Curious about which fragrances our clients were loving most in 2023? Below, you’ll find a ranking of some client favourites by units sold. And while the most popular scents aren’t necessarily the perfect ones for everyone, we can certainly understand why these ten have captured the imagination of fragrance lovers across Canada.
Fragrance
It was exactly 12 years ago today that Etiket opened its doors on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal. We are grateful to everyone that has helped to make Etiket what it is today.
We are very excited about what the next year will bring, including the opening of our Etiket boutique and spa in Toronto!
To all our loyal clients and friends, every day we remember what a privilege it is to be part of your life. We thank you.
Etiket. Apply Daily.
OUR TEAM’S MUST-HAVES
We asked our team members to reveal their 12 favourite products: the ones they always use up and restock, or the ones that follow them wherever they go. Discover what some of them shared below!
Shop the Etiket Team Favourites here.
Winter may be dark, but the gloom has its upsides. The crisp chill in the air is the perfect (and sometimes only) backdrop for the richest, boldest fragrances one dares to wear. Smoky tones cut beautifully through the cold while remaining balanced on the skin. Sweet notes feel cuddly and luscious, and rarely overwhelming. If the weather demands a warm outfit, we think it can also demand a warm perfume.
We came up with a list of ten fragrances we love, each more smoldering, simmering, sizzling and scintillating than the last. Each are powerhouses of scent, which should project uncompromising visions of texture and shadow, hour after hour into the night.
Browse our selection below, or grab our Winter Powerhouses Sample Pack to take an intrepid voyage through them all.
It was Coco Chanel who once said: “no elegance is possible without perfume.” Of course, she was referring to the romance of wearing perfume on the skin, but we think the same is true of any room in your house. A home scent is the oft-overlooked finishing touch for any room, helping it accrue familiarity, comfort, freshness, and, yes, an invisible elegance.
A home scent is also a way to gift fragrance without the tricky business of skin chemistry. Giving a perfume as a gift can sometimes require an intimate knowledge of the recipient, but a home scent can be enjoyed on its own, in the receiver’s own time and space. In short — a home scent is the perfect gift for any fragrance lover!
We’ve unpacked some favourites from Etiket’s extensive home fragrance selection, and curated a list of scents perfect for any room in the house.
For the Study
In the quiet of a study or home office, we prefer rich, grounding, contemplative scents. Paul Smith’s Bookworm diffuser perfectly captures the indescribable comfort of a library filled with old books, as the fiery colour of its transparent glass vessel enhances warm, wooden shades in the room’s decor.
Want to go bolder? Indulge in crackling firewood magically softened with vanilla bean in our own house-made Au Chalet candle, or fall down a literary rabbit hole with Imaginary Authors’ Cape Heartache candle, which imagines a rugged Pacific coastal forest filled with coniferous needles and brightened by tangles of wild strawberries.
Coincidentally, the Strawberry candle by Malin + Goetz also plays up the botanical, green side of the familiar berry. Offering a lighter, but no less comforting, option for this room, it blends the garden-picked, barely-ripe fruit with sparkling pink pepper, fluffy orris root, and cozy musk.
For the Kitchen
This room can often serve as a chaotic olfactory battleground, so we think any kitchen scent must either go with the flow or cut through the noise. Arquiste’s poetic Sobremesa candle uniquely captures an afternoon digestif around a table in Mexico City, with starched table linens, desert herbs like sage and rosemary, and the wood of the table itself; all scents perfectly at home in any kitchen. Similarly, the Pasta Water candle by D.S. & Durga began as a commission for an upscale Italian restaurant in New York City. One of our most unique gifts, it echoes the warm, salty-sweet glow of pasta steam, allowing it to complement, not contradict, the food.
Other times, kitchens need to be freshened up after a meal. For a steady beam of scented sunlight, the Daydreamer diffuser by Paul Smith smells just as bright and joyful as it looks, diffusing kitchen-friendly notes of verbena and lavender. For maximum potency, a spritz of the Aramara room spray from Culti Milano electrifies the room with lifelike bitter orange. It also comes in a special edition orange coloured diffuser.
