Autumn Must-Haves & Fragrance Manifesto

Hello, Fragrant Friend 👋,

Did you know? We're giving away a fragrance by Jan Barba to celebrate hitting 1,000 Instagram followers — going back to our roots with our very first interview ever.

🗓️ Contents of this Issue

1. Note Worthy: AI, AI, AI … and (almost) Christmas
2. Season Scents: Autumn picks by 15West
3. Scent MythBusters: The universally valid olfactive pyramid?
4. Quiz: Lavender love outside France
5. Molecule Spotlight: Orris

Note-Worthy 🔎🌸

Osmo's Fragrance 2.0 Manifesto, spearheaded by Alex Wiltschko, aims to transform perfumery — fully disclosing ingredients, using AI and robotics to speed creation from months to minutes, and putting perfumers back at the heart of creation. Supported by Christophe Laudamiel.

AI in perfumery: While Jean-Claude Ellena remains skeptical, Givaudan and Symrise use AI tools like Carto and Philyra to craft fragrances faster and predict preferences. Brands like O Boticário and Charlotte Tilbury launch AI-assisted scents.

Advent calendars: Grant Osborne's roundup showcases 2024 perfume advent calendars from Guerlain and Dior to niche brands.

Season Scents: Marc's Autumn Picks (15WEST) 🍂

Ozymandias — Ephemeral Dyadic. Elemi resin and black pepper, labdanum and cashmere wood, amber and vanilla — understated elegance.

Arkè — Allegro Parfum. Bergamot softened by warm milk, with jasmine, lavender and rose, on a base of sandalwood, patchouli, amber and vanilla.

Cha-Ba-Da — Naso Di Raza. Almond, bergamot, Sicilian cassata and pistachio with rose, violet, tobacco, tonka and patchouli — the refined sweetness of Sicily.

Café Tabac — Aedes de Venustas. Bergamot with apple and tamarind over a rich tobacco heart, cocoa, burnt sugar, davana and vanilla.

Immortelle — Manos Gerakinis. Clove and cinnamon over immortelle and milk, with brown sugar, benzoin, sandalwood and patchouli — the Greek countryside.

Scent MythBusters 🎭️

“The olfactive pyramid always unfolds in a fixed order.”
Myth of the week

TL;DR

While the traditional top-heart-base triangle suggests a linear progression, modern perfumery often defies this sequence. Molecular structure, evaporation rates and innovative formulation mean fragrances can unfold non-linearly. Some perfumes are designed to be linear; others highlight base notes from the start.

Breaking the pyramid

Linear fragrances: Molecule 01 (single Iso E Super) and CK One stay consistent from spritz to drydown. Inverting the pyramid: Cláudia Camacho's Mystery opens with black pepper, a heart of mushrooms and wet-floor accords, and a base of pink pepper, resins and woods. Early base notes: co-distillation, encapsulation and synthetics like Hedione blur the categories. The pyramid is often a marketing simplification.

Molecule Spotlight: Orris 🌸

Orris is the fragrant root of the iris (Iris pallida, Iris germanica), with an elegant, powdery, woody aroma and violet nuances. Rhizomes are harvested after 2–3 years, then aged 2–4 more years to develop irones — one of the most labour-intensive materials. Orris concrete runs ~€9,000–12,000/kg; absolute ~€63,000–82,000/kg. Iconic: Prada Infusion d'Iris, Dior Homme Parfum, Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist, Frédéric Malle Iris Poudre.