM SANTAL – joyously uplifting, warm and spicily woody, fusing creamy tuberose with soothing sandalwood and a spark of ginger.

CHAKRA CHAMPAKA – composed to create a sense of wellbeing and happiness: floral bliss, via neroli, ylang ylang, fresh citrus and pistachio.

•

FANNY BAL

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TONKA BALA (created with Tanguy Guesnet) – confidence-boosting, captivating, with its warm, solar blend of leathery sandalwood, tonka, coconut, musk and vanilla.

NELLY HACHEM-RUIZ

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KAMA CARNAL – sun-kissed, exotic, inspired by Ayurvedic texts exploring love, carnal desires and sensuality, warmed by vanilla, benzoin, carnal patchouli.

SHAKTI SAFFRON – as magnetic as the powerful goddess Shakti, with rich saffron, meditative incense and a dark cherry note. Confidence, bottled.

AIKYAM ROSE – with rose, for balance and emotional support, garlanding woods, florals, spices and a touch of raspberry.

AROHA ABSOLUTE – fruity-floral, with drifts of frankincense, this contemplative creation is inspired by places of meditation, across Asia.

• • •

TANGUY GUESNET

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RATI PATCHOULI – enfolding LMR Naturals’ complex Patchouli Heart No3 are juicy peach, Ambroxan and soft musks. Here, voluptuous seduction meets harmony and beauty.

ON THE SCENT 23

HISTORY

HER SHOCKING SCENT LEGACY As a spectacular new exhibition at the V&A reveals, Elsa Schiaparelli reshaped 20th century style and forever changed how perfume could look and feel

BY SUZY NIGHTINGALE

E

lsa Schiaparelli’s earliest memory, as her autobiography Shocking Life relates, is not of a dress, a sketchbook, or the rustle of silk in a couture salon. It’s of being paraded as a baby through the gardens of the square where her family lived in Rome, flanked by a lunatic asylum on one side and a prison on the other.

She remembers looking up, gazing in wonder at the headily scented magnolia trees. The garden itself was set out in mathematical squares with rows of tangerine and lemon trees, their scented geometry giving a sense of safety and possibility even as chaos literally hemmed her in. Soon afterwards, a dreadful downpour flooded her parents’ palazzo. As an adult, she wondered whether her grand little procession had somehow angered nature, as though the world itself needed to be shocked into rearranging its scenery.

A LIVING BOUQUET

As a child, Elsa was, in her own words, ‘definitely difficult.’ Her mother made cruelly disparaging remarks about her looks, constantly comparing her to a more beautiful sister.

‘Schiap’, as she was nicknamed, decided to beautify herself in a way only she could conceive. ‘To have a face covered with flowers like a heavenly garden would indeed be a wonderful thing!’ she writes. Aged around seven, this strange child obtained seeds from the gardener and planted them in her mouth, throat, and ears, feeling they might grow faster on her warm body than in the soil outside.

Of course, the result was not a floral metamorphosis, but near suffocation, panic. Doctors were called to fish out the seeds; much later, a piece of cotton wool was discovered to have turned as hard as stone in her nose. No flowers grew to turn her into a beauty. Yet that thwarted dream to make nature bloom from the human body, to wear fantasy 24 ON THE SCENT

on one’s own face never really left her. It simply migrated into her clothes, her jewellery and, vitally, her perfumes: the tailor’s dummy design for the Schiaparelli Shocking bottle featured a bouquet, where a head might be.

THE ART OF FASHION

From the V&A show: a 1937 Shocking bottle with a ‘flower head’

If Gabrielle Chanel offered a cool minimalism, Elsa Schiaparelli burned with something far stranger and more dangerous. She came to fashion after a brief, disastrous marriage and a stint in New York, first making sweaters embroidered with trompe l’oeil bows that Vogue hailed as ‘revolutionary’. Soon she was the darling couturière of the avant garde, collaborating with artists like Dalí, Cocteau and Giacometti.

The female body becomes abstract in her work. Faces become clocks or masks; waists are cinched to almost cartoonish extremity. And time and again, flowers and birds erupt where logic says they should not. Birdcages also recur over and over as motif and metaphor. The couturier’s granddaughter, Marisa Berenson, wrote that Elsa’s friend, Pablo Picasso, seemed truly to have understood her when he portrayed her in 1936 at the hieght of her fame as a white dove trapped in a cage.

Scent runs like a secret stream through Schiaparelli’s memories. In the epilogue of Shocking Life, she writes about herself ‘absorbing the world while outside a storm lashes the cypresses and the eucalyptuses and drenches this land of sunshine and dreams.’

Her life begins and ends with living things shaken by weather, with scented air and a sense that the world is both battered and beautiful, to be observed with childlike wonder. Understandable, then, that when she began to use fragrance as a medium, she treated it as another form of surrealist art, as essential to her story as a coat or gown worn as a costume – or a disguise.

“

She collaborated with artists like Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau and Alberto Giacometti

”

HISTORY

THE ART OF FRAGRANCE

S These Schiaparelli fragrance bottles are from past and future Perfume Bottles Auction sales at the US-based auction house, rather than the V&A show itself.

LEFT: Shocking.

BELOW: Le Roy Soleil (to be auctioned on 2nd May). BOTTOM: Schiaparelli Snuff

chiaparelli’s first venture into perfume came in 1928 with ‘S’, named for the letter she considered talismanic. S was described as a bitter-sweet perfume based on lilies and hyacinth.

Shortly afterwards came Eau de Santé, a cooling pine and herb body rub for ‘a queen or a king’ – a typically Schiap twist that made it unisex long before marketers had a word for that. As Cédric Edon (communications director of Schiaparelli) says, ‘She always thought women could do things that were traditionally reserved for men. And that included wearing what were coded as masculine scents.’

In 1934, Schiaparelli was already thinking about perfume in a way that feels startlingly modern. The house launched a trio of fragrances, Schiap, Soucis and Salut, with resolutely contemporary bottles by French interior designer Jean Michel Frank. This trio was distinctly designed to be worn at different times: Schiap for daytime, Soucis for cocktail hour, Salut for evening. This concept, of a wardrobe of scents mapping moods and moments, has become mainstream now, but at the time it was radical.

Her bottles, too, rejected the idea that fragrance flacons should be discreet and timeless.

Ken Leach, a leading vintage perfume bottle expert and founder of the US-based Perfume Bottles Auction, draws a clear line between Schiaparelli and her contemporaries.

‘Contrary to Chanel’s idea of a minimalist bottle shape for the ages, Schiaparelli followed designer Paul Poiret’s concept of a signature bottle for each scent when first launched,’ he notes. Schiaparelli employed the artistic talents of friends such as jewellery designer Fulco Verdura and Surrealist painters Leonor Fini and Salvador Dalí for ground-breaking, whimsical designs that kept women on the edge of their seats wondering what clever/ bizarre new shape would hold their next perfume.

“

Her bottles rejected the idea that fragrance flacons should be discreet and timeless

26 ON THE SCENT

”

THINKING PINK

But by far the most influential of her surrealist scent bottles is Shocking, launched in 1937 at the height of her fame. ‘Shocking’ is known the world over as an eye-popping shade of pink (even by those know nothing about perfume). But did you know that Schiaparelli named the colour and the fragrance?

It was a perfume marketing phenomenon, and a manifesto. The herby bouquet of Mediterranean flowers was composed by legendary perfumer Jean Carles, and segued into a honeyed, hip-swivelling riot of animalic licentiousness as it warmed. Carles had already created Dana Tabu in 1932 – a patchoulidrenched amber-rich perfume, marketed as ‘the forbidden fragrance.’ It’s not a stretch to imagine that Schiaparelli had smelled this and thought of him immediately now she wanted to shake up and shock the world of scent.

Even the origin story of its bottle is so Schiaparelli.

In Shocking Life, she recounts how the silver screen star Mae West came to Paris to be ‘stretched out on the operating table of my workroom and measured and probed with care and curiosity.’ Before that, Mae had sent ‘all the most intimate details’ of her famous

“

ABOVE: A 1937 pink satin coffret for Shocking, launched at the same time as the perfume itself.

RIGHT: Schiap’s favourite birdcage motif appears in this Schiaparelli special edition.

BELOW: 1938 advert

Schiaparelli’s marketing for Shocking set new rules, with its bawdy illustrations

”

figure and – for greater accuracy – a plaster statue of herself, naked in the pose of the Venus de Milo.

Schiap’s young seamstresses were apparently fascinated by this hourglass silhouette, not least because an obvious bust was deeply unfashionable, especially in America, where women strapped them tight. But from this silhouette, and the younger ladies’ fixation on it, as Schiaparelli writes, arose ‘the bottle of perfume shaped like a woman...’ And if the silhouette looks... rather familiar, that’s because it inarguably inspired the bottle for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique, decades later. But Schiap was first.

Schiaparelli asked Leonor Fini to create the prototype, telling the young artist to take inspiration from Mae West’s curves, Schiap’s own broad shoulders and a waspish waist. Adding the final touch, she draped a dressmaker’s tape measure around the neck to form a v-shaped décolletage, fastened over the waist with a button bearing the letter ‘S’. And from its neck? A bouquet of flowers bloomed fantastically.

Knowing, as we do, the torment she’d suffered as a child, it’s hard not to see this as a final realisation of her dream ‘to have a face covered with flowers...’

If the fragrance and the flacon seemed almost to shape themselves, the name proved a creative torment. ‘To find the name of a perfume is a very difficult problem because every word in the dictionary seems to be registered,’ she said. (A problem that perfume houses today can certainly empathise with.)

ON THE SCENT 27

HISTORY

LEFT: On The Scent Editor Jo Fairley and her husband Craig Sams on their ‘shocking pink’ wedding day.

RIGHT: Adverts by artist Marcel Vertes

But suddenly, a colour flashed in front of her eyes: ‘bright, impossible, impudent.’ While vivid pinks had been used before, this one was almost obnoxiously bold in its impropriety. She named the perfume – and indeed the colour itself – Shocking. The success was immense. Shocking was an immediate commercial hit, and the colour itself became a classic, instantly identified with this rule-breaking designer.

THE SHOCK OF THE NEW

A SHOCKING LOVE STORY

BY JO FAIRLEY

It was Paris, city of parfumeries. November, rainy.

And there began a quest, for a bottle of an almostforgotten scent which my lover longed to buy me, nostalgic for a time when it was worn by girls in his youth. Our search took us in and out of department stores, fragrance boutiques, even a fragrance exhibition in the Louvre, until – under the arches of the Rue de Rivoli – we bagged our quarry: Shocking,

by Schiaparelli. (Slightly dusty, and simply the eau de toilette, but still, bingo!)

The bottle’s label bore the address ‘Place Vendôme’ – just around the corner. We thought we’d investigate. What were a few more metres to our weary feet? My love and I arrived to find that the once-famous Schiaparelli fashion boutique was gone, replaced by a jewellery shop. But nestling among the gems remained a few bottles of Shocking parfum. He bought me one of those, too. Quelle extravagance! It made me see him in a whole new light. Any man prepared to devote a whole day to the search for one magical, memory-stirring fragrance had truly earned his place in my heart.

I’ve subsequently added several flacons to my collection, some of them glorious vintage examples.

Sometimes I open them up for a joyous sniff, apply a touch to wrist or neck, and it’s amazing how well Shocking has fared when kept in the dark and cool – powered by aldehydes and flowers, yet spicily delicious and despite its ladylike elements, very sexy.

And in case you’re wondering how the love story ended – it hasn’t. Having definitely earned his Scout badge for perfume perseverance in Paris, how could I let my lover go? A year later, the bride wore Shocking. Not just the perfume, but – throwing caution to the Schiaparelli-scented wind – a shocking pink dress, inspired by the scent quest of a lifetime.

And – such is perfume’s power, perhaps – we have lived happily (and very fragrantly) ever after.

28 ON THE SCENT

Schiap’s marketing for Shocking also set new rules. The campaign featured bawdy, sexually suggestive illustrations by Marcel Vertès.