For the Living Room
Here, we can get a little creative, and set the scene with colourful accents that add fun and style. Created for the St. Regis hotel group, Arquiste’s Caroline’s Four Hundred room spray has bottled a breathtaking bouquet of American beauty roses, piled high with various dewy blossoms for a Gilded Age Society gala. Far from old-fashioned, the scent is refreshingly botanical and unbelievably luxurious.
For a more humble pleasure, Culti Milano’s Ficum Blu diffuser is a joyful kaleidoscope of juicy fig. Families with children will also love the playful Fraise & Rhubarbe candle from Montreal locals T. Lees, with its addictively jammy fragrance.
Opting for the warmer side of botanicals, Paul Smith’s Botanist diffuser adds a sophisticated base note of real earthy vetiver to the room, along with a stylish colour story to boot. Even richer is the Bread in Chestnut candle by Scents of Wood — mingling the intoxicating aroma of toasted grains with creamy tonka and sandalwood.
For those who take their interior design very seriously, Italian atelier Fornasetti offers museum-quality pieces that smell as refined as they look. We love the Peccato Originale collection, scented with mediterranean florals and rosewood, which feature a whimsical design reinterpreting the Garden of Eden. Available in a variety of sculptural shapes, including the iconic Se Poi candle, Fornasetti home scents blend form and function, becoming veritable art objects for the home.
For the Bathroom
Clean and relaxing are the goals here. For an ambient scentscape of soothing Japanese green tea, Culti Milano’s Thé diffuser is the perfect everyday companion. And for an on-demand burst of seaside freshness, the Mareminerale room spray is a bold blast of cooling ocean mist.
For a full-blown spa night, we created our own playfully titled Laisse-Moi Tranquille candle (“Leave Me Alone” in French). With fresh sage, citrus, and squeaky clean amber, it’s the perfect scent to help you tune out and recharge.
Because bathrooms are often smaller spaces, we find smaller votive candles are the perfect size for this room. The Cannabis Votive candle by Malin + Goetz doesn’t smell like someone’s been sneaking a smoke — instead, it cleverly blends citrus, spices and green-earthy notes into a fresh botanical landscape. And for a bit more to choose from, the adorable Home Hooplas Votive Candle Trio set by Penhaligon’s contains three refined, intriguing fragrances in a gorgeous wooden chest. Inside, find miniature versions of the tropical floral Comoros Pearl and green-fruity Roanoke Ivy, both lovely touches for any bathroom.
For the Bedroom
Bedrooms are sanctified spaces that beg for refinement and comfort. But that doesn’t mean a bedroom scent has to be basic. Take the whimsical but deeply soothing No. 4 Candle by inventive French house Marc-Antoine Barrois. Imagining the favourite snack of their London boutique’s mascot — a large sculpture of a blue rabbit, à la Alice & Wonderland — it blends velvety carrot seed and lush lavender into a soothing hug of scent. And speaking of lavender, we love using the Wild Brooklyn Lavender Auto Scent by D.S. & Durga as a contemporary twist on the old-school lavender bud sachet. Tuck into a drawer to delicately scent fabric or linens.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian candles make for sophisticated accents to any bedroom. Their Limoges ceramic vessels and seamless, sumptuous scents create an atmosphere of easy luxury. We love the intoxicating, smoky-sweet Oud Satin Mood candle as an opulent bedside indulgence, and their limited edition Rose des Neiges candle for the olfactory equivalent of sprinkling fresh rose petals on your pillow.
If a bedroom scent needs a touch of sensuality, our house-made Mon Amour candle is a staff favourite. The fragrance is a dance of voluptuous gardenia and purring musk, with just a cheeky hint of spiced cherry. Just be sure you gift it to the right person.
For the Holidays
There are those of us for whom the winter season demands maximum festive cheer, and whether we realize it or not, smell is a significant part of classic holiday memories. Luckily, we have a wide variety of candles offering the perfect, giftable dose of holiday scent.
Two Montreal brands produce perfect renditions of the classic Christmas candle. The Rudolph candle from Ruby Brown comes emblazoned with a contemporary antler design, and T. Lees adds a fruity twist to their holiday candle Evergreen & Champagne.
