Hello, Fragrant Friend 👋,

It’s happening! As hinted two weeks ago, the very first Scently Speaking Community Gathering will take place in Amsterdam on July 25th — and you’re invited!

Together, we’ll:
✨ Smell and evaluate the final version of our very first fragrance (prior to launch!)
🎙️ Hear directly from Chester about the creative journey behind it
📦 Unveil the name of the publishing house (!), and preview the work of our design studio

We’d love to have you there — all you need to do is RSVP by June 15th. Once we know the number of guests, we’ll find the perfect Amsterdam location to make this as memorable as it deserves to be.

👉 RSVP Link

Looking forward to meeting you in person, finally.
Sebastian  

🗓️ Contents of this Issue

1. Note Worthy: Industry illusions, Mid East Masters, and Gen Z 🌫️🇦🇪 

2. Strictly Independent: Angelos Balamis 🇬🇷 

3. QUIZ: Tiny traces - big effects 💪 

4. Scent MythBusters: Natural perfume ingredients smell exactly as we expect them to – a rose is a rose is a rose, right? 🔍️ 

Note-Worthy 🔎🌸

#INDUSTRYILLUSIONS The boom isn’t the issue—it’s the gold rush that followed. Post-pandemic and TikTok hype sparked an explosion from 500 launches in the '90s to 4,000+ today. Many now market pre-made bases with poetic backstories like “hidden rose gardens.” “Niche” has lost meaning, often mass-produced with shortcuts in potency and ingredients. Safety is a concern as untrained founders enter the space, and shelves flood with copycats from China and the Middle East. The rich world of perfumery—its chemistry, history, and emotion—is being diluted into fast product, with budgets favouring branding over craft.

#MIDDLEEASTERNMASTERS Amid fleeting trends, Middle Eastern perfumers are redefining luxury with depth and intent. Emirati brand Widian fuses oud with modern elegance, while Oo La Lab offers personalised scents through lab-grade precision. ByMoudz challenges norms with June Child—a bold bergamot-pink pepper-oud blend. In Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Hilal composes scents that speak, layering incense, rose, and musk to explore cultural identity.

#SCENTREVOLUTION Gen Z and men are rewriting the fragrance playbook. Teen boys boosted fragrance spending by 26% in 2024, shifting from signature scents to versatile "fragrance wardrobes." They're not just buying more—they're buying smarter, favouring niche artisanal brands over their parents' go-tos.

Strictly Independent 🎨 🌟 

Some perfumers emerge from unexpected places, bringing fresh perspectives to the art. Angelos Balamis is one such creator—an electrical engineer turned artisan perfumer whose scientific background infuses his artistic vision. Since 2014, he's been quietly crafting remarkable compositions from his olfactorium in Thessaloniki, marrying vintage techniques with modern sensibilities 🇬🇷.  

What makes his work special isn't just technical precision, but the deep cultural storytelling woven through each creation. Balamis doesn't simply make perfumes; he bottles Greek heritage, family memories, and agricultural traditions into concentrated expressions of olfactory poetry. His high-concentration creations (15-25%) speak to an uncompromising dedication to quality and emotional resonance, placing him among the most authentic voices in independent perfumery today.

QUIZ 🎲 

Scent MythBusters 🎭️ 

TL;DR

Think that creating a stunning perfume formula is the hard part, and selling it is the only challenge that remains? Think again! The real behind-the-scenes struggle begins after a fragrance is born. From navigating regulatory landscapes to sourcing increasingly scarce materials, perfumers face a constant battle to maintain their creations. The truth involves monitoring global supply chains, reformulating due to restrictions, and sometimes discontinuing beloved scents when key components become unavailable or prohibitively expensive—far more complex than the simplified expectation.

The Common Assumption vs. The Aromatic Reality

The Sales-Focused Misconception 🤔

We've all heard it. "Once you've created a great perfume, the only real challenge is getting it into consumers' hands." This perspective imagines perfumers crafting masterpieces, then handing them off to marketing teams who shoulder the burden of success. It suggests the creative work ends when the formula is finalised, and a perfume remains unchanged—a stable product that merely needs effective promotion.

Industry insiders know this view dramatically oversimplifies the ongoing relationship between perfumer and formula. Creating a perfume isn't a one-and-done achievement—it's the beginning of a precarious balancing act that can span decades. Maintaining a perfume's formula over time can be just as challenging as creating it in the first place.

Patchouli – The Price Explosion Crisis 📈

Expectation: Once a perfumer secures a reliable source for key ingredients, supply chain management becomes routine.

Reality: In 2008, Indonesia—the world's primary source of patchouli—faced a perfect storm of agricultural and climate challenges. Farmers abandoned cultivation due to insufficient income, while excessive rainfall nearly destroyed remaining crops. The result? A global shortage that sent prices soaring tenfold, threatening bestselling fragrances like Thierry Mugler's "Angel," Chanel's "Coco Mademoiselle," and Dior's "Miss Dior Chérie."Perfume houses scrambled to secure supplies, reformulate, or absorb massive cost increases, demonstrating how volatile ingredient markets can throw even established fragrances into crisis.

Orris Root – The Patience-Testing Treasure 🌱

Expectation: Natural ingredients are simply harvested when needed and incorporated into formulations.

Reality: Some key ingredients require extraordinary patience before they're usable. Orris root—the dried root of the iris plant—must be aged for 3-5 years before developing its characteristic aroma. This aging process, combined with the fact that it takes approximately 1,000 kilograms of iris root to produce just 1 kilogram of orris butter, makes it one of the most expensive perfumery ingredients—often costing between 50,000€ and 100,000€ per kilogram. When poor harvests occur, perfumers face impossible choices: reformulate beloved scents, raise prices dramatically, or discontinue products entirely.

Lyral – The Regulatory Casualty 📝

Expectation: Once a perfume formula is finalised and successful, it remains unchanged throughout its market life.

Reality: Regulatory changes frequently force reformulations or discontinuations. Lyral (HICC), a synthetic molecule replicating lily of the valley, was a cornerstone ingredient in countless fragrances for decades. However, in 2017, the European Commission banned its use due to high allergenic potential, with the ban taking full effect by 2019. This single decision forced hundreds of brands to either discontinue fragrances or undertake costly reformulations—often resulting in noticeably different scent profiles. Technical perfumers work tirelessly to recreate original formulations without banned ingredients, but sometimes the integrity of the original scent simply cannot be maintained.

So, is the myth busted?

Absolutely! While selling a perfume presents significant challenges, the idea that it's the only major hurdle after formula creation dramatically underestimates the ongoing complexities of maintaining a fragrance. From the Indonesian patchouli crisis to the regulatory ban of Lyral, the perfume industry faces constant pressure to adapt, reformulate, and sometimes discontinue beloved scents due to factors entirely outside their control.