An Olfactory Experience to Find Your Own Fragrance
Settling on a personal scent is always a delicate task.
There are the fragrances we recognise instantly, which, while iconic, risk becoming overdone or cliche, and many subconsciously avoid in our craving to be different. Special occasions call for something a tad more adventurous. Sometimes, you catch a whiff of a striking note from a passerby’s sillage; maybe it leans towards your favourite scent families or evokes particular memories. Then there are scents, usually softer with a barely-there feeling, that you feel like you could wear all day long.
The rise of alternative fragrance houses has levelled the playing field, causing an evident shift away from the mainstream. Fragrances have become more intimate, playing to our sentimentality and aspirations rather than the hard facts.
Aesop has always maintained a cherished fragrance collection, an endearment that extends to their in-store bespoke fragrance armoires and cabinets. A luxurious and purely eau de parfum collection (a rarity on its own), each distinctive scent instils a sense of mysteriousness, with notes that you can’t quite pinpoint but just can’t get enough of.
This month, we dive into their Signature store in Harbour City for an olfactory experience featuring an installation of overleaf-sized plaster noses–yes, you read that right–created initially for the Aesop Nasothèque in Myer, Melbourne. From 3D scanning real human noses to 3D printing parts, assembling, and refining for moulding, the project fuses sculpture art with visual merchandising. There is something marvellous yet strange at the same time about admiring a stranger’s nose (albeit a replica in monolithic proportions) and getting up close to sniff it, an experience that also reminds me of The Noseum, an installation wall of plaster noses created for Liberty’s Fragrance Lounge in London.
Othertopias Range
Aesop’s fragrance range encompasses ten androgynous scents, spanning all aromatic profiles and designed with different moods and seasons in mind.
For the more poetic at heart, the Othertopias range is inspired by liminal worlds. Comprising six carefully selected fragrances, the series is a bold and unorthodox way to traverse real and imagined realms:
Miraceti: A fabled ship on a far-flung voyage
Karst: A rugged, mineral shore carved by the tides
Erémia: An urban wasteland reclaimed by nature
Eidesis: A journey beyond the surface of a mirror
Gloam: States of rest and reflection, distilled
Ouranon: The enduring stature of a silent monolith
Fear not if you don’t know where to start; it’s always a splendid idea to start by browsing broader aromatic profiles. We naturally gravitate towards certain aromas, and distinguishing our preferred notes goes a long way toward determining a fragrance that speaks to us.
“Fragrance is the voice of inanimate things.”
Fresh Fragrances
Clean and zesty, evocative of herbs, citrus fruits and the ocean
Tacit
Fragrance notes: Yuzu, vetiver heart, basil
Aroma: Fresh, citrus, green
Inspiration: the Mediterranean coastline, the old-world grace of traditional colognes, Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Italian artist and writer Giorgio de Chirico, the shade of green known as Pantone 363
Karst
Fragrance notes: Juniper, cumin, sandalwood
Aroma: Fresh, marine, herbaceous
Inspiration: stormy seas, coastal air, concrete after the rain
Erémia
Fragrance notes: Galbanum, iris, yuzu
Aroma: Citrus, green, floral
Inspiration: earth, moss, musky florals, rain-soaked asphalt, tenacious wildflowers
Floral Fragrances
Light and fresh to deep and heady
Gloam
Fragrance notes: Mimosa, saffron, iris
Aroma: Green, floral, spicy
Inspiration: serene introspection, the quietness of imagination, a dreamscape between wake and rest
Rōzu
Fragrance notes: Rose, shiso, guaiac wood
Aroma: Green, floral, woody
Inspiration: the lifecycle of the rose from the earth to full bloom and fading petals, French modernist Charlotte Perriand
Woody Fragrances
Complex, aromatic warmth lent by spices
Marrakech Intense
Fragrance notes: Clove, sandalwood, cardamom
Aroma: Floral, spicy, woody
Inspiration: the city of Marrakech, from its aromatic cuisine to intense colour palettes and the surrounding desert
Hwyl
Fragrance notes: Cypress, frankincense, vetiver
Aroma: Spicy, woody, smoky
Inspiration: Japanese Hinoki forests, the stillness that comes with age
Eidesis
Fragrance notes: Black pepper, frankincense, sandalwood
Aroma: Spicy, woody, ambery
Inspiration: deep spice, damp earth, dry woods
Opulent Fragrances
Rich, sensual, with sophisticated florals and balsamic, resinous tones
Miraceti
Fragrance notes: Labdanum, ambrette, styrax
Aroma: Spicy, woody, resinous
Inspiration: perilous seafaring adventures, briny oceans, a peaceful yet isolating emptiness
Ouranon
Fragrance notes: Frankincense, hay, myrrh
Aroma: Spicy, woody, resinous
Inspiration: mysterious monoliths, a quiet, enigmatic majesty, celebratory endings for new beginnings
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