Other candles add additional layers of atmosphere, riffing on the Christmas tree tradition. Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Mon Beau Sapin is a beloved favourite, adding snowy sparkle and resinous depth to the winter wonderland. For the more irreverent of Christmas die-hards, the Portable Xmas Tree candle from D.S. & Durga adds a whole forest of evergreens and a dose of warming spice to the mix. Even more uniquely, the brand also offers a Chanukah in the Desert candle. Rustic notes of cypress and juniper float over glowing resins and spice, forming a unique alternative for holiday warmth, no matter how you celebrate.
The world of niche fragrance continues to grow, and with it, a dizzying array of options, making gifting a bit of a challenge. That’s why we always suggest buying a set for the fragrance lovers on your list. The curated selections beg for exploration and ongoing discovery, while the variety contained within lowers the risk of a flop; it’s very likely something inside will be a new favourite!
With that in mind, here are some picks for our favourite fragrance gift sets, for any budget or taste. To explore our full selection, check out our Gift Guide here.
The library of fragrance ingredients in perfumer Marc-Antoine Corticchiato’s studio.
Since late July, the unique fragrance of Parfum d’Empire, a brand founded in 2002, has been wafting through the Canadian air, now exclusively available at Etiket. Renowned for its captivating perfumes and rich olfactory heritage, this journey goes beyond mere commerce; it’s an encounter with a world of fragrances that transcend borders. I had the exceptional opportunity to explore this realm by meeting the talented founder and perfumer, Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, along with his wonderful team, during a visit to their Paris laboratory in September. This olfactory experience unveiled the secrets behind the creation of each perfume and the deep commitment of this passionate team to the art of perfumery.
The scented concentrates of Parfum d’Empire fragrances age in round-bottom flasks. This process allows the many ingredients in the formula to merge with each other, polishing the edges of the fragrance before it’s mixed with alcohol.
Delving into this captivating olfactory journey reveals the essence of Parfum d’Empire and its connection to Marc-Antoine’s childhood in Morocco and Corsica, offering a sensory voyage that awakens the senses and imagination. Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, with a background in chemistry, has always been captivated by the mysteries of plants and their fragrances, which led him to the world of perfumery. He primarily seeks the quality of natural scents to breathe life into his perfumes, emphasizing the art of personal storytelling. Each fragrance becomes an opportunity to convey a personal narrative, to evoke an emotion or a unique experience, creating unique sensory tales that explore the realm of memories and emotions through scents.
A scientific scale is an essential tool for formulating fragrances. It’s used to measure quantities of raw materials down to the drop.
If Marc-Antoine Corticchiato hadn’t been drawn into the intoxicating world of perfumery, he would likely have pursued his second great passion: horsemanship. Far from being just another interest, horse riding represents for him a profound emotional and sensory connection with nature, animals, and childhood memories. This passion inspired him to create perfumes capable of capturing the essence of his equestrian experiences. I conclude by expressing my deep gratitude to the Etiket team for making this experience possible and to the entire Parfum d’Empire team for their warm and generous welcome.
Emmanuelle Bénard
Fragrance Specialist at Etiket
Autumn is a world caught between two extremes. It balances the instinct to hunker down with the impulse to explore the outside world as it transforms before our eyes. We suggest doing both, and to wrap yourself in a scent that can adapt accordingly.
This year’s fall fragrance picks are also caught between the past and the future. Some recall the glamour and ecstasy of bygone eras, while others imagine a future where the comfort and adventure of fall are fragmented, as if into pixels, and imagined anew.
Read on to discover 10 fragrances for fall — five pulled from the past, and five built for the future. Or scroll down, grab the sample pack, and try them all for yourself.
Autumn Past: Ravishing Signatures and Ancient Alchemies.
Autumn Future: Dynamic Contrasts and Electrifying Depth.
The Sample Pack: Try Them All!
In the past few weeks, three new fragrance arrivals have delighted our clients and flown off our shelves. Delicious and indulgent with an intoxicating twist, each is destined to be the talk of the fragrance world for months to come. So what are you waiting for? Join the conversation!
COMING SOON
A sneak preview… sampling now!
Discover our new fragrance arrivals!