Shocking was sold as fabulously fearless femininity, sensually suggestive, a scent to drench one’s petticoat in, as the society hostess Marie Louise Bouquet reportedly did.

Bébé Bérard, a fellow designer, fashion illustrator and Vogue contributor, apparently liked to spray Shocking into his beard until it trickled onto his shirt and the pet dog he cradled in his arms. Perfume sprayers were recruited to fill Schiaparelli’s salon with a cloud of scent; Dalí called incessantly to sniff the air and witness its success. What a heady mixture of hubbub and olfactive overload that must have been!

If Shocking saucily seduced the world, her subsequent launch Le Roy Soleil was the dream of hope that Schiaparelli sent sailing into the world after the trauma of war. Released in 1946 to celebrate peace, the fragrance came in a Baccarat crystal bottle designed by Dalí, depicting turquoise waves and a surrealist gold sun dotted with swallows. The case was a giant scallop shell straight out of Botticelli’s Venus.

Schiap sent a bottle to another infamously shocking woman of the day – the Duchess of Windsor (the former Wallis Simpson). She wrote to thank her, calling it ‘really the most beautiful bottle ever made,’ confiding that Le Roy Soleil had displaced the Duke’s photograph on her dressing table. Today, those bottles are among the rarest and most coveted perfume objects in the world, because of the weight of the crystal used for the flacon, says Ken Leach.

An immaculate example, however, does feature in his upcoming Perfume Bottles Auction 2026, scheduled for 2nd May. ‘Usually, these Baccarat bottles are chipped on the stopper. So, when we can represent one in intact condition, we are very happy. We were fortunate enough to auction one in 2023, but this one is in even better condition.’

The piece in this year’s auction, he explains, also benefits from a very clean box interior and labels.

And while we wait with great anticipation for the revived house of Schiaparelli to revisit fragrance, for now these remain the only way to experience the designer’s astonishing scent legacy.

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THE FRAGRANCE FLOPS A glance at a meticulous timeline on the website perfumeintelligence.co.uk reveals a roll call of names that sound like whispers from a naughty dream, including Zut, Si, Succès Fou and Peut Être.

Sleeping (above right), launched in 1940 and created

by Shocking’s perfumer Jean Carles, was designed to be sprayed at night. The bottle was shaped like a candle, topped with a turquoise snuffer, supposedly to light the way to ecstasy. Zut (above left) came in the form of showgirl’s legs, skirt puddled around the ankles, a joke and an invitation all at once.

Snuff (left), Schiaparelli’s only men’s fragrance, appeared in a crystal pipe bottle inside a mock cigar box, inspired by Magritte, once again blurring the line between art object and cosmetic.

But not all Schiaparelli’s olfactory launches stood the test of time. ‘Lost scents’ include Flirtation (1950), Chloro-Cologne (1952) and Scent of Mystery (1959).

There was even one named Shalimar de Chine; no date is mentioned, but we’ve a hunch Guerlain’s intellectual property lawyers might have done for that one.

So, some soared, some bombed, a story still painfully familiar with today’s fragrance launches. Many of Schiaparelli’s scent creations were fleeting, relaunched later with different formulas or quietly shelved. To read that list now is to feel a tug of melancholia. Sadly, so many of them vanished, their exact smells dissolved into air, surviving only as empty bottles and second-hand descriptions. Yet perhaps that is part of their power.

They remain for our imaginations to fill the void – witty, daring, suggestively scandalous.

ON THE SCENT 29

HISTORY

SCHIAPARELLI TODAY

W

approached perfume,’ he told System magazine.

‘As with everything, she had her own unique way of doing fragrance, and the way she marketed it was completely revolutionary. Some of these more iconic old perfumes no longer resonate with today, but their formulas usually hold the key as to how to move forward. What Schiaparelli’s answer to fragrance would look like today feels very intriguing...’

One senses (and hopes) that for him, as for Schiap, perfume is not an afterthought but a way to crystallise a worldview – and one’s innermost fantasies. Our noses are a-twitch at what might yet waft forth.

“

What Schiaparelli’s answer to fragrance would look like today feels very intriguing FROM PERFUME BOTTLE TO RED CARPET

THE RETURN OF FRAGRANCE?

Roseberry has even spoken openly about his desire to revisit fragrance in a way that honours Schiaparelli’s approach rather than simply trading on the name. ‘For the house to re-engage in a conversation with fragrance, we would need to entirely revisit the way in which Elsa Schiaparelli

by Daniel Roseberry: Long sheath gown, Matador Couture collection Haute couture fall-winter 2021–2022.

Patrimoine Schiaparelli, Paris

”

Meanwhile, Schiap’s provocative worldview still infiltrates culture in unexpected ways. On the Schiaparelli website, a recent news story recounts how six-time Grammy nominated singer Bad Bunny appeared in custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, designed by Daniel Roseberry. Bad Bunny, who won the Album of the Year, wore ‘a Schiaparelli smoking ensemble.

Tailored jacket silhouette in black velvet, inspired by the original bottle of the Maison’s signature fragrance “Shocking”, adorned with a measuring tape lapel and laced up back...’ We can almost picture Schiap smiling delightedly from above.

Perhaps Schiaparelli’s most poignant legacy, then, was to invite us to look up, as she did, and remember that even when the storm rages, one can bottle the memories of magnolia trees and childhood fantasies.

Fashion and fragrance allow us to turn adversity into armour we can wear, whether draped in fabric or worn invisibly as a fragrant shield, whether shocking the world or simply navigating its twists and turns.

A dress form bursting into flowers, a pipe, the magnificent post-war sun burst over a calm sea. If the world would not allow her to bloom the way she wanted, Elsa Schiaparelli would make her own costumes, invent her own fragrant bouquets, and dare us to dream.

And we do. We do.

Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art 28th March– 8th November 2026 V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL vam.ac.uk (V&A Members go free without booking).

30 ON THE SCENT

Choker and Tears dress photographs © Emil Larsson; Silver dress © Kuba Dabrowski. Photo courtesy Patrimoine Schiaparelli, Paris

hat does it mean, then, to revive Schiaparelli in the 21st century and to think about her perfumes again? Under creative director Daniel Roseberry, who took the helm in 2019, the house has been spectacularly reborn on the runway.

Roseberry recently sent models out in pieces inspired by staring up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, explaining that, just like Schiap, he finds inspiration from looking up: ‘crane your neck skyward, and thought stops. Feeling begins,’ he says. For that collection, his ‘infantas terribles’, as he described them, were the heroes – birds of flight, broken out of their cages, bold in colour, explosive in silhouette. ‘Nothing is more powerful or timeless, or for me, more now, than getting to unchain my imagination and, I hope, yours.

Couture is an invitation,’ he says. ‘Stop thinking, it tells you. It’s time to feel. You only have to look up.’ This language could almost be Schiap’s own, echoing her lifelong escapism, her impulse to look upwards, outwards, even as storms and darkness lashed her reality.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Jean Cocteau jacket collab, 1937.

Choker by Schiaparelli, Pagan collection, Autumn 1938.

Awar Odhiang, wearing Schiaparelli by Daniel Roseberry Schiaparelli Haute Couture Autumn/ Winter collection 2024 (Photo: Kuba Dabrowski).

Tears dress with veil, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dal, Summer 1938

ON THE SCENT 31

DESIRE

TA K E S

VIOLET SAPPHIRE

CARBON SAPPHIRE

SUPERCHARGED

SUPERCHARGED

MANY

FORMS

ROSE SAPPHIRE

AMBER SAPPHIRE

THE ETERNAL SAPPHIRES

OPINION

THE CASE

AGAINST

DUPES

In this extract from her provocative new book, Demo Accords, perfumer PIA LONG takes a stand against ‘inspired-by’ brands

A

re aspects of the fragrance trade elitist?

Oh boy, are they! Obviously. Back when I was utterly convinced that I had to learn perfumery somehow, through any means, I heard ‘it’s not possible’ a lot from people within the trade.

Even after I’d already worked as a junior perfumer for a couple of years, an experienced corporate perfumer looked me up and down during a fragrance event and said: ‘You cannot learn enough at your age. You will never become a perfumer.’

The perfumery bug bit me in my late twenties.

But after investigating all possible routes into fragrance that I could think of at the time, almost all of them seemed totally inaccessible. I was not born into a wealthy family. I did not know anyone on the inside. I didn’t have a chemistry degree or fluency in French. I was too mature to even dream of applying to one of the in-house perfumery schools at fragrance houses and my qualification was in theatre make-up and wig dressing.

Fast-forward. At the time of writing, I am 53 years old and have been a professional and at least somewhat gainfully employed perfumer for 16 years. Every bit of learning thus far has been hard won, every sacrifice I’ve made (and every act of support from my loved ones), all the hours, days, weeks, months and years spent smelling, reading, experimenting, failing, trying new things out… have given me the opportunity to lead the life of a full-time creative perfumer. I’m never going to be rich, but that is not why I got into this in the first place. I felt an inescapable need to create with aromatic materials and still do.

Not every person I encountered in my early days was elitist. There have been many supportive figures throughout my career in all kinds of roles, even in high-up-the-hierarchy corporate ones. And there is a type of person who starts to glow from within when talking about perfumery. They might be a fragrance chemist in China, an attar maker in India, an artisanal perfumer in USA, an in-house perfumer for an historic brand or the head of a 34 ON THE SCENT

perfumery school in France. We have something in common: we value this craft.

Many businesspeople view fragrance as merely a single line on a cost of goods calculation for a retail product, as a way to get rich, caring little about the actual fragrance, the people who produced its raw materials, or those who created a brand that became desirable. These people do not think that perfumery is a particularly important or an irreplaceable skill. They’d rather skip to the part where there’s a product they can sell.

And some of those cynical and greedy people start dupe brands. ‘Inspired by’ and ‘smells just like it’. The overt ‘you’re-getting-the-same-for-less’ brands and the thinly disguised ‘we’ve-given-it-aslightly-different-look-but-it-is-totally-like-thatother-perfume’ brands.

Now I can appreciate the intelligent thrift

“

There is a type of person who starts to

GLOW FROM WITHIN when talking about perfumery

mentality when, for example, sourcing clothing from secondhand stores or opting for a generic version of a branded medicine. Buying a dupe perfume is not the same thing. First, we don’t need perfume to live. It enhances our lives, it adds beauty and art into the everyday, it is fun, it can be sexy, it can be significant for nostalgia: yes, all those things and more. But none of us will perish without perfume, much less without a specific perfume.

When you buy a dupe, though, you are lining the pockets of predatory business owners who steal the labour of other people in order to make profit. Now, do I believe that perfumery should be democratised? With my background, obviously.

Greater access at all levels, be it to enter and learn

”

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Pia Long, Demo Accords author

OPINION the trade, or to enjoy its products, perfumery should be more accessible. But it’s not ethical to steal other people’s work and sell it for profit.

There are thousands of fragrances available at every price point; some of them classics that haven’t been destroyed by reformulation which are now relatively inexpensive, some new creations at a low price that show originality and beauty without copying or breaking the bank. There is a difference between respectfully referencing existing work versus outright theft and we shouldn’t pretend to be so daft as to not know the ethical difference.

Creating fashion in the Colour of the Year, or a new brand deciding to create its line-up of perfumes in the style of classic accords from the dawn of modern perfumery, is not the same as a predatory fast fashion company ripping off the work of an upcoming designer. Has a human mind created something new? Added to the total accomplishments of our collective endeavour?

Come up with something original in response to something existing? We aren’t entitled to a specific consumer product just because we want it. When did that become a valid argument? I grew up poor and it never crossed my mind.

Dupe companies aren’t owned by poor, working-class people who are heroically Robin Hood-ing their way through perfumery’s elitism problems. They don’t take from the rich corporate brands and donate these formulas to struggling independent perfumer-wannabes; they don’t give consumers free perfume or operate as a non-profit.

They’re stealing from everyone (not just from the rich and elitist), and making money from stolen labour. How Marxist of them.

