The niche perfume brands that everyone you know isn’t already wearing

From a sustainable fragrance house empowering women with flowers to one inspired by imaginary authors, here’s a list of niche perfume brands you need to know about

I’m guilty of buying many things on impulse but perfume isn’t one of them. I can spend hours on end in the fragrance aisle of a department store, discovering new names, studying scents and tapping into the knowledge of the salesperson as I wait for what I’ve sampled to slowly settle on my skin (I’ve learned the hard way to never base my decision on a tester strip). I love leaving the store with a fragrance that not only smells divine but also has a strong backstory featuring master perfumers and exotic ingredients sourced from far-flung locations. Over the years, this meticulous process has resulted in me putting together a list of niche perfume brands, which have either found a permanent spot on my dresser or are waiting to be checked off my wish-list.

D.S. & Durga

Can’t imagine what a sandalwood transistor radio emanating tunes in Mumbai’s heat smells like? David Seth Moltz can, and he can do it well. The musician and self-taught perfumer crafts scents that draw inspiration from sources as varied as New York bistros and Frank Sinatra songs. His creations are then poured into beautiful glass bottles bearing black-and-white labels designed by his architect-wife Kavi Ahuja Moltz. One of the most unusual offerings of the Brooklyn-born brand is the fragrance enhancer ‘I Don’t Know What’–a magic potion that comes with the power to enhance any scent and turn oils into perfumes. Dsanddurga.com

Vilhelm Parfumerie

The sunshine yellow packaging of the New York-based brand might be what first catches your eye but what really draws you in is the inspiration accompanying each fragrance. Dear Polly, one of the brand’s most popular perfumes, is a love letter to the founder’s wife and an attempt to capture the aroma of her morning tea. Another loved fragrance, Room Service, which is known to be Victoria Beckham’s go-to, tells tales of Greta Garbo’s rose-petal bath at The Carlyle hotel in New York. Vilhelmparfumerie.com

Phlur

If you asked me to list the items that would be tricky to sell online, perfumes would feature on my top five. However, Phlur proved, through its wildly successful launch, that it’s possible to sell as many as 90,000 bottles digitally with the right kind of imagery and storytelling. What makes the Austin-based brand, founded by husband-wife duo Eric and Cynthia Korman, even cooler is its eco-friendly efforts. While the perfumes are sold in bottles made using 20 per cent recycled glass, the ceramic candles carry instructions on how to remove the wax, encouraging buyers to reuse them once empty. First-timers, try Missing Person, a fragrance that blends jasmine, orange blossom and white musk. Phlur.com

Editions de Parfum Frédéric Malle

It’s safe to say the art of perfume-making runs in Frédéric Malle’s blood–his grandfather Serge Heftler-Louiche founded Parfums Christian Dior. Today, Malle, a fragrance genius himself, sits at the helm of a brand that’s frequently dubbed the publishing house for perfumers. His editors, renowned noses from across the globe, are given no briefs and access to some of the world’s finest ingredients. This complete creative freedom has resulted in cult fragrances like Portrait of A Lady–a spicy, floral scent loved by editors and celebrities alike. Fredericmalle.com

Imaginary Authors

Perfumer Josh Meyer’s literary inspired-scents have an unconventional starting point–they stem from short works of fiction by imaginary authors. His creativity, however, doesn’t cease there. Each scent is also served with a clever suggestion on when it should be worn. For example, the smoky fragrance A City on Fire is recommended for when you’re “with a special someone or alone and looking for trouble”. Can’t pick just one? Start with the short stories set which is designed like a book and reveals several small bottles upon opening. imaginaryauthors.com

Sana Jardin

Philanthropist Amy Christiansen searched several souks and leading department stores but couldn’t find the fragrances she fell in love with on her travels. This luckless hunt eventually led to the launch of her own line of conscious fragrances with their roots in different parts of the world. There’s a perfume that replicates the scent of sandalwood in Indian temples and another that takes its cues from the incense burnt in the North African desert. The cruelty-free and vegan products also have a kind cause at their core. The women in the supply chain are encouraged to become micro-entrepreneurs by training them to upcycle the leftovers from perfume production into sellable products like candles. Sanajardin.com

Ostens

‘Ostens’ is derived from the Latin verb ‘ostendere,’ which means ‘to exhibit,’ and that’s precisely what fragrance experts Laurent Delafon and Christopher Yu are doing with their brand. They are exhibiting and making accessible the raw material used in perfumes, something that was once reserved only for perfumers. The star of Ostens, which launched in 2018, is not the perfume but the ‘préparations’ or oils which can be worn separately or layered with a perfume. The brand’s bestsellers include Rose Oil Isparta (a mix of jammy blackcurrants and crushed rose petals) and Cashmere Velvet (a combination of cashmeran velvet, sandalwood and cedarwood shavings that recreates the experience of being enveloped in a cashmere scarf). Ostens.com

19-69

The Swedish brand’s name is a tribute to the year that inspires it, which also happens to be the birth year of its founder, Johan Bergelin. The artist and photographer dedicated as many as 24 months towards building gender-neutral fragrances that sold out in a matter of minutes when they debuted at Parisian concept store Colette. Out of the 13 perfumes that come in vibrant bottles reminiscent of rainbows that represented freedom in 1969, Purple Haze with notes of cannabis accord, patchouli and violet leaf is the most sought-after. Nineteen-sixtynine.com

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