We’ve supported Canadian brands since opening Etiket in 2011 and are constantly adding new brands to our curated selection of skincare, fragrance and beauty products. To make it easy for you, we have a Canadian Beauty category that includes skincare, hair care, body care and fragrances. Some you know and some you may be new to – we’re happy to help you find new favourites! Discover our Canadian Beauty and Happy Canada Day!
Vivier
Founder: Jess Vivier, Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC
Brand Story:
Jess is a chemical engineering technologist who has worked exclusively in the pharmaceutical industry since the start of his career in 1976. He founded Vivier in 1997, which sold its first product in January 2000.
What They Offer:
Vivier is one of the world’s #1 topical Vitamin C lines. The brand combines the powerful benefits of patented Vitamin C serums (L-Ascorbic Acid USP) with pharmaceutical-grade cleansers, toners, eye therapy products, moisturizers, advanced sun protection products, body care and complete skin care systems.
Bend Beauty
Founder: Marc St. Onge, Halifax, NS
Brand Story:
Long recognized as a leader in the natural health products field with a proven track record of innovation and environmental stewardship, Marc aspires to lead a new wave of growth in premium skincare with Bend Beauty.
What They Offer:
Bend Beauty supplements offer effective, unique, and extraordinary blends of ingredients designed to help you create a beautiful life – which starts with taking care of yourself. While topical products can help, the solution to skin health and longevity exists deeper. Taking an ingestible approach to skin health also means that you’re treating your entire skin organ (torso, arms, and legs!) – not just your face.
Consonant
Founder: Bill Baker, Toronto, ON
Brand Story:
Bill launched Consonant in 2009 after his struggles with dry skin and eczema inspired him to start his own skincare company. His Toronto-based skincare brand offers all-natural products that are made in Canada.
What They Offer:
Premium skincare that is luxurious, as effective as a cosmeceutical brand, and as healthy as the leading natural brand. All of their products are 100% natural and formulated with the highest possible concentration of organic botanical ingredients. They improve the look of your skin with results you will notice immediately.
Sahajan
Founder: Lisa Mattam, Toronto, ON
Brand Story:
Lisa has always tried to eat healthily and work out, and she comes from a long line of yogis, but somehow she had never translated those habits to her skincare. Lisa launched Sahajan in 2015, an evidence-based natural line based on the ancient science of Ayurveda. As a former pharmaceutical executive, it was important for her to give her customers the confidence to choose both Ayurveda and clean beauty.
What They Offer:
Sahajan is an evidence-based natural beauty brand based on the 5,000-year-old science of Ayurveda. They create category-defining, high-performance, clean skincare, body and hair products.
GliSODin
Founder: Corina Crysler, Toronto, ON
Brand Story:
With a degree in Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Corina spent 10 years working with over 70 companies in the natural health sector. In 2008, Corina embarked on a new chapter in her career. After meeting with Isocell Laboratories in Paris, France, she launched GliSODin, a professional line of nutricosmetics, in North America.
What They Offer:
GliSODin Skin Nutrients combine the key ingredient GliSODin® with nutrient-rich formulas designed to enhance the outcome of cosmetic procedures and provide long-term support for optimal skin health. Their nutricosmetics are backed by scientific research and prized by dermatologists, cosmetic physicians, and plastic surgeons for their brightening, firming, and contouring results.
Huna
Founder: Heather Urquhart, Monte Creek, B.C.
Brand Story:
Being a botanist, herbalist and passionate plant-lover and gardener, and after feeling let-down by the low quality and potency of some botanical ingredients that she had purchased off the market, Heather developed the initial Huna ‘Skin Nutrition’ Skincare line and launched it to the world in November 2014. In 2015, Huna began growing their own botanicals, starting with just six unique plant species. Now in 2023, Huna grows nearly 100 different species on their organic and regenerative 30-acre Huna Farm in beautiful Monte Creek, British Columbia, Canada.
What They Offer:
Huna creates innovative and science-based natural and organic high-performance ‘Skin Nutrition’ skincare. Each plant is picked at its optimal time when the plant is at peak freshness on the farm. Their botanicals are minimally refined, and incorporated into Huna skincare formulations right away – to capture & retain each plant’s maximum active potency in their high-performance skin nutrition.