So, buy from the brands you want to support – there is enough perfume in the world at every possible price to have options for all. I’m writing this chapter on a Sunday afternoon, in the middle of a heatwave. I like wearing other perfumers’ creations on my days off, and today I’m in Yardley’s English Honeysuckle. It costs less than a meal for two at Five Guys and I get 125ml of light, refreshing white floral-Chypre breeze for that.

Obviously, because it’s my job to create fragrances for our own brand and for clients of our fragrance studio, I feel strongly about the theft of brand halos and fragrance formulations. Yet I’ve published a whole book of them, making them available as ‘open source’ formulas. Sometimes, protests take unexpected forms.

For the perfume detailed right, I’ve used two oudh qualities, one of which was the most expensive material I could get my hands on at the time of creating this work. Had this been a secret formula which then became a cult favourite of a popular brand, a dupe business could not have convincingly copied it and still made a profit.

Most people would not be able to comfortably afford the original because it would cost thousands of pounds to retail. There wouldn’t be enough genuine oudh in the world to make something 36 ON THE SCENT

DUPE THIS (Rose Oud) This ironically-named, ‘un-dupeable’ creation – ‘Dupe This’ – is described in Pia’s book (by her Olfiction business partner and, fragrance expert Nick Gilbert) as having ‘majestic and lavish doses of the most treasured oudh oils from India and Vietnam, in an exploration of the complexity of these exquisite extracts.

These two magnificent qualities of oudh are set like precious jewels in a crown of splendour – given the space to shine through a supporting accord of opulent raw materials. A voluptuous opening of stone fruits, the sweetness of black cherry and nectar of plums, melts into the velvet of rose absolute, all immersed in the amber radiance of cistus. The facets of oudh continue to unfurl, enhanced with the animalic intensity of labdanum and a smoking veil of cypriol and earthy vetiver. Sacred frankincense glows with resinous warmth, whilst honeyed tobacco absolute provides an intoxicating depth.’

MATERIAL LEVEL (%) Boisambrene Forte® – 1.00 Cistus Oil Spain – 1.00 Cypriol Oil India – 1.00 Eugenol Nat – 0.40 Geranyl Acetate – 0.70 Grisalva® – 1.50 Habanolide® – 2.50 Healingwood Indonesia 10% TEC Nat – 2.00 Labdanum ABS Spain Decolorised 20% TEC Nat – 2.00 Karmawood™ – 3.00 Oudh Oil Indian Super – 37.00 Oudh Oil Vietnam – 13.00 Phenylethyl Acetate 10% TEC Nat – 0.50 Phenylethyl Alcohol – 1.50 Pyrogenated Incense Essence – 1.00 Rose ABS Turkiye 10% TEC Nat – 6.00 Tabanone® 10% TEC Nat – 1.50 Timbersilk™ – 10.00 Tobacco ABS 10% TEC Nat – 6.00 Triethyl Citrate Nat – 5.00 Vetiver Oil India – 3.00

like this at mass market level. Does having a significant percentage of real oudh make this a great perfume? No. It just makes this a perfume that has a significant percentage of real oudh.

Another thing that the dupe discourse is damaging is our appreciation for the artistry and skill of perfumers because yet again, everyone is focused on the wrong thing. So, I say: do not be the person who knows the price of everything and value of nothing. And if you ever feel the siren song of a dupe, truly ask yourself why.

Demo Accords is available, priced from £25, at demoaccords.com olfiction.com

CHERRY BLOSSOM the gentle warmth of brighter days florislondon.com | 89 Jermyn Street, London | +44 (0) 3301 340180

THE SCENTSCAPE WHAT WE’RE SEEING – AND SNIFFING – FROM SPRING 2026’S LAUNCHES

Photo by Valentin Salja on Unsplash

GOURMANDS, are still with us – but

saccharine they’re most definitely not. We’re seeing a continuation of the trend away from iced cupcake and candyfloss roots to something far more refined. Perhaps you’ll seek out TROPICAL, dark and determinedly grownup, or mellow and milky, with something to tempt every perfumed palate. Talking of MILKINESS (or ‘lactic’ notes, as perfumers call them)… these second-skin comforting scents are a strong trend, to be called on more than ever when we yearn for something to cleave to. They can smooth the corners of a composition or add a hug-in-a-bottle warmth to otherwise edgier creations.

Hand in scented glove with that nurturing direction is an increasing nod toward NOSTALGIA, with heritage houses and niche names alike delving into archives for inspiration, while using intensified contemporary materials and bottle designs to keep things eaux‑courant.

Meanwhile, move over pistachio – because ALMOND is coming out of its shell, from marzipan-esque addictiveness and toasted tonka’s nuttiness to the waft of bitter almond that slices through sweetness. Perhaps most of all, we are looking forward to wearing something FRESH – in all senses! – whether bright and sparkling to match longer, lighter days, or simply a new scent to shake us out of the doldrums.

TRENDS & LAUNCHES

ACQUA DI PARMA Colonia Il Profumo Millesimato

ARKIVE The Brightside

BALMAIN Destin de Balmain

MOOD: Sunlit

MOOD: Positive

MOOD: Optimistic

Marking Acqua di Parma’s 110th year, grab this limited edition while you can in anticipation of sun-drenched days and candlelit evenings. Citrus is elevated here, not louder but refined: deliciously airy petitgrain drifts like leaf-filtered light over the languid, tropical hush of Madagascan ylang ylang.

Juicy blood orange shimmers with bittersweet warmth, while verdant orange leaf absolute evokes crushed foliage and cool stone, exhaling effortless Italian poise. £250 for 100ml eau de parfum acquadiparma.com

Harnessing AromaWellness technology, from CPL Aromas – one of many fragrance houses tapping into the power of neuroscience, to create mind-shifting perfumes – the latest in Adam Reed’s line-up has been designed to trigger positive feelings. It is indeed the cheeriest of scents, to be used on skin or hair (there is baobab, for conditioning).

Via lime, frangipani and angelica root, each spritz delivers a tangible moment of positivity, at a very smile-making price. £30 for 50ml eau de parfum arkiveheadcare.com

The first ‘prestige’ fragrance in Balmain’s new incarnation also happens to be refillable – with a floral-fruity Quentin Bisch juice that’s upbeat, energetic, uplifting.

‘Neon-saturated’, naturally-sourced strawberry adds a mouthwatering vivacity and sweetness to peony and creamy sandalwood, a delicate green lily accord and intensely woody Akigalawood, while Ambrexolide makes for a skin-scent sensuality. This invites us to ‘Choose your path, live your destiny’ – and wear it, too.

From £65 for 30ml eau de parfum selfridges.com

Velvet Tonka Extrait

BDK

Bentley Become Zenith

BENTLEY

BMW

MOOD: Ultra-gourmand

MOOD: Refined

MOOD: Energetic

Feeling at first like a whispered confidence between past and present, founder David Benedek’s scent memory of Moroccan orange blossom pastries, still warm from the oven, nestles comfortably in a leather armchair. Vanilla deepens the sweetness, while the tonka, singed at the edges, adds a toasty, smoky modernity. When it settles, the result is an urban-gourmand reverie, irresistibly addictive, resolutely contemporary, yet achingly tender with that Proustian rush of remembering. £250 for 100ml eau de parfum selfridges.com

Where the original Become urged wearers to dare to dream again, Become Zenith gathers momentum and surges forth to crest that mountain of ambition.

Perfumer Violaine Collas wraps airy violet leaf, cool cardamom and a touch of cocoa in supple leather before papyrus, patchouli and musk blur to a smoky depth.

Harmonising freshness, power, and refinement in equal measure, it proves Bentley’s continued dedication to exceptionally crafted masculine scents. £80 for 100ml eau de parfum shop.bentleymotors.com

Inspired by an iconic BMW motorsport model from the mid-1980s, you’d expect this male-focused offering to be an energetic, olfactorily agile scent, and it sure zips along – a crisp spritz of lime and citrusy elemi bursting forth in the top notes, before the head-clearing freshness of cypress speeds us through a forest-like heart. The woodiness works its magic as it warms, contrasting with a green fig that invites us to dream of roofdown daytrips. £29 for 50ml eau de toilette debenhams.com

40 ON THE SCENT

1985

TRENDS & LAUNCHES CALVIN KLEIN

CAROLINA HERRERA

CLIVE CHRISTIAN

Euphoria Magnetic Elixir

Good Girl Jasmine Absolute

Strange Heavens Out of the Blue

MOOD: Radiant

MOOD: Delicious

MOOD: Electric

A trio of euphoric fragrances heralds triple the celebration for Calvin Klein fans, each featuring a unique vanilla facet and longlasting concentrations for full-on sensual power. While Solar Elixir melds radiant mango and Bold Elixir contrasts creaminess with deep oakwood, the Magnetic Elixir (above) mesmerises via softly caressing white muskiness, to draw you ever closer to its scented embrace. How to choose? Simply scentscape your mood... £76 for 30ml elixir parfum calvinklein.co.uk

With jasmine turned up full beam, a radiant ode to Good Girl’s iconic signature, the central blossom is joined by sparkling mandarin and juicy blackcurrant to frame its white-flower brilliance. Then smooth almond softens every contour, as caramelised toffee and roasted tonka gather like a golden halo, the jasmine still shining at the centre while benzoin lingers longingly. And that flowerbedecked bottle! Collectors are saying it’s the most gorgeous yet. £79 for 30ml eau de parfum carolinaherrera.com

Joining Clive Christian’s avantgarde Addictive Arts line-up, this draws on the bold vision of Spanish contemporary artist Domingo Zapata. In this collaboration, his electrically energetic, colourful work is echoed by a jolt of coffee, nose-tingling aniseed and baies rose, a complex floral heart (think: jasmine absolute and orange flower), with delectable cocoa absolute and vanilla swirled through with smoke. Addictive?

We’re compulsively re-smelling it, for sure, on our skin. £490 for 50ml eau de parfum clivechristian.com

CLIVE CHRISTIAN

CONTES DE PARFUMS Marrakesh

Wild Vetiver

MOOD: Cool

MOOD: Spicy

MOOD: Outdoorsy

In the most stunning, mirrored flacon, woody-spicy Inox – created

by Julien Rasquinet – really does smell intriguingly steely, at first, drawing you inwards via tart cassis and bergamot; warmed by saffron, the intrigue is truly forged by resinous gurjum gum, leather, sandalwood and oudh. Smoky and smooth, sexy and shareable, Inox is exclusive to Clive Christian’s 118 New Bond Street store (see p.8) – reflecting (literally) that space itself.

Just so, so modern. £490 for 50ml eau de parfum At Clive Christian Bond Street

Think Marrakesh, and we instantly think spices, souks, energy, mystery. Accordingly, Nelly Hachem-Ruiz takes us on an olfactory magic carpet ride to that exotic city, spicing up the travel-inspired Contes de Parfums collection with a powerful sprinkling of cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, cumin and nutmeg.

Virginian cedarwood, resinous labdanum, vanilla and leather smoulder beneath. Like a brazier in the city’s bewitching Jemaa el-Fnaa square, warming skin and soul. £195 for 100ml eau de parfum johnbellcroyden.co.uk

Setting out to capture the ‘untamed elegance of an English garden party wandering into the wild’ (to which we hope our invitation is in the post), this is one of quite a few new vetivers to waft across the scentscape, this spring. Its cool, grassy breeze sways through woody-floral Timur and pink peppers, bergamot, Rosa Centifolia, blackcurrant bud and geranium, tethered by vetiver, cedarwood and Amberwood – and we are, appropriately, rather wild for it.

From £220 for 50ml eau de parfum creedboutique.com

Inox

CREED

ON THE SCENT 41

DIOR

DOLCE&GABBANA The One (newness)

Debaser in Bloom

MOOD: Smooth

MOOD: Smoochy

MOOD: Nostalgic

This is not your down ‘n’ dirty leather. This is buttery smooth, soft to the touch, second-skin.

Dior Perfume Creation Director Francis Kurdkjian’s inspo was the brand’s curved, equestrian ‘Saddle’ bag – an ‘It’ bag of its time – but interpreted here by wrapping the softest burnished leather in sparkling mandarin, airy florals and floaty musks. A ‘nude leather’, as Francis puts it, with a gently smoky, skin-like trail that simply whispers: ‘Come closer.’

