YOU DON’T KNOW ALL OF THESE BRANDS, BUT YOU SHOULD – PART I

There are many fragrance brands (any rational would say, too many). Even to those of us that are involved with fragrances on a daily basis, it’s become impossible to keep up. Worst, a lot of the newer brands that take up space and attention don’t bring anything of interest to the table, while brands with something to offer are lost in the crowd.

The title of this series may be a superlative, but I think that even the most hardened fraghead will find something new to discover in each part. In total there will be 5 parts, highlighting 10 brands each and a 6th bonus part. I was fortunate to be introduced to a lot of lesser known brands via PR when I was doing photography work on Instagram, otherwise I may have never encountered them. Some of the other brands on the list, I know less thoroughly, but were for example stand-outs during store visits or events. You can click on the names to see all the fragrances they’ve released.

Happy explorations!

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

OSTENS
One of the highest quality, ingredient-focused, but at the same time clean and minimal brands to enter the market in recent years. None of their releases so far have been bad, but the standouts for me are definitely the florals: Impression Jasmine Absolute & Impression Rose Oil Isparta. Ostens uses (good amounts) of the high quality LMR natural ingredients and it’s like you can smell the clarity.

PARFUMERIE PARTICULIERE
I’ve been meaning to get my hands on more samples to try Parfumerie Particuliere more properly. I have smelled them in-store and bought Blue Mandarine, which is one of the better fresh ‘masculine cologne’-style scents on the market. I rarely ever hear mention of the brand, while it definitely has something to offer for anyone based on my first impressions of their collection.

MARIEJEANNE
This brand was launched by Georges Maubert of the Robertet family. Robertet has long since been known as one of the highest quality ingredient/production houses (they were behind the old, highly regarded Roja Parfums fragrances for example). And that quality is evident in Mariejeanne; the ones I’ve tried are relatively non-complex creations, but with that level of materials, that’s all they have to be. Of course, I like their Iris Pallida, but Au Pied Du Rosier is my favorite so far.

PRESCENT
A brand so obscure that I would’ve left it off the list, if only it wasn’t as good as it was. Prescent (or ‘We Are Prescent’) has only released two fragrances to my knowledge: Summer 2020 Day & Summer 2020 Night. A duo both highlighting vanilla as hero-ingredient in very unique ways.  They don’t look very inspiring and were expensive for 15ml bottles, but both are simply outstanding. I wish I had more of them, but alas, after these releases in 2020, this UK brand seems to have vanished as quick as it appeared.

ROBERT GRECO
As someone who’s spent a lot of his fragrance journey photographing perfumes, I knew Robert Greco’s name as a product photographer. He’s released 3 fragrances since 2017: Porter Sa Peau (Rodrigo Flores-Roux), the super vintage-smelling Oeilleres (Marc-Antoine Corticchiato) & most recently Rauque with the legendary Christopher Sheldrake. I’ve reviewed the latter two and they are among the few newer perfumes that truly smell like they were created in a bygone era. If you love vintage perfumes, Greco should be on your radar.

CHAPEL FACTORY
Admittedly, this is one of the brands that I don’t know all that well (I had to get to 50 brands somehow… give me a break). What I’ve smelled is great quality work for the price you can find this brand for, for example Holy Stick. This is one of several brands under the guidance of Anais Biguine, but the only one of hers that I’ve encountered so far.

SULEKO
In a time of niche perfumery where outlandish bottle designs, custom made for each release, are pretty much a thing of the past, Suleko instantly stands out. My favorite bottle being the porcelain swan-inspired *Albho- that’s pictured above. Pretty nice scents overall as well, with now-superstar-perfumer Cecile Zarokian as the nose behind them.

NISSABA
One of the few new ones that seems to do everything right (besides communication, as they ghosted and ignored me completely after reaching out to me for PR, but I digress): Quality ingredients, good perfumers, minimal bottles with just enough character that fit the brand aesthetic, a good unified brand language and concept throughout. Launched by Sebastien Tissot, who previously worked as head of natural ingredients at Firmenich, so it’s easy to see where the focus on quality ingredients arises. My favorite is their vanilla, Grand-Ile.

OLIBERE
This brand has a bit of everything. Admittedly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the EDP’s, but some others were nice & I think their Extraits especially deserve more love. Made by Luca Maffei, they have a lot to offer. My favorite at the time was Chemical Love, which wears like a greener, more mature Margiela Jazz Club. I haven’t heard much of Olibere in recent years, which is a shame.

ARPA
An interesting brand as far as concept and look (I personally love the bottles), headed by Barnabe Fillion, which you may know as the man behind Aesop’s fragrances (and a Le Labo). I’ve only smelled the initial releases, with the most interesting one being Arco Spettro. I still need to get my nose on the newer releases, but I’m curious to do so.