Pro-Derm
Founder: Yves Serra, Montreal, QC
Brand Story:
Pro-Derm was founded in Montreal in 1996 and has been developed by a team of chemists and a dermatologist. Their products are entirely developed and manufactured in Quebec.
What They Offer:
Rich in high-quality ingredients, the Pro-Derm line combines innovative agents, natural botanical extracts and pure essential oils. The unique and natural vegetal base of their products preserves the integrity of the skin’s natural protective layer and hydrates all skin types. Pro-Derm is also a line of skincare products specially formulated to complement medical rejuvenation procedures such as peels, laser treatments, dermal injections and cosmetic surgery.
Bathorium
Founder: Gregory Macdonald, Ottawa, ON
Brand Story:
After spending years and countless dollars on mediocre bath products, Greg founded Bathorium and set out to create premium bath soaks that not only give a unique experience for the bather but also a product that the user can benefit from both physically and mentally.
What They Offer:
Bathorium is a Canadian-made luxury bath products company proudly sourcing the highest grade of ingredients. They produce hand-crafted bath bombs and soaks that are designed for benefit-based bathing, meaning their products are about the benefits your whole body will reap after a Bathorium bath.
Lovefresh
Founder: Stacey Davis, Toronto, ON
Brand Story:
Lovefresh was founded on the premise that you could have beautiful, glowing skin using all-natural products, that would be as luxurious as they would be healthy for the body. What began as a “kitchen chemistry” experiment in Davis’ Toronto home soon evolved into the creation of a complete line of all-natural, non-toxic and highly effective products.
What They Offer:
Lovefresh offers an “easy luxury” experience through its body care products. Every Lovefresh recipe is formulated with the best ingredients from local and global sources, including layered notes of beautiful, fresh-smelling scents. Stacey is directly involved, from recipe development and through every point of execution to the final package, ensuring that quality and integrity are always paramount.
The Hair Routine
Founder: Clarissa de Queiroz, Montreal, QC
Brand Story:
Clarissa was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, and haircare has always been an important part of her heritage and culture. Moving to Canada, her biggest struggle was having access to products and ingredients she needed in order to keep up with her hair routine, a popular method of hair care used in Brazil. That’s when the idea of starting The Hair Routine was conceived: a brand that creates formulas that serve the purpose of treating the hair with what it really needs in order to be healthy, so we don’t have to overstock our shelves with products with no long-term results!
What They Offer:
The Hair Routine is an eco-luxury hair care company based in Montreal that creates premium products – using eco-friendly ingredients of only the highest quality. This brand’s biocompatible formula and personalized hair routine deliver exceptional results, allowing your hair to flourish.
Plume Science
Founder: Lauren Bilon, Calgary, AB
Brand Story:
After suffering significant hair and eyelash loss after her first child, Lauren tried pharmaceutical products and suffered dangerous side effects. From this experience, Lauren created Plume Science in partnership with leading natural and organic cosmetics formulator Irene Schnell. A certified Master in Fragrance & Cosmetics science (EFCM), Irene transformed Lauren’s carefully curated ingredients into an all-natural, long-lasting, preservative-free, safe, and effective formula.
What They Offer:
Plume Science is beauty backed by science. They offer cosmetics for lash and brow enhancement that are clean, cruelty-free and vegan, made with a combination of plant-based actives in a self-preserving formula that contains zero synthetic ingredients.
Rockwell Razors
Founders: Gareth Everard and Morgan Nordstrom, Toronto, ON
Brand Story:
Rockwell Razors was born out of a belief that the world needs a real alternative to overpriced cartridge razors and gimmick-filled shave clubs. The result? The classiest, most comfortable shave of your life.
What They Offer:
Rockwell’s patented adjustable shave settings let you perfectly match your shave to your stubble length and skin type. They have formulated a full line of exceptional shaving and grooming products that you simply have to try to believe – trust us, you’ll feel the difference.