From £175 for 50ml eau de parfum dior.com

It’s quite the coup for a brand to secure Madonna as its ‘face’ – and body, which she entwines around that of actor Alberto Guerra in the stunning new ad for The One. Ambery-floral pink pepper, narcotic jasmine and creamy vanilla in The One Eau de Parfum Intense (Quentin Bisch) meets its woodyaromatic match in The One For Men Parfum’s black pepper, nutmeg, patchouli, labdanum and clary sage (from Jean-Christophe Hérault).

And frankly – phwoar. £110 for 50ml eau de parfum intense £127 for 100ml parfum (For Men) harrods.com

Taking the essence of original Debaser, inspired by 90s indie band the Pixies’ iconic song (steamy green fig, milky coconut and sandalwood), fans now get a ‘mixtape’ cut with gardenia, cream, white currant and... cassettes.

We’ll let co-founder and perfumer David Seth Moltz explain: ‘Back then, tapes smelled distinctly of grapey-orange blossom due to a mysterious mixture of polyester, magnetics, and lubricants from which they were manufactured.’

A sure-fire hit, whatever. £155 for 50ml eau de parfum spacenk.com

EIGHT & BOB

ELECTIMUSS

MOOD: Audacious

MOOD: Calm

MOOD: Floaty

The first unveiling by the house since Frederic Malle departed his brand. Annick Ménardo is the perfumer chosen for a scent inspired by Mediterranean ‘Everlasting Flower’ (also known as immortelle). A radiant bloom overdosed here, its spicy facets enhanced by a dark, velvety rose absolute and anchored by sandalwood. Luminous yet mysterious, it was designed ‘as a masculine perfume for women – but the opposite is equally true,’ says Menardo. Caring is sharing.

From £200 for 50ml eau de parfum fredericmalle.co.uk

Don’t we all crave a little more serenity and tranquillity in our lives, right now? Our advice is to accept Eight & Bob’s invitation to experience the timelessness of Burgundy’s vineyards at harvest time, ‘a season marked by serene mornings, familiar rituals and quiet reflection.’ Saffron, myrrh, oudh and pink pepper are expertly blended on a vanilla gourmand base. We declare this altogether an excellent vintage.

From £85 for 30ml eau de parfum harveynichols.com

Step into a hidden Roman garden, per favore. Imagine shimmering summer air, as dawn gives way to daylight. In this woody-floral-musky confection

by Marc Daniel Heimgartner, inspired by the city’s ancient beauty rituals, both classical and contemporary ingredients meet in the dreamiest way, with white florals, coffee, juicy tropical fruits, cashmere woods and oudh offering a hazy, atmospheric fusion of art and nature that is really rather addictive. £260 for 100ml electimuss.com

Cuir Saddle

ÉDITIONS DE PARFUMS FRÉDÉRIC MALLE Contre-Jour

42 ON THE SCENT

Sérenité en Bourgogne

DS & DURGA

Reverie Haze

TRENDS & LAUNCHES ELIZABETH ARDEN

ERIS PARFUMS

ESCENTRIC MOLECULES

MOOD: Bold

MOOD: Nurturing

MOOD: Nostalgic

Tapping into perfume’s magic trick of being able to make us stand a little straighter and look the world right in the eye, Eternal Aura does just that, beautifully. A gorgeously gold-crowned flacon captures a floral-ambrée fusion of pink pepper, golden pear, magnolia, pink peony, and an embrace of sandalwood and amber. Its confidence boost is no illusion. It was developed with IFF’s Science of Wellness division, to enhance self-esteem and happiness.

From £50 for 30ml eau de parfum elizabetharden.co.uk

A skin-hug of goodness is immediately granted via Antoine Lee’s genius blend of buttery orris with milky vanilla. This supremely comforting soft-focus blur then subversively plays with stereotypes built around motherhood: ‘good’ mother (soft, rosy, nurturing) becomes ‘bad’ (suede-like, chocolate-laced, sultry), and an innocent mug of photorealistic warm milk becomes Mommy Dearest – marabou-trimmed negligée, matching kitten-heeled mules, glossed manicure and all. £185 for 50ml wild-iris.com

Indian champaca is one of the most subtly nuanced (and expensive) floral notes, with suggestions of steamy jasmine tea, velvety orange blossom and an undulating creaminess that pairs perfectly with that iconic singular note, Iso E Super, which made Escentric Molecules 01 a scented superstar. While these textures overlap in opulent waves, that signature ‘your skin but better’ quality abounds, while the floralcy is radiant, luminous, graceful and oh-so-wearable. £135 for 100ml eau de parfum escentric.com

Eternal Aura

FERRAGAMO

Mother’s Milk

01+ Champaca

Signorina Romantica

Enchanted Masquerade

FLORAL STREET

GHAWALI

MOOD: Dreamy

MOOD: Romantic

MOOD: Holiday

This is prettiness personified, its orange blossom-filled heart borrowing the piquancy of ripe blackcurrant and a cheeky slosh of rum, stopping the sweetness of an Italian anginetti cookie accord from taking over. The deliciousness reverberates throughout, however, with vanilla bean infusing amber for a distinctly dolce vita take on the gourmand trend, making us dream of floral frocks, twirling through the streets of Italy in springtime. £58 for 30ml eau de parfum debenhams.com

Launched at BAFTA, with a mauve (not red) carpet, flowers a-go-go and a table groaning with Instagrammable delicacies, this collaboration with Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ is a coup for the British fragrance house. Thus, it’s as over-the-top as you’d imagine, fusing armfuls of swoonworthy flowers – Centifolia rose, gardenia, pear – with soft musks and sweet flourishes, for an unforgettable floral-gourmand sillage. Feminine, fun, flirty; a dead cert for belle of the ball.

From £29 for 10ml eau de parfum floralstreet.com

We’re talking the stoned fruit date here, rather than the smoochy kind. However, one sniff of ‘frozen date’ sweetness drizzled with orange and spicy pops of pink pepper, the headiness of jasmine melting into the woodiness of cypriol, and we think gourmandlovers will be in heart-eyed emoji romantic raptures, nonetheless.

Close your eyes and imagine holiday vibes, warm air clinging to sun-gilded skin, sunsets sliding into velvety midnight. £175 for 75ml parfum selfridges.com

Last Date

ON THE SCENT 43

Emporio Armani Power of You

GIORGIO ARMANI

London Confidential

GIVENCHY

GOLDFIELD & BANKS

MOOD: Delicious

MOOD: Comfortable

MOOD: Simmering

Succulent fruitiness swells from the get-go, a delicious maracuja (passionfruit) note shaking its hips to exotic beats in Power of You, before creamy frangipani swirls to a gourmand base of Madagascan vanilla and sumptuously sticky resin. Equally moreish is Stronger With You Powerfully, which balances suave cocktail cherries with smoked chestnut beneath ripe mandarin’s juiciness – positioned as a more masculine offering, but we’d happily wear both! £79 for 50ml EDP (Power of You) £77 for 50ml EDP (Powerfully) johnlewis.com

A Harrods exclusive, in celebration of the opening of a spiffy Givenchy boutique in the Knightsbridge store.

Mixing classic British architecture with French savoir-faire, it’s a truly relaxed and welcoming space – and that’s the vibe bottled here, via notes of blackcurrant bud, Damascena rose and the intense warmth of oudh. There’s even a ‘Chesterfield’ accord in the juice, hinting at the fragrance’s invitation to sit back, relax – and swoon, over Givenchy make-up and perfumes. £310 for 100ml eau de parfum harrods.com

No dewy petals, zero fustiness; this ain’t your average rose, so if you tend to sidestep that ‘queen of flowers’, feel free to lean in closer and have your mind changed. A simmering heat haze shimmers and parts to reveal a desert rose – resolutely blooming, determinedly different. Sharp raspberry feels freeze-dried rather than juicy, here, while a sprinkling of cumin adds a decidedly naughty rambunctiousness to textures of geranium’s thornier, woodier rosiness. £205 for 100ml parfum selfridges.com

GRANADO

GRITTI VENETIA

GROVE ENGLAND

MOOD: Bright

MOOD: Indulgent

MOOD: Spring-like

The dazzling white flower from the orange tree – which we explore in depth on p.14 – is the star of Granado’s spring scent show, a luminous citrus-floral bouquet which also showcases petitgrain and bergamot, adding their dazzle to delicate magnolia, musk, sandalwood and amber. Reach for it for a burst of energy when spirits flag, or to get your day off on the right foot. An optimistic outlook is guaranteed, with every spritz. £80 for 100ml eau de toilette granado.uk

Chantilly is a famous lace – a ‘jewel of the lacemarking art’, featuring floral and fruity garlands – from the city of that same name, which also happens to be where sweet, luscious Chantilly cream was first whipped up. Those two themes are woven together by Luca Gritti in this addition to the perfume house’s White Collection, an enveloping gourmand experience showcasing strawberry, blackcurrant and lashings of vanilla. Moreish? You bet. £230 for 100ml extrait de parfum harveynichols.com

The snowdrops may be nodding their last, but the beauty of those frost-kissed petals can now delight us year-round, via Grove England’s second fragrance. Magnolia (and its green leaf), sweet linden, violet and chamomile rest on a woody carpet of sandalwood, hinoki and frankincense. This is positivity, bottled, capturing those first days when the light shifts and the world seems instantly brighter – so you’ll only ever be a spritz away from feeling uplifted. £120 for 50ml eau de parfum grove-england.com

Neroli

44 ON THE SCENT

Chantilly Extrait

Rose Magnitude

Snowdrop

TRENDS & LAUNCHES Absolus Allegoria Tabac Sahara

GUERLAIN

L’Homme Idéal Cologne Forte

GUERLAIN

HEATHCOTE & IVORY

MOOD: Smoky

MOOD: On-trend

MOOD: Pretty

Perfume gets its name from the Latin per fumum, or ‘through smoke’. That was the starting point for Guerlain’s Delphine Jelk, here, a smoky gourmand which pairs tobacco with a raspberry accord, to deeply, darkly mysterious effect.

But it doesn’t just smell sublime; Tabac Sahara marks the next step in Guerlain’s sustainability journey, with 90% natural ingredients (including alcohol distilled from beetroot), the flacon now fashioned from 15% recycled glass. £165 for 125ml eau de parfum escentual.com

Spot-on with fragrance’s almond moment (see p.39), perfumer Delphine Jelk’s limited edition ‘burning cool’ almond-y Cologne Forte twist on classic, bestselling L’Homme Idéal is shot through with paradoxes and contrasts. For freshness, there’s grapefruit, plus intense, bitter-edged almond. But then, offering a softening, warming and woodsy counterpoint, we have a drift of vetiver and incense. This study in contradictions is deftly composed – and unmistakably Guerlain, naturellement. £122 for 100ml eau de parfum johnlewis.com

We still speak to people seeking a replacement for Fresh’s discontinued Sweet Pea fragrance – and now we know just where to steer them. Innocent, fresh, sweet and so, so quintessentially English, this brilliantly-priced eau de toilette also offers layerable options to veil yourself from head to toe in the romance of those quintessential summer flowers, accented by green leaves and soft musks. Altogether as pretty as its posy-adorned bottle. £18 for 75ml eau de toilette heathcote-ivory.com

INITIO

ISSEY MIYAKE

ISSEY MIYAKE

MOOD: Reviving

MOOD: Salty

MOOD: Luminous

Bright bergamot’s revitalising sparkle fizzes throughout, slicing through the creamy exoticism of magnolia and ylang ylang as the toasty nuttiness of tonka brings almond-y vibes to the dry-down.

