The Odorare Circle

New Niche Fragrances: October 2026

Every month, the Odorare catalogue welcomes new references and sometimes new houses. Here is what has arrived since our September selection: smoky woody extracts, spicy elixirs and a fine artisanal...

Patchouli in perfumery: from leaf to base note

Patchouli is a dried Indonesian leaf that is then steam-distilled, not a root as is often believed. This article explains the process that transforms a plant with a green scent into an earthy, wood...

What perfume to give a fragrance lover?

Giving a fragrance to an enthusiast is nothing like giving one to someone who only wears a single scent. The risk is not choosing the wrong fragrance, but giving a duplicate or an overly convention...

Grasse: How a Tanners' Village Became the Perfume Capital

Grasse only became the world capital of perfume by repurposing expertise born elsewhere: that of scented leather gloves, imported from Italy in the 16th century. This article traces how a Provençal...

Rose in perfumery: Grasse, Turkey, Taif

The rose that scents a perfume bottle is almost never the flower from the garden: it is a raw material derived from two specific species, harvested in three regions of the world, and processed usin...

Musk in perfumery: from animal to molecule

The musk we smell in perfumes today is no longer animal at all: it comes from a laboratory. This article traces how a secretion from a deer, hunted until it was banned, was replaced by synthetic mo...

Ambergris: What It Really Is

Ambergris, the amber of "oriental" fragrances, and ambroxan refer to three completely different things, yet perfumery terminology has confused them for decades. This article distinguishes between t...

Iris: the most expensive ingredient in perfumery

Iris is not a flower but a rhizome, and this detail explains its price: it takes several years of drying before a butter with an extremely low yield can be extracted from it. This article details t...

Ten niche brands to know

Niche perfumery now counts hundreds of houses, and it is easy to get lost in them. Here are ten of them, chosen for what truly sets them apart: a founder, a signature ingredient, a distinctive appr...

Discover niche perfumery without breaking the bank

You can discover niche perfumery without buying a full bottle: discovery sets and sample sizes exist precisely for this purpose. This article explains what they contain, what you can test with them...