Monsillage
Founder: Isabelle Michaud, Montreal, QC
Brand Story:
It is early in life that Isabelle began her love affair with perfumes and all things scented and nicely packaged. Although it is a bit of a mystery why she is so interested in scent, it probably has something to do with her sensitive, intuitive and perceptive nature. After attending the renowned ISIPCA perfume institute in Versailles, France, she created Monsillage. Isabelle finds inspiration in past travels, one-of-a-kind experiences, personal impressions and glimpses of grace for the creation of her fragrances.
What They Offer:
Monsillage will take you on a journey, a scent journey of course, through its beautiful selection of perfumes, candles and soap.
Zoologist
Founder: Victor Wong, Toronto, ON
Brand Story:
It all started as a hobby for Victor, while still juggling a regular job, but slowly and inevitably perfumes took over. Founded in 2013 and a proud Canadian company located in Toronto, Zoologist works with award-winning perfumers to bring you innovative, animal-inspired scents.
What They Offer:
Their line of perfumes captures the idiosyncrasies of the animal kingdom and transforms them into scents that are unusual, beautiful, fun and even shocking. Their scents will reconnect you with the manifold delights of the natural world.
Libertine Fragrance
Founder: Joshua Smith, Edmonton, AB
Brand Story:
Libertine Fragrance was founded in 2015 by Joshua, a forester turned designer turned perfumer. Josh’s vision is to marry the creativity of design, the beauty of nature and the pleasure of the senses into an experience of escapism in a bottle.
What They Offer:
All of their fragrances are crafted by hand in small batches in Edmonton, Alberta. A mixture of essential oils and carefully chosen aroma molecules are weighed, mixed and diluted with pure perfumers alcohol. The experimenting, blending, mixing and packaging are all done by hand in very small batches, usually 100 or so bottles.
T. Lees
Founder: Tricia Lees, Montreal, QC
Brand Story:
A fragrance can cause an avalanche of memories, influence people’s moods and even affect their performance at work. T. Lees’ goal is to create candles for all tastes and activities, infusing them into high-quality products designed to nourish the mind, body and soul.
What They Offer:
Each candle is handcrafted in small quantities in Montreal, Quebec with the utmost care and made from 100% natural, GMO-free soy wax produced using soybeans grown in the United States. As a result, their candles burn longer, cleaner and leave little or no waste.
Shop all Canadian brands available at Etiket here.
As school days wind down and long weekends approach, it’s time to start planning those exciting summer vacations ahead. Whether you’re jetting off to exotic destinations or exploring hidden gems closer to home, we’ve curated a collection of products designed with convenience in mind that will keep you looking radiant and refreshed on your adventures.
Here’s to an unforgettable summer filled with wanderlust and beauty. Bon voyage!
All You Need To Travel Light and In Style
ERIS Parfums has become an unlikely trailblazer in the world of fragrance. Founded by author, collector and perfume expert Barbara Herman, the brand’s uncompromising compositions are inspired by the rarefied spirit and ingredients of vintage perfume. However, as Barbara says, they are anything but ‘retro’. Avoiding dusty nostalgia, each scent smells exciting, vibrant, and bracingly new.
Etiket’s Director of Fragrance David Bernstein chatted with Barbara about how she manages this balancing act as ERIS’ Creative Director. Their conversation touched on her collaboration with star perfumer Antoine Lie, her artistic inspirations, and what sets her fragrances apart.
David Bernstein: You started your perfume journey collecting vintage perfume. What was it about that world that attracted you?
Barbara Herman: When I began delving into vintage perfume, I was taken by the complexity, sophistication, daring, overt eroticism, and sometimes gender-bending nature of many of the fragrances. The balance of high-quality natural ingredients with synthetics was there, too, even in some drug-store brands.
You could tell those fragrances took a while to create. They had a story to tell, and they took you on an unpredictable journey. Each was a little universe of its own, unlike any other. And since there were not a bazillion perfume releases in a year as there are now (sometimes from the same brand!) each new perfume was an event. This was before the so-called age of “industrial” perfumery, which began around the 1990s.
DB: What do you think these fragrances offered the wearer that typical contemporary fragrances don’t, or can’t?
BH: I think it’s important to distinguish mainstream fragrances from niche fragrances — and real niche from ‘faux niche’. What the best vintage perfumery — and truly niche perfume brands — offer is the pure vision of the perfumer and/or creative director, along with an attention to the quality of ingredients.