You know that feeling of turning your face up to the sun, smiling as the rays sink in, a blinding, whiteout blissfulness that feels like you may have entered heaven? That’s what this is, bottled. All together now: ‘Let the sunshine in!’ £285 for 100ml extrait de parfum harveynichols.com

30 years after L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme debuted, here’s Quentin Bisch’s interpretation of water, inspired by that essential for life: salt. An almost iodine, mineralic saltiness laps against spices and woods, with Laminaria seaweed and oakmoss deployed to evoke the unmistakable scent of the sea, ginger offering excitement – that crash of waves against shore – plus cedarwood, amber and incense, for strength and power. Happy to be cast away, with this.

From £72 for 50ml eau de toilette johnlewis.com

This sunbeam of a scent glows with the sophistication we expect from Issey Miyake, subverted by an increased potency and (dare we say?) a sense of fragrant fun.

It giggles with green mandarin and neroli, the twiggy leafiness of the orange tree segueing to solar orange blossoms, all underpinned by pistachio-wood and creamy sandalwood. The bottle’s a stunner, too, based on the designer’s iconic Bao Bao bags. We adore!

From £72 for 30ml parfum johnlewis.com

Lift Me Up

Le Sel d’Issey

Sweet Pea & Honeysuckle

Lumière D’Issey

ON THE SCENT 45

KAYALI

JO MALONE LONDON

JULIETTE HAS A GUN Banana Rush

Eden Collection (newness)

MOOD: Sun-warmed

MOOD: Cheeky

MOOD: Playful

Perfumer Yann Vasnier and JML’s Global Head of Fragrance, Céline Roux, turned Indiana Joneses in their quest for the perfect resinous Cistus labdanum distillation for this intensified Cologne. At first bright with bitter orange, the essence they settled on duly captures the baking warmth of Andalusia, richly underpinned by roasted oak and buffed by the sweetness of vanilla.

Powerful, sensual, shareable, lasting for hours on skin.

From £116 for 50ml Cologne Intense jomalone.co.uk

The leopard print banana of the teaser campaign was a clue from the cheekily irreverent house that this fruity gourmand was going to do things its own way. ‘Always relegated to the background... Not this time!’, they said, a promise delivered with perfumed aplomb as the banana note is up front and unapologetic. The latest in JHAG’s series of gourmands, this continues with a Proustian rush of foam banana sweets, granted fashionista sophistication.

From £100 for 50ml eau de parfum spacenk.com

Joining KAYALI’s Eden Collection of vibrant, upbeat ‘forbidden florals’, a pair of flirty, mouthwatering, fruity temptations.

Eden Sweet Peach is a floralambrée cocktail of peach, apple, bergamot, nectarine, amber woods and oakmoss, enfolded in gourmand sweetness, while Plush Pear offers a cooler floral bouquet of orange blossom, freesia, gardenia, lily of the valley and coconut water, on cashmere woods and vanilla. Why not dare to layer them? £80 each for 50ml eau de parfum spacenk.com

KENZO

L’OBJET Delphes

Original newness

MOOD: Intense

MOOD: Elemental

MOOD: Sun-drenched

‘If red had a scent’ was the starting point for Marie Salamagne, in collaboration with Alberto Morillas (creator of the OG Kenzo Flower) – a celebration of Japan’s signature colour evoked via an intense version of that original. Far more than simply a stronger version, though, it revels in sensuality with a caress of rice steam encircling a rose. As the waves of warmth build, a base of Amberever, (a powerfully ambery synthetic) trails lingeringly. £58 for 30ml eau de parfum theperfumeshop.com

Approaching 80, esteemed perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena shows zero sign of slowing down.

(Hurrah for that!) Via an absolute from grignon – ‘olive cake’, left over from oil pressing – Delphes transports us to Grecian grove where beating sun bakes leaves, fruit, earth. Black pepper adds a spark, violet leaf a welcome touch of shade from the day’s heat.

Tethered by cedar, patchouli, olive wood and oakmoss, the oracle speaks: this is a masterwork. £299 for 100ml eau de parfum l-objet.com

Mixed doubles, here: Lacoste Original Pour Femme is all sun on skin, a-sparkle with pear, ginger, softened by amber and vanilla, while Lacoste Original Aqua was inspired by the blue, blue, blue of the French Riviera’s sea and sky: aromatic, woodsy (cypress and vetiver), with a salty caviar accord.

And how cute would they look on the dressing table, side-by-side? £39 for 40ml eau de parfum (Lacoste Original Pour Femme) £59 for 50ml eau de parfum (Lacoste Original Aqua) very.com

Amber Labdanum Cologne Intense

Flower by Kenzo Le Rouge Flower

46 ON THE SCENT

LACOSTE

TRENDS & LAUNCHES LANCÔME

MAISON LOUIS-MARIE

MAISON MARGIELA

MOOD: Peachy

MOOD: Hopeful

MOOD: Uplifted

Peach’s popularity rating is definitely on the up (and we’ve a hunch its juiciness will drizzle over many a summer launch). Here, the powerhouse perfumer trio of Nadège le Garlantezec, Shyamala Maisondieu and Adriana Medina reached for Givaudan’s natural Peach OrpurTM essence to bring its sophisticated, velvety sweetness to armfuls of Damascena roses, adding red berries, for freshness.

It’s sun-dappled, optimistic, and a welcome perfumed portent of warmer days.

From £65 for 25ml eau de parfum lancome.co.uk

Embracing, uplifting, this is a gourmand reminiscence of the best of times, bottled. Picture a glass jar of sugar with vanilla pods and candied peel infusing the crystals; now a tray of vanilla cookies fresh from the oven, that sugar slightly singed and chewy at the edges, redolent of the aromatics but warmed and indulgently comforting. There’s heliotrope here, adding creaminess rather than floralcy, atop pillowy soft cashmere and white musk. A new benchmark for vanillas. £91 for 50ml eau de parfum maisonlouismarie.com

‘Inspired by the memory of a perfect date on a late summer’s evening overlooking the vineyards of Provence,’ we’re told, the scent of ripe grapes is tangled through with wild roses. With blackcurrant liquor, pink pepper, rose and geranium, a moss accord and musk, there’s more than a waft of patchouli, in the dry-down – a boho touch that invites you to let your hair down, too. Spritz this, and who needs Tinder?

From £62 for 30ml eau de parfum spacenk.com

MAISON NOIR

MAYA NJIE

MESSIAH & EVE

MOOD: Elegant

MOOD: Spiritual

MOOD: Balancing

Blending nostalgia with modernity, this absolutely billows with the complexity of a timeless rose.

Reach for it on days when you just want to feel goddammed gorgeous, with armfuls of elegant flowers promising a natural elegance, yet diving deeper and deeper as it warms to an oudh-infused base.

Between the layers, lavender and bergamot proffer a breath of freshness, a moment to pause and simply admire the loveliness.

From £115 for 50ml eau de parfum gloriousbeauty.co.uk

We love the way Maya views ingredients important to her heritage, with a modern lens – here aidan fruit, a traditional WestAfrican spice described as buttery, caramelised, almost toffee-like.

It is borne aloft on plumes of thiouraye incense, inspired by ancient ruins reverberating with spiritual echoes. Coffee and leather also make their presence known, as the rain stops and wet earth releases its verdancy.

One for travellers, both literal and metaphysical. £105 for 50m eau de parfum mayanjie.com

Much-loved for their aromatherapeutic bath and bodycare, this British brand’s debut eau de parfum launches in a 9ml size, for portability. It’s a crisp white shirt, to begin – bergamot, mandarin, grapefruit and aquatic tones – with a heart warmed by clary sage, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper. Soft sandalwood, oakmoss, dry amber and tonka create a lasting impact, on skin. Mood-shifting magic, this one. £32 for 9ml eau de parfum messiahandeve.com

Idôle Peach’N Roses

RosaEterna 163

Vanille Infinie

Aetha Opum

Replica: On A Date

Beyond Here

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MOLTON BROWN

NARCISO RODRIGUEZ

NARCISO RODRIGUEZ

MOOD: Contemplative

MOOD: Radiant

MOOD: Mysterious

The stillness of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony pervades Mathieu Nardin’s woody-green invitation to pause, ‘carving out a micro “me” break between meetings, or unwinding at the end of the day.’ And gosh, we definitely do all need a little more Zen in our lives, right now. It’s delivered here by nashi pear, earthy matcha, crisp green tea and soothing hinoki wood – and with a Bath & Shower Gel, if you’d like to complete the soothing ritual. £140 for 100ml eau de parfum moltonbrown.co.uk

Always such excitement over a new Narciso Musc, and this newest evocation beams with a particular radiance. The touchy-feely matte opaqueness of the bottle reflects the juice within, which is soapy clean, but with a textural purity of bright jasmine. The signature white musk simply gives a sense of sunlit clouds floating like fluffy puffs in a blue sky, making you feel everything’s going to be OK, actually. (Phew.)

From £74 for 30ml eau de parfum debenhams.com

Head-clearing clary sage and aromatic juniper open their arms, welcoming a cool, herbaceouslytinged breeze to clear away cobwebs of nagging doubt.

Grounded by that gloriously creamy sandalwood and buoyed by the signature effervescent white musk, it’s one to wear when the darkness needs pushing back, but you still want a feeling you can dart into the shadows, at will.

Not brooding, but mysterious, intriguing, inviting you closer. £83 for 50ml EDP intense debenhams.com

ODE ONA

OLFICTION LAB EDITIONS

PARFUMS DE MARLY

MOOD: Pure

MOOD: Zingy

MOOD: Vivacious

Can scent work as a purifying ritual? Can it even deliver on a promise to ‘cleanse from ashes anew’? There’s certainly something so meditative about this, from a house whose philosophy is that ‘a state of simply being is just a scent away.’ Sage, cardamom, pine needle tea and sandalwood truly open the door to calm, here, as we spritz the cares of the day and the woes of the world into the ether. £125 for 50ml eau de parfum odeona.com

Serendipitously (and it often works like this), we discovered while putting together our feature on ‘Perfume’s Magic (Orange) Tree’ – see p.14 – that Olfiction Lab Editions’ new fragrance was composed as a zesty homage to that tree’s incredible versatility, via a combination of sweet orange, neroli, petitgrain and orange flower absolute. Fresh and wearable, with what we perceive as a slightly masculine edge, it’s as perfect for spring and summer as Cologne can get. £50 for 15ml eau de parfum olfiction.com

Parfums de Marly, as ever, turn to the French royal courts for inspo – in this case, the 17th century muse of Louis XIV, Athénaïs de Montespan. An ode to fearless, liberated femininity, Athénaïs’s olfactory roots may be in the history books, but this juice is totally contemporary, with a solar white floralcy – jasmine, orange blossom – and an amber/ambrox accord in the warm, powdery base, for a skin-like aura. Très, très jolie.

From £270 for 75ml eau de parfum parfumsdemarly.com

Tea Ceremony

Carte Blanche

48 ON THE SCENT

Pure Musc Blanc for Her

Cologne: Orange

Musc Santal for Him

Athénaïs

TRENDS & LAUNCHES PENHALIGON’S

PERFUMER H Soap

Million Gold For Her Pure Diamonds

MOOD: Undaunted

MOOD: Clean

MOOD: Glittering

Inviting us to unlock our inner strength, this potent formula works its magic via notes that feel simultaneously powerfilled and mellow. Paul Guerlain balances palo santo, a creamy/ lemony wood burned in sacred practices, with powdery violet, a sense of earthiness grounding the composition, buoyed by a WHOOSH! of freshly picked mint. Sitting within the Potions & Remedies collection, it reminds us that ‘one does not merely endure, one triumphs against all odds!’ £215 for 100ml eau de parfum penhaligons.com

A collaboration with the design house of Studio Nicholson, we are dearly hoping Soap is elevated from limited edition to the permanent collection of Lyn Harris’s Perfumer H brand. It’s white towels, against shower-fresh skin. Softness.

Your treasured lived-in t-shirt, all conjured via cardamom and white pepper, laundry-fresh aldehydes and orange flower, swaddled in tonka, white musks and ambrox.

Was scent ever so snuggleable?

