In recent years, the beauty market has increasingly been focusing on the discovery of niche products. As we have experienced in skincare (a market in which for a few years more attention has been paid to low-key proposals based on quality formulations rather than to what is mainstream and preferred just for the brand or fame’ sake), consumer’s tendency also seems to have changed in perfumery. The public is fed up with commercial perfumes and, pillars such as the quality of the raw materials used inside the olfactory pyramids, the originality of the compositions and their uniqueness (who wouldn’t like to own an almost personal perfume, that few have and that can over time become a characteristic feature of our personality?) have laid the foundations for a new niche-perfumes-oriented taste.
By concept, design, and peculiarity, niche perfumes are therefore different from the most popular ones, becoming real works of art and collectible jewelry that are to be safeguarded. In this article we present 5 niche perfumes that depict the creme de la creme of perfumery, carrying us away into evocative imagery and aromas that leave their mark.
Launched in 2023, Heaven Can Wait is the latest fragrance by Frederic Malle, created by Jean-Claude Ellena, disciple and close friend of the legendary Edmond Roudnitska. The simple and minimalist signature of the perfumer nose that refers to everyday smells – from wax floors, to clean sheets, to the skin itself, to an old sweater – is one of the distinctive features of the latter fragrance, which draws inspiration from the intimacy of private worlds thus becoming a modern representation of a classic Parisian, between sobriety, seduction, and an eternal atmosphere, at the same time exotic and comforting. A voluptuous journey through warm spices, where cloves, ambergris, and carrot seeds combine with the sophisticated beauty of the iris and the vetiver that brings structure and vitality clashes with facets of peach and plum that instead give roundness to the scent.
A name, a program: in this fragrance of L’Artisan Parfumeur, created by Daphnè Bugey the rose – thorny, carnal, opulent, and sensual – comes to life thanks to an olfactory fire composed of captivating spices, vetiver roots and guaiac wood. Inspired by plants and their nocturnal awakening, this unisex woody scent, whose main chords are grouped in woody, aromatic, amber, and talcum, changes its finery – sometimes feminine, sometimes masculine to adapt to every taste and every need.
Inspired by the imaginary September that overlooks the landscape bringing with it a hint of nostalgia for the summer just passed, this fragrance transports us between the first autumn days on a farm, where the characteristic smells come together to create something unique. The scent of warm hay, harvested fruit, and fresh logs cut in the stable blend with the top notes of pomelo (a citrus similar to grapefruit, native to Asia, also known as “Jabong fruit”) lavender, and kumquat, which then flow into a heart of eucalyptus, apple and jasmine flowers. Finally, in the background, the scents of vetiver, papyrus, guaiac wood, and pink praline represent the freshness of the new beginnings.
Known as the first fragrance to isolate the cocoa note and launched on the market back in 1993, Amour De Cacao by Comptoir Sud Pacifique is the perfect fragrance for lovers of sweet scents and reminiscent of the exact delicious smell of freshly baked cookies in a pastry (or in the grandmother’s oven). The intense notes of cocoa beans are combined with those of the star fruit in the beating heart, dominated by the orange at the opening that balances everything with its freshness and underlined by the vanilla at the end, which softens the aroma making it more sugary but never cloying.
Launched on the market in 2023, this Ella K perfume, created by the nose of Sonia Constant, is a poetic call to desire: a sensual and voluptuous fragrance that transports us into a world of olfactory and sensory pleasure. The union of ginger, dragon fruit, and mandarin invites us to cross the threshold of a forbidden paradise and expands, as floating from one scent to another, notes of vanilla, vetiver, and patchouli that blend with the intense bouquet of orange flowers, sambac jasmine, and red camellia.