So many mainstream brands now are chasing after what has sold well, or what market research has revealed is popular. It’s as if much of what’s on the market now has been placed there by an algorithm. That’s why real niche perfumery is where the less predictable perfumes are coming from. Don’t get me wrong — there are some major brands whose scents I love that don’t follow this formula, and some niche brands that are formulaic.
Ultimately, perfumers and creators in ‘true niche’ perfumery are doing their own thing. And you can smell the difference, the creativity, and sometimes, the quality of the ingredients. That model is closer to the one which produced the vintage perfumes I love.
DB: How have you achieved that “true niche” quality and creativity with ERIS?
BH: The ideas I have for perfumes are undiluted by marketing team interventions or cost-cutting, profit-maximizing measures. The ingredient story, the personality, the emotional impact I want, are all directly realized through Antoine Lie’s incredible compositions. If people think ERIS fragrances are quirkily intriguing and smell amazing — it’s all I could hope for.
And since Antoine became an independent perfumer in 2019, he is now working with smaller, more luxurious perfume labs such as Atelier Fragranze Milano and L’Atelier Français des Matières in Annecy, France. These labs provide ingredients like the in-house tinctured, authentic ambergris and the luxe cacao in “Mxxx.”, as well as the French immortelle in “Scorpio Rising”. We have access to the kinds of ingredients that just would not be possible to use on a mass scale.
In the case of the animalic ingredients which I discovered in vintage perfumery — like civet, castoreum, or deer musk — it’s usually not ethical to use the real stuff, because of the suffering and harm caused to the animals those ingredients come from. This is not something I lament the loss of, but I did fall in love with that category of vintage perfume for the warmth, depth, and mystery they provided. So ERIS’ fragrance “Mxxx.” does use a couple real animalic ingredients (ambergris and hyraceum) that are naturally expelled from animals, so sperm whales and hyraxes are not harmed or disturbed in any way. In the case of ambergris, it’s so expensive that only a tiny percentage of brands are using the real stuff anyway.
DB: ERIS is named for the Greek goddess of troublemaking and disruption. What do you consider disruptive or troublemaking about ERIS perfumes? And what is the one ERIS fragrance which exemplifies this the most?
BH: Fragrances are like faces. Some have a symmetrical, conventional beauty that is pleasing but easily forgettable. And then there’s the interesting kind, with something off or unusual about them that memorably intrigues you.
I love wild fragrances that get lodged in your memory, usually because of some odd, extreme, or over-the-top quality. It could be an unusual or overdosed ingredient or a disturbing (unconsciously or subliminally) but sexy animalic quality. Something that stands out perhaps as disturbing at first can be addictive later, like an acquired taste. Children, for example, don’t tend to eat raw oysters, bitter vegetables, or stinky cheeses. But adults realize that the acquired taste is often the most satisfying one.
Each ERIS fragrance offers olfactive qualities more mainstream fragrances would want to edit out. But probably the most representative of troublemaking or disruption is “Ma Bête”, part of the Beauty and the Beast trio from 2016.
If you’re looking for a fragrance you can wear to work or in a casual setting without causing a “disturbance in the Force” (to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi), “Ma Bête” is not it. It’s overdosed with animalic notes (redolent of intimate moments, shall we say) entwined with indolic florals and intense spices and resins. It’s the anti-Office Scent, the anti-clean scent. And people either love it or hate it, sometimes both at once! If you want to cause trouble, or get into some trouble on a night out, “Ma Bête” is perfect. I’ve never not had an ‘interesting’ night out when wearing “Ma Bête”, let’s put it that way!
DB: How did you start collaborating with perfumer Antoine Lie? Why did you choose him specifically?
BH: I’d admired Antoine’s creations for a while before I had the idea of creating a brand. He was one of the perfumers I interviewed for the “Scent Visionaries” chapter of my book, Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume (Lyons Press: 2013). I spoke to him about how he translated the perfume brief for Etat Libre d’Orange’s notorious “Sécrétions Magnifiques”.
I love the daring and emotionality of his work, its ability to be rooted in classical perfumery while taking off into wild, uncharted territory. At the same time, his work is beautiful and never just weird for its own sake. After the book came out, I approached him about working with me and he said yes!