Honestly, nope. £190 for 50ml eau de parfum perfumerh.com

An olfactory ode to celebrate Rabanne’s 60-year diamond craftmanship, this limited-edition scent fuses sparkling raspberry with luminously faceted jasmine, the light scattering rainbows that dance across the velvety plushness of peach skin. As body heat reveals the final sashay of patchouli-enriched woodiness wrapped in a cashmere-esque soft nuzzle of musk, those wishing to exude the glimmer and gleam of precious jewels will sway with this until sunset softens the brilliance. £104 for 50ml eau de parfum theperfumeshop.com

ROJA LONDON

SABRINA CARPENTER Sweet Tooth Lemon Pie

Strawberry Shortcake

MOOD: Dark

MOOD: Irresistible

MOOD: Sentimental

Roja Dove’s latest addition to his Aoud Collection delivers all the energy of a double espresso.

An absolute jolt to the senses, it showcases roasted coffee beans, swirled into caramelised nuts, for a velvety creaminess. Then the oudh powers in – unapologetically powerful, attention-seeking, anchoring this gourmand experience and ensuring a morning-till-bedtime sillage that will get you noticed. One for sluggish mornings, steamy date nights and everything in between From £325 for 50ml eau de parfum rojalondon.com

Properly tangy lemon dispels any risk of a sugar coma, here – and if you’ve not yet tried the Sabrina Carpenter Sweet Tooth collection, this is your lemontinged clarion call to dive in and indulge your senses. (The bottles – see above – resemble the most adorable chocolate-bar chunks.)

Creamy vanilla is whipped atop the zestiness, while a ‘graham cracker crust’ accord appropriately provides the base, in this freshgourmand. Colour us impressed. £24.99 for 30ml eau de parfum superdrug.com

Those of us who grew up playing with Strawberry Shortcake (and her equally fragrant dolly friends) can look forward to visceral scent memories of unboxing the sweet-smelling toys, whose hair exuded a mixture of fruity jam, wild strawberries, whipped vanilla and a distinct whiff of biscuit-y shortcake.

Wear to remember carefree days, rainbow-painted bedrooms, and singing into hairbrushes while endlessly crafting intricate dances with friends. £36.50 for 20ml eau de parfum scentbird.com

Potions Bold Blend

Espresso Aoud

RABANNE

SCENTBIRD

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TRENDS & LAUNCHES THE BODY SHOP Dewberry

VALENTINO Born in Roma Purple Melancholia

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS

MOOD: Nostalgic

MOOD: Evocative

MOOD: Captivating

The Body Shop’s iconic fruity-floral (originallly launched 1988) is set to seduce a whole new generation – but we reckon it will also lure its original devotees back into the stores, to experience Dewberry all over again, and in new ways. Giving in to 20 years of daily customer requests for a relaunch, lovers can now thrill to this fusion of jasmine, freesia white lily, cedarwood and soft musks as a mist, perfume oil and multiple layering options.

From £14 for 100ml fragrance mist thebodyshop.com

Every evocation of Born in Roma offers a chance to travel new perfumed paths. We’ll gladly follow Purple Melancholia Donna’s fruity chypre steps, with sun-warmed juicy plums and apricot-like osmanthus blossoms leading to a hug of vanilla in the dry-down; it lingers lovingly, too, like treasured reminiscences. In Uomo, its pair, cool cardamom juxtaposes suave lavandin-sprinkled cocoa – both timely reminders to slow down and savour moments of happiness. £105 for 50ml EDP (Donna) £75 for 50ml EDP (Uomo) debenhams.com

Picture a field of tuberoses at sunset, their magnificence just on the brink of blooming, tiny white flowers seemingly having soaked up the solar brightness of day and beaming it, torch-like, as the sun dips and stars begin to twinkle. Pink berries bring that sparkle of scintillation, here, with petitgrain capturing the glee of luminescence; sandalwood and musk mimicking the captivating hush of holding your breath for night’s magic to begin. £164 for 75ml eau de parfum harrods.com

VERSACE

Fleur de Nuit

Dylan Blush Pink

Shooting Stars Gibeon

XERJOFF

ZADIG & VOLTAIRE

MOOD: Soft

MOOD: Ethereal

MOOD: Expressive

Sweet yet sophisticated, light-filled and ethereal, the surprise here is a moreish marshmallow heart.

But aside from this so-pretty juice with its cloud-like sillage, by Olivier Cresp, Versace are keen to promote its environmentally-conscious back-story, with ingredients from sustainable production chains, offering absolute traceability – notes like Calabrian bergamot, strawberry apple, orange blossom and Madagascan vanilla, sharing flacon-space with synthetic musks and freesia. Bravo!

From £91 for 50ml eau de parfum fenwick.co.uk

Glowing with celestial poise, this glimmers into being with a shimmer of neroli’s shine, Ceylon cinnamon adding a softly spiced tingle before the heart of rose, patchouli and powdery orris unfurls like moonlight caressing white silk. Beneath these undulating layers, creamy sandalwood and almond-like tonka radiate quiet gravity – a comforting hum of assuredness to slowly sink into. Ethereal and spacious, it’s airborne yet grounding. And each bottle includes a certified meteorite fragment! £238 for 50ml eau de parfum harrods.com

Giving freedom of expression a chance to shine, this glorious showcase for orange blossom, fizzy ginger and toasted sesame builds on Zadig’s original aura (which we loved) and adds an urban intensity via the most intriguing ‘vinyl accord’. Does it smell like a record collection?

Well, no, but though it’s glossily modern there’s a certain sense of yearning for a return to analogue authenticity. And as for the horizontal flacon? Original, and pleasingly tactile.

From £70 for 30ml EDP intense theperfumeshop

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Zadig L’Intense

STEP INTO THE WORLD OF CLIVE CHRISTIAN AT 118 NEW BOND STREET, LONDON

To book your private consultation or for any enquires, please contact us: EMAIL newbondstreet@clive.com PHONE 020 3627 0118

INTERVIEW

THIS

CREATIVE We are fascinated by the creators behind perfumes – the founders, the designers, the noses themselves. They are human sponges, soaking up sights, smells and experiences to turn ideas into fragrant air. For the first in this series, we speak to CPL Aromas’ Master Perfumer CHRISTIAN PROVENZANO

W

idely regarded as one of the leading creative figures in modern perfumery, Christian Provenzano was born in Casablanca, to Italian parents. The colours and aromas of Morocco were an early influence, informing Christian’s love of spices, resins and the myriad other exotic ingredients that he’s famed for weaving into his creations. (He’s often referred to, with reverence, as ‘The master of oud and amber.’

‘Before beginning my journey as a perfumer,’ Christian says, ‘I was a guitarist in a band. As part of the band, I travelled all over Europe. Then at 19, I went to Amsterdam and started out as a lab technician for a perfumer, who trained me, recognised my talent and told me that I have a “great nose”. Taking his advice seriously, I joined a perfumery school and after graduating, I returned to work with the same perfumer as a trainee.’

In the 1980s, Christian moved to the UK to join the British name CPL Aromas. ‘As a family-owned company, from day one I felt comfortable working with them, very much part of the family.’ Since then, Christian has helped to build CPL Aromas into one of the world’s leading fragrance houses, now presiding over a global team of 30 perfumers.

Christian Provenzano’s roll call of fragrance creations is stellar – and way too long to list, although highlights span Penhaligon’s Quercus and Halfeti to Clive Christian C For Men and V For Men, via the award-winning Agent Provocateur Signature. He has also worked on many Boadicea the Victorious fragrances – including the luxurious Eternal Sapphires Collection, which this British perfume house is showcasing for spring 2026, and which has been reignited from Boadicea’s archive with heightened glamour, depth and intensity.

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LIFE

Is the space you work in important for creativity?

Absolutely. It can influence my mood, focus and motivation. For example, natural light and a quiet atmosphere can help me to think more clearly and feel more inspired. I am mostly based in Dubai, which is where my work generally happens – a light-filled city.

How many times a day might you be struck by ideas? Some days I might be struck with ideas just once or twice; other days could be much more, especially when I am relaxed and when I am working on an exciting project.

Does caffeine play a role in your creative mood?

I am absolutely a coffee lover. Most of the time I am working on more than one project, so I often deliberately take coffee breaks as a pause between my creations. It also motivates me and allows me to stay focused.

Does food – and eating out – inspire you?

Oh, yes – very much so. But not necessarily just what happens to be on my plate. I remember once that I was in India having dinner on the beach with a customer. Next to us, there was a frangipani tree with an amazing scent. I took a pen and paper and started writing down all the ingredients and elements I could smell. After I got

‘I OFTEN DELIBERATELY TAKE COFFEE BREAKS AS A PAUSE BETWEEN MY CREATIONS. IT MOTIVATES ME AND ALLOWS ME TO STAY FOCUSED’

© ALEXANDER POPADIN ; CPHOTOS, UNSPLASH

ABOVE: Time spent on Spanish beaches is a particular inspiration for Christian, who punctuates his work on individual creations with coffee.

BELOW: On a trip to India, a frangipani tree proved an instant spark for an idea

ABOVE: Christian Provenzano at work.

TOP: The perfumer switches off his brain from creating by playing piano ON THE SCENT 53

INTERVIEW to my office, I asked my assistant to compound it.

The result was extremely close to the smell of the flowers I imagined. I showed it to my customer; he immediately fell in love with it and bought it.

Do you like to visit exhibitions? I tend to visit trade exhibitions which are mostly related to perfumery. I am always curious to discover how the fragrance industry evolves, because in turn, this inspires my creations. But for a perfume house like Boadicea, for instance, I’m unlikely to follow trends as I like to tap into my own creativity and knowledge of ingredients.

What else do you do that’s creative? And is to relax, or to fuel your creativity? I enjoy cooking, playing piano and drawing. These are my ways of completely switching off from perfumery.

Do you ever use sketchbooks or your own illustrations? I don’t necessarily sketch my ideas, but I do regularly find myself just grabbing a note pad to write down raw materials that come to mind in different daily scenarios, for potential future projects.

Do you like to be given visual inspiration by a client? Definitely. When a client communicates their vision clearly, it really facilitates bringing that project to life and helps to meet their expectations more accurately.

What about the role of nature…? I find myself getting seriously inspired when I am by the beach.

Especially by the smell of salty water, the hot sand, the air… Quite a few of my creations were formulated on my holidays in Spain, including Boadicea Aqua Sapphire.

Do you ever create in your sleep? Not in my sleep, but – being very much a morning person – my creativity is usually at its peak after having just woken up, with a coffee and cigarette in hand, whilst appreciating the peace and sound of birds chirping in my garden.

What else in the world inspires you?

Travelling is of course a must for perfumers.

I always love seeing different cultures, meeting customers, but I also gather inspiration from going to the beach, walking in a forest. Discovering new ingredients, seeing how they are processed, learning about different cultures; all of it goes into the mix.

Are you able to spend time creating new accords?

Absolutely. I have a bank of personal accords that I often turn to for my new creations. These are very useful when an idea strikes my mind, and they’re always a good starting point.

How do you compose fragrances? In my early days as a perfumer, everything was done with paper and pen. Today, it’s much easier and faster using computers. The formula is directly transferred from my computer straight to my assistant, who will compound it in the lab. And then we smell.

Can your nose ever switch off? I never switch it off, no. I am constantly smelling at home, in the office, in my car, in department stores. This is part of my daily routine. I can’t imagine it any other way.

Do you continue to think about the fragrances when you get home? Yes, I do. Sometimes I carry on working until very late at night. Some of the projects that I work on have seriously short deadlines – which is the reason I work longer hours to make sure that I am on track.

What’s your ideal state of mind for creating?

To be creative, I need to be focused, calm and in a bright room where no one can disturb me. This helps me to think about what I will create.

Do you listen to music while you work? Despite my background as a musician, no, I don’t tend to listen to it when I’m working. I know that other perfumers like to work to music, but I prefer my environment to be quiet and peaceful so that I can hear my own thoughts or ideas.

You work very closely with Boadicea and have done for some time. When does a brand’s DNA become part of your DNA – or is it the other way around? It’s the other way around; my DNA gradually becomes part of the brand itself. When

LEFT TO RIGHT: Boadicea the Victorious creations by Christian Provenzano include Amber Sapphire; Violet Sapphire Supercharged; Rose Sapphire; Blue Sapphire; Carbon Sapphire Supercharged; Oud Sapphire; Green Sapphire 54 ON THE SCENT

working closely with a brand, creation becomes a dialogue. The brand offers its history and vision, but each fragrance carries the perfumer’s own style, which over time becomes recognisable as a signature.

What were specific inspirations for the some of the Boadicea the Victorious fragrances that you have created?

For Boadicea, my inspiration comes from the ingredients themselves. I like to create bold, sophisticated and mysterious fragrances. These fragrances are very highly concentrated and contain very expensive raw materials; price is never an issue. With Boadicea I get total freedom to bring my ideas to life; it invites me to push raw materials further, while still pursuing elegance, creating fragrances that feel powerful and unique.

My inspiration behind Blue Sapphire was to create a ‘modern chypre’, which could be unisex; it has this cool, deep mystery to it – sharp, bold and luminous. For instance, Green Sapphire is inspired by the idea of freshness and nature, while maintaining elegance; the fragrance explores contrasts between green brightness and deeper, sensual undertones.

‘I FIND MYSELF GETTING SERIOUSLY INSPIRED BY THE BEACH: THE SMELL OF SALTY WATER, THE HOT SAND, THE AIR’

© NATHAN KARSGAARD; JORG, UNSPLASH

Rose Sapphire takes the idea of romantic power, refining it, making it luminous – a contrast of a beautiful rose with a Middle Eastern touch. Oud Sapphire is a play on the many, many dimensions of oudh – not only in depth and power, but its luminosity and refinement.

And Carbon Sapphire Supercharged is a new amplification of the original 2019 Carbon Sapphire: the idea was to make every facet sharper, brighter and more intense. I wanted the contrasts to be heightened, the projection to be stronger and overall to have a captivating effect.

Which perfume from the past do you hold up as a perfect example of creative expression?

It happens to be one of my own: Agent Provocateur Signature. I created it in 2000, and it won a FiFi Award from The Fragrance Foundation UK for the best fragrance. I always say that this fragrance was created before its time, because it’s so much more ‘niche’ than mainstream, as the market very much was at that time. cplaromas.com boadiceathevictorious.com

TOP: A light-filled, calm environment is a creative must.

MIDDLE: Salty water has proved inspirational for Christian’s accords.

BOTTOM: A paper notebook must always be within reach

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PERFUMED PARTNERSHIP

STEP INSIDE VERSACE’S FRAGRANCE ATELIER Working with renowned perfumers and the finest materials in the scented world, you’re invited to discover Atelier Versace’s haute fragrance collection

F

or those-in-the-know, Atelier Versace is inextricably linked with exceptional craftsmanship, exquisite materials and design genius. Since 1989, it has been the space at Versace’s headquarters where the Haute Couture collection is first envisioned, then translated into astonishingly beautiful clothes and accessories through hundreds of hours of meticulous workmanship, all by hand.

But what is fragrance, if not the ultimate accessory? It was a natural move, then, for Versace to translate this signature of craftsmanship into exclusive eau de parfums.

And so, the Atelier Versace fragrance collection was born, offering truly luxurious scents from the world’s leading perfumers, composed with true devotion to every detail.

Celebrating Italian luxury excellence, Atelier Versace is a portfolio that spans luminous florals to woody creations, fresh to spicy, via amber and gourmand. There are no rules, because these uber-luxurious fragrances are all shareable. Rose, on a man’s skin? Absolutely. Deep, resonant woods, on a woman’s body? Why not?

Because the bottom line is that whatever your scent preference, Atelier Versace will beguile your senses with a fragrance – or two, or three – from this couture collection.

Let’s start with the quartet pictured opposite – quintessential examples of the Atelier Versace perfumers’ art. Gäel Montero was the perfumer that Atelier Versace turned to for the fragrance pictured top left, Rose Flamboyante. A hypnotic floral dance, timelessly elegant, its exquisite rose note is accented by geranium and patchouli, with a lasting, enveloping sillage of vetiver, cedar and nuzzleable musks.

The other three creations photographed here happen to be by Jordi Fernàndez, renowned for innovative yet textured compositions that are always shot through with a luminous elegance. Gingembre Pétillant, for instance (top right), offers luminous red ginger from Laos, adding radiance to white flowers. Moreish praline features here, for a fragrance that is dark yet sparkling.

In Patchouli Précieux (bottom left), Fernàndez amplifies the timeless allure of patchouli with a tapestry of notes that include candied prune, spicy nutmeg and saffron. Creamy sandalwood, delectable praline and amber woods swirl at the heart, before the base drifts in: Akigalawood, vanilla and that patchouli. Sophisticated, sensual – yet comforting, too.

And for Atelier Versace Vanille Rouge (bottom right),

“

Jordi Fernàndez drew inspiration from the complexity and richness of traditional Middle Eastern perfumes, fusing powdery musks with Madagascan vanilla and a velvety rose note, to deliciously compelling result.

Beyond the four that we highlight here, though, there is so much more to discover. As summer approaches, you might reach for Figue Blanche, which is Marypierre Julien’s light-filled blend of fig notes, Italian mandarin, zesty bergamot and neroli, garlanded by jasmine and rose. Or soft Iris d’Élite (another Jordi Fernàndez wonder), which adds the sparkle of spice to the powdery sumptuousness of iris, warmed by tonka and musky amber.

Richer still, we have Gäel Montero’s Rêve de Myrrh – resinous, with fir balsam and cistus alongside myrrh, shimmering with iris and tuberose at the heart. Jordi Fernàndez leads us on yet another mystical journey with Encens Suprême, infused with smoky incense, Spanish cistus and cashmere woods, while sandalwood lovers will swoon to Santal Boisé, by Christophe Raynaud.

And then there’s Safran Royal, centred around that most precious spice beside bittersweet wormwood, rich leather and amber notes – the masterful Jordi Fernàndez, again.

This so-tangible sense of craftsmanship extends beyond the Atelier Versace fragrances themselves to their exquisite presentation. The sleek bottle, fashioned with an innovative twisting technique, is etched in gold with the fragrance’s name, the caps bearing the unmistakable Medusa motif of Versace – here, in three dimensions. You may well be tempted to keep these flacons on display, but each eau de parfum is offered in a beautiful box, opening to reveal a mirror emblazoned with the Atelier Versace logo, in gold.

For those of us who only dream of an haute couture gown, or suit, Atelier Versace fragrances place that sense of craftsmanship just a spritz away. We can’t encourage you too strongly to open the door to the atelier and explore them all. Just prepare to have your senses dazzled...

Truly luxurious scents from the world’s leading perfumers, composed with true devotion to every detail

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”

£260 for 100ml eau de parfum At Harrods/harrods.com – exclusive stockist for Figue Blanche and Patchouli Précieux At Selfridges/selfridges.com – exclusive stockist for Rose Flamboyante

XXXXXXXXX CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Atelier Versace Rose Flamboyante Gingembre Pétillant; Vanille Rouge; Patchouli Précieux

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COMMUNITY

MEET THE

FOUNDERS Literally, meet the founders – the creatives behind just some of the perfume houses showing on 16th May at the Barnes Fragrance Fair 2026

BY SUZY NIGHTINGALE

I

t’s rare for the public to be able to come nose-tonose with the founders and perfumers behind their favourite houses. To have the chance to meet new niche names, or get to know brands they’d heard of but never been able to try before. And to hear the stories and inspirations behind their beautifully crafted creations, literally up close and personal.

That’s exactly why Barnes Fragrance Fair sprang into being, four years ago. Trend forecaster and blogger Amanda Carr, the tireless co-founder of the fair itself, sniffed a gap in the market: sating the huge hunger for real-life, in-person interactions, where perfume-lovers get to greet those who made them, hear their inspirations first-hand, and sometimes get sneak-peeks at pre-launch perfumes before anyone else.

Barnes Fragrance Fair (BFF) is a world apart from the big, blingtastic international perfume trade shows where distributors, retail scouts and press get their noses on the newness in far-flung locations (and

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often at great expense). And visitors love it for that – because BFF is staged in an actual village hall on a (London) village common, with trestle tables draped in simple white cloths, where the names behind the brands stand there in the flesh, a mere table’s width away from their fans, followers and customers.

(Indeed, name us another show with a duck pond, outside!) Step inside, and you feel like part of a true community – people who quite simply adore fragrance and aroma, and whose excitement is tangible.

Remarkably, entry to the show itself – where you can encounter all the makers featured here, and others listed on p.63 – is FREE. But if you can’t get to Barnes this year? We invite you to meet some fascinating founders through these pages, many of whom also now offer discovery sets online via their websites, if you can’t meet face-to-face. And whatever you do, don’t miss the must-sniff creations we’ve highlighted, here.

BEAUFORT LONDON LEO CRABTREE

This British niche house was born of ships tossed on roiling seas, inspired by tales of derring-do, scurrilous historical characters and even an Elizabethan sonnet. Balancing poetic mythologies with visceral evocations of place and personal memories, musician Leo Crabtree grew up in a seafaring family, listening to the BBC’s ‘Shipping Forecast’, following his father out to sea on endless voyages. His ‘aha!’ moment, aptly enough, came while sailing. Wanting to tame his moustache amidst briny breezes, he sought essential oils to fashion a wax, becoming obsessed with scent and eventually working with professional perfumers to launch the first of (now) three unapologetically bold yet romantic eaux de parfum collections, in 2015.

MUST-SMELL – Fathom V Art & Olfaction Award-winning, this scent – inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest – became a bestseller.

Mercurially fascinating, salty moss nestles in a bouquet of yearning lilies. beaufortlondon.com @beaufortlondon

Fa th om V

MAYA NJIE

Les Fleurs

Pronounced ‘Maia N-Jye’, perfumer and founder Maya is the beating heart of her eponymous fragrance house, translating memory into scent with gorgeous painterly precision. Born in Västerås to a Swedish/West African family, then shaped by London and the art school she attended, Maya fuses photography, colour studies and perfumery into exquisitely intimate compositions. Working from old family photo albums – their faded tones, textures and everyday tenderness – she builds soulful, small-batch fragrances that feel like well-loved, time-worn snapshots: contemplative, personal and quietly revolutionary in their perfumed portrayal of heritage, home and nostalgic happenstance. Scents of belonging, if you will.

MUST-SMELL – Les Fleurs A luminous green floral, riffing on a 1970 Minnie Riperton song. Bergamot, magnolia and fig joyously ripple in uninhibited creative celebration. mayanjie.com @maya.njie.perfumes

ON THE SCENT 59

GALLIVANT NICK STEWARD

Former Creative Director of L’Artisan Parfumeur, Nick Steward describes himself as a wanderer who ‘fell into’ perfumery via his love of languages and travel. His urban nomad spirit was captured with the launch of Nick’s indie house, in 2017. Each Gallivant scent captures the soul of a city its creator knows and invites you to dream about – its vibe, climate, and small, perfectly formed moments caught forever in scent form, like a perfumed postcard that you can wear and love. Working with independent noses, Nick has a belief that the wearer – not the fragrance – should dictate the journey.

MUST-SMELL – Los Angeles Described by esteemed critic Persolaise as a ‘subtle triumph’, the sultry, salted air buoys humid florals to shimmering, neon sunsets. gallivant-perfumes.com @gallivant.stories

MEADOWFARM LIFESTYLE

OLFACTIVE O OLIVIA DA COSTA

RACHEL SCOTT

This British house, built around story-telling scents, was founded by Olivia da Costa in 2018.

From Chelsea College of Art, Olivia went on to study English Literature, becoming fascinated by scent as a literary device in turn-of-thecentury novels. That curiosity about perfume psychology led her from shop assistant to buyer at John Lewis. But when a friend introduced Olivia to a distinguished perfumer (who tantalisingly prefers to remain private), her passion became practice. Olfactive O launched as a collection of intimate, character-led fragrances inviting wearers to choose scents by who they are, not just what they like.