DB: My understanding of vintage perfumery is that it was heavily divided along gender lines. Am I correct in this assumption?
BH: What’s interesting is that even within gender marketing in vintage perfumery, there was no fixed or stable sense of what ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ was supposed to smell like. That was the big revelation which inspired my book Scent and Subversion.
Some of the most popular perfumes of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s which were marketed to women, for example, are what now would be considered ‘masculine’ – leather, tobacco, and animalic or ‘dirty’ perfumes. And although Guerlain’s landmark “Jicky” was made for women, men loved it and wore it. I loved finding out, for example, that Marlon Brando’s signature scent was “Vent Vert” and Keith Richards wears Jean Patou’s “Joy” under his armpits — both floral scents marketed to women.
Scent allows you to subvert gender boundaries without the kind of social penalties you might get with fashion choices. In high school, I wore the men’s fragrance “Grey Flannel” not to be an edge lord, but because I liked it! And unlike the forbidden items I wore that violated my school’s dress code, no one tried to stop me from wearing men’s cologne! Much of the world may still balk at gender fluidity in fashion, but for most perfume lovers, wearing what you like takes precedence over rigid binary gender rules.
As I write in Scent and Subversion,
“[C]ycles of taste [in perfume] mirror the arbitrary and ever-shifting role of gender in perfume – the idea that certain scents are either masculine or feminine. If men wore violet perfumes in the nineteenth century and women wore tobacco and leather perfumes in the 1930s – styles whose ‘gender’ has since been reversed – this seems like more proof in perfume form that gender, like perfume, is fluid, culturally constructed, and wearable in multiple forms on variable bodies.”
DB: Is this why you were driven to create two genderfluid perfumes (Mx. and Mxxx.) which deliberately evade gendered associations?
BH: “Mx.” (2017) and “Mxxx.” (2019) explicitly pay homage to a gender revolution that was really taking hold around 2015. That was the year ‘Mx.’ (pronounced ‘mix’), the gender-neutral title which replaces ‘Mr.’, ‘Ms.’ And ‘Mrs.’, entered the Oxford English Dictionary.
Both of those fragrances play with the idea of gender fluidity by being both for men and women and neither for men nor women. I loved the idea that the “Charlie” perfume in the 1970s celebrated a political movement — the Women’s Movement — and I wanted to do something similar for the intense re-thinking of binary gender that was (and is) taking place.
DB: Who from the world of perfume do you most admire, either from the past or the present?
BH: Germaine Cellier, Edmond Roudnitska, and Bernard Chant come to mind first, but there are so many. And I admire many contemporary perfumers as well. Perfume is such an interesting art and it’s evolving.
DB: And what about from the world outside of perfume?
BH: I admire artists who take risks to create their vision — Lynn Ramsay, Chantal Akerman, Kara Walker, Amy Winehouse, Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, Cat Power, Lydia Davis, Ocean Vuong, John Fahey, Terrence Malick, and so many others. I admire journalists and activists who take risks to expose and right wrongs. And I admire everyday people who survive through tough things.
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There’s a version of a spring scent that’s all freshness: easy breezy vibes. And certainly, we all want a bit of a refresh when the weather starts to warm. But as the snow melts and the days get longer, what’s really happening? The plant life around us, a complex network of stems, leaves, flowers, and trees, begins to upload nutrients from the thawing soil below. Cooling and zippy humidity, spicy and green energy, and the invisible songs of new flowers come storming into the air, like a crowd pouring back out to the theatre lobby after a secret show.
It’s this new vibrancy, both floral and earthy, chilled but warming, that these scents remind us of. Many contain these contrasts within their evolution – fading from sheer to delicious, from new green growth to a delicate coziness. All of them, we think, have the potential to make you feel renewed.
SPRING AWAKENINGS SAMPLE PACK
Ten fragrances which smell the way spring feels. Featuring 0.7ml samples of Neroli Nasimba, Chypre 21, Nectary, You or Someone Like You, Dupont Circle, Sakura, French Flower, Live Meaningful Work, Molecule 01+ Black Tea, and Original Santal.