S k in

MUST-SMELL – Skin A hug of ambrette, orris and magnolia unfurl to a nuzzle of sun-warmed bliss via beeswax absolute and soothing sandalwood. olfactiveo.com @olfactive_o

60 ON THE SCENT

Los Angeles

It’s not every day that a model ditches fashion to become a farmer, but Rachel Scott explains: ‘I went from a party lifestyle to living on a farm with four donkeys, 19 hens and 80,000 bees – an ever-evolving farmstead.’

Inspired by the idyllic Yorkshire countryside, and the gift to one of her little girls of a candle-making set, in 2023 Rachel pivoted once more. At first, it was akin to a hobby, creating exquisite gifts for her family. Now, she has expanded to sate the growing post-pandemic public demand for high quality home fragrance, translating skies, landscapes and seasons into luxuriously sustainable, emotionally evocative scents.

MUST-SMELL – Smoked Honey & Orange Candle Hazy, sunlit honeycomb and zesty orange buzz to amber, addictively suffused in a soft, smoky halo of bright, golden warmth. meadowfarmlifetstyle.co.uk @meadowfarmlifestyle

Sm ok ed H on ey & O ra ng e C an dl e

COMMUNITY

TO THE FAIREST

ORTIR APOTHECARI

Rebecca’s life-long love of scent truly started in her mother’s greenhouse; it all began for Rebecca by breathing in tomato leaves, damp earth and sun-warmed jasmine. A childhood thrill at collecting miniature perfume bottles, combined with studies at Cambridge and a career in art history and vintage clothing, honed her eye – and nose – for atmosphere and story. Encouraged by fragrance expert and author Lizzie Ostrom, she launched her artisanal perfumery in 2019 with independent perfumer Penny Williams. Named for the mythical golden apple, To the Fairest celebrates muses: beauty, knowledge, and creative power combined.

In 2013, Lisa Howarth left city life and an arts career for a remote Welsh farm, where her exploration of 60 acres of fields and woodland began with foraging: ‘I could really dig down into how growing conditions affect harvest – an invaluable lesson for a perfumer farming aromatic plants and working with oils.’ She began distilling her own oils, igniting a passion that became ORTIR Apothecari in 2022, shortlisted for the Fragrance Foundation’s Newcomer Award in 2023. O’r Tîr itself is a short Welsh phrase translating as ‘of the land,’ reflecting the fragrances’ provenance, an ode to simplicity, and the ethos of scent rooted in place.

REBECCA ROSE

MUST-SMELL – Cécile Softly glimmering, this poetically powdery rose-amber opens bright with citrus then settles into candlelit warmth. Sensual, nostalgic, and quietly irresistible. tothefairest.com @tothefairestlondon

LISA HOWARTH

MUST-SMELL – Aer Capturing Welsh weather, with mint, lavender, and rose chased by coastal rain, then settling into mossy petrichor rising from the forest floor. ortir.co.uk @ortir_apothecari

C é c il e

Aer

VALLENSE

WILLIAM BORREL Blending modern alchemy with slow perfumery to create energy-shifting scents, former spirits entrepreneur William Borrell – who previously created award-winning vodka brands – grew Vallense in 2024 from experiments distilling unusual botanicals on a boat-turned-floating-lab in London. Working with perfumer Pia Long, they translated mood, intention and memory into three debut fragrances – each built around a profoundly comforting, hay-like, aromatic base of holy grass, which is unique to the house.

William’s sourcing sorcery, traversing jungles and souks for rare ingredients, alongside Pia’s technical artistry, makes for soulful, transportive perfumes that feel simultaneously grounding and transcendentally futuristic.

MUST-SMELL – Source Sparkling mandarin and a crackle of pepper smoulder atop the plush, prowling base of praline and dreamily swirled frankincense. vallensefragrances.com @vallensefragrance

Source

ON THE SCENT 61

LORDS FRAGRANCE HOUSE

NEUNÉRE

SASHA LORD

ALINA ROSU

The vision of perfumer and founder Alina Rosu, this journey began over 15 years ago in a flat above a perfume boutique, balancing long hours in market research with an ever-expanding fragrance collection. With a PhD in Machine Learning and a background in data and computer science, she brings analytical depth to perfumery’s emotional and sensory terrain. After training at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery and a master’s in formulation, Alina founded NEUNÉRE in 2025 as an introspective, philosophical house exploring why we feel what we feel, crafting meditative ‘olfactory essays’ on memory, desire, and perception beyond perfumery.

Wh en all thin gs wer e divi ne

MUST-SMELL – When All Things Were Divine A tender essay in wistfulness, cut grass, orange blossom, orris and honeyed resins conjure bittersweet memories, both intimate and dreamlike. neunere.com @neunere.london

This joy-sparking home fragrance brand was founded by the equally vibrant scent marketer Sasha Lord. Drawing on over a decade of expertise in the cosmetic and perfume industry – including creating scent concepts at The Aroma Company, run by her adored mother Val Pe n g e l l i Fo – the irrepressible Sasha rest Candle bravely launched during the Covid lockdowns as something of a creative (and emotional) lifeline. Conceived around travel memories evoking walks in landscapes both local and global, LORDS crafts refillable candles and diffusers that offer olfactory escapism, fragrantly flagrant, dopaminebright design, and serious olfactory craftsmanship.

(Can we mention there’s a disco ball diffuser, too?)

MUST-SMELL – Pengelli Forest Candle Capturing spring’s most tender, watercolour florals, bluebells, hyacinth and galbanum mistily wreathe an early morning sunlit woodland walk, carpeted in nostalgia. lordsfragrancehouse.com @lordsfragrancehouse

ANFORH

ROBIN JAMES

K is t 62 ON THE SCENT

MUST-SMELL – KIST Kist is a soft-focus hug.

Warm woods, skin-like musks and memoryinfused comfort, nuanced and lingering like a lover’s tender caress. anforh.com @manforhimself

The brand’s name comes from the the middle of Robin James’s social media moniker, @manforhimself (133k+ followers, and counting). Robin built his career in digital media, first in TV, later furthering his reputation by stopping people on the street for spontaneous perfume ‘vox pops’, giving us a real insight into how scent can help shape identity and build confidence. His own heritage and passion underscores Anforh’s Scottish-inspired scents, created to feel as intuitive and characterful as his candid interviews. Wearable, modern, story-driven juices that sit alongside the brand’s performance-led grooming products.

COMMUNITY

ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR ...and there’s more After that taster of the fabulous indie fragrance names you’ll encounter at Barnes Fragrance Fair on 16th May, do also follow your nose to the ticketed events and the fair’s many other exciting perfume exhibitors, listed below WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS Entry to the Fair is free, but there’s a charge for each of the following sessions with podcasters, fragrance writers, perfumers and other experts, all of which should be booked via barnesfragrancefair.com. Note: there’s a fabulous goodie bag to take away from these ticketed talks, provided by leading fragrance distributor Kenneth Green Associates, event sponsor.

SCENT & SOUND with Thomas Dunckley and Haydn Williams An immersive, interactive talk with two of the UK’s leading fragrance podcasters, who also know their music.

9.30am – 10.15am

Alice du Parcq and Suzy Nightingale’s ‘BEST SCENTS OF THE FAIR’ Round-up 2026 These two multi-award-winning fragrance journalists will talk you through some of their favourite discoveries, sharing wisdom on how to buy your perfect scent.

11am – 12.15pm

SCENT, STYLE & SELF-EXPRESSION: Exploring How Men Can Show Up with Scented Confidence ‘Clothes maketh the man’, as the saying goes – but what can fragrance do? Find out via this expert panel, hosted by Haydn Williams.

12.45 – 1.30pm

SCENTS FOR SELF-CARE The perfumes, proof and practical ways to use fragrance as a wellness tool to make you feel better. Hosted by Alice du Parcq with an expert panel.

2 – 2.45pm

FROM DREAM TO BOTTLE: The Story of Scented Start-ups For anyone thinking of starting their own fragrance brand (or who wants to know more about perfume is created), hosted by On The Scent Editor Jo Fairley with an expert panel.

3.15 – 4pm

HOW TO TALK ABOUT FRAGRANCE Thomas Dunckley and Kaorium’s Scent Sommelier explore ways to communicate an art form that doesn’t have its own formal language.

12 – 12.45pm 2 – 2.45pm

SCENT SALON with Sarah McCartney Explore rare naturals and white biotech perfumery molecules with 4160 Tuesdays founder and perfumer, with the chance to customise a scent base to make a 10ml fragrance you can take away.

10.30am and 1.30pm

SCENTED WALKS AROUND BARNES Perfume collector and fragrance historian Olga Petrouchenko will scent-walk you around this beautiful London village.

11am and 2pm

• 4160 Tuesdays • Altra • Ånd fragrances • Angela Flanders • Aspects Beauty • Connock England • Early Modern • Elix • Fiole/ SG Brands • Gallia Rae • Glorious Brands (organisers of the truly fabulous raffle)

• Jorum • Kaorium • Kingdom Scotland • Mabelle O’Rama • Nancy Meiland • Nosu • Nyita • Olfiction/ Eau de Boujee • Orange Pekoe Tea House, in the Kitchen Space

• Perfino • Rakes Progress • RNDL • Rollr • Shloksa • Soki • Wales Perfumery • Told London

PLUS… Barnes Fragrance Fair’s own merchandise, and the chance to pick up a print copy of On The Scent magazine.

barnesfragrancefair.com

ON THE SCENT 63

THE LAST WORD

ON THE SCENT ...of Mountains

You can keep your tropical islands and azur oceans. ALICE DU PARCQ will take the French Alps every. Single. Time.

T

NISSABA LES ALPES: Juniper, pine trees and dried hay extracts, in a botanical Cologne that lasts for hours

NUXE PRODIGIEUX LE PARFUM: A sultry suntanlotion scent with creamy orange blossom and silky vanilla

64 ON THE SCENT

he lettuces! The tomatoes! The pharmacies!

THE CHEESE! But beyond that, those mountains themselves smell utterly delicious, to me. The way I absorb scent there uses an entirely different olfactive engine to how I ordinarily smell. When I’m in the Haute Savoie on Lake Annecy (where my father’s family is from), my physical and emotional ‘out-of-office’ is resolutely on. It takes me three days to properly switch off and unlearn my default hypervigilant-headless-chicken mode, so when I make the decision to pause I really, really mean it.

The interface of my nasal receptors crumbles away, unlocking its full, luminous potential. At 1,450 feet everything smells so pure and clear in a microclimate hydrated from the glacial lake, protected by the mountains and warmed by unpolluted sun.

I can pinpoint two moments in day when the breeze delivers its best-in-show aromatics. At 7.30am, when the sunbeams burst over the mountaintop silhouettes and flood the garden, all you can hear are birds singing and the occasional gentle whoosh of propane burners keeping hot air balloons afloat.

With this crisp air comes a plume of coffee, the silky paper of my crossword book, the inky twang of a French supermarket biro, a honeyed nectarine sliced on a china plate and the warm, caramelised head of one of my daughters, as she tucks herself under my neck.

My next favourite scented vignette: the pre-dinner 6pm apéro lull. My husband John is on G&T and rosé duty. The stainless-steel ice bucket and lime skin-sprays cut through a melee of sunbaked paving stones, steamy-sweet, secondbloom wisteria and dry grass. I hear the bells two fields away and I know I’m in for a treat; the cows are coming home, and they trigger the most gloriously mountainy scent in the history of mountain scents. Fertiliser, cow pats, hot hides, leather collars and trampled meadows. I breathe it in so greedily I feel drunk.

Of course, that could be the rosé. But either way, cheers to the greatest perfume on earth: my French Alp smorgasbord. I’m coming for you, soon.

L’OCCITANE MÉLILOT SWEET CLOVER BODY LOTION: The sweet, nutty, grassy scent of pastures, damp straw and honey

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT SELFRIDGES IN STORE AND ONLINE

ROSAETERNA 163 A timeless rose, reimagined

Exclusively distributed by Glorious Brands Ltd Available at www.gloriousbeauty.co.uk