P.S.A little disclaimer…(plz don’t cancel me)

I’ve been deep diving into the world of fragrance for nearly 7 years now and in all honesty during that time I have progressed into a well rounded understanding of the chemistry, art and the world of fragrance itself. My channel has always been about trying to educate and help people make well-informed descions on brands they buy and fragrances itself. At the end of the day fragrance truly is an investment, and I believe consumers deserve full transparency when it comes to new releases: Are they truly worth it? As both a content creator and a fragrance enthusiast, I love researching, studying, and sharing my thoughts. While I do showcase PR releases, my aim is to always to give you my honest perspective- breaking down scents objectively so you can decide what’s right for you. And PLZ , the title is kinda dramatic-none of these are actually a ‘stench’…lol

Marc Anionne Barrois - Aldebaran

“It’s a white light in the darkness… it’s a star… A simplicity that gives the composition it’s dazzling modernity “ - Aldebaran press release

Aldebaran is insipired by and takes name from the brightest star discovered and observed in the 18th century: Al-Debaran (an Arabic name as an Arab astronomer discovered it). The aim behind the fragrance is deliver a bold bloom of white light in the darkness. Marc Antionne got me good with this image as he linked it to Harry Potter. He says it’s like “ a patronus.. a light that attracts positive forces”

Quentin Bisch is the perfumer behind all of Marc Antoine Barrois’s current creations. The two share an incredibly close creative friendship - during a session with Marc Antoine, he opened up about the vision and philosophy behind his brand. He explained that he and Quentin are fundamentally aligned, almost always on the same wavelength when it comes to their artistic and olfactory instincts. it’s probably also why MAB fragrances are so abstract and unique...

Also…If you didn’t know I am the president of the #quentinsb!tch fan club. I LUV that man I’m so sorry. So when I saw this new release my nostrils were practically tweaking at the thought.

Mmmkay, now this sounds fun but how does it smell . Okay so imma be so real.. I had seen so many mixed reviews online: people on fragrantica were unhinged (but that’s the norm) and people on Reddit were buzzing. But whilst reading the reviews I kept in mind the the Milan press conference of the fragrance, where Quentin explained that this would be extremely different to traditional fragrances on the market at the moment - knowing this I took a deep breath I sniffed…..

Confusion , nostalgia and admiration. This whipped my nose upon smelling. I’ve put together a little table or realistic fragrance diagram thing of what I think it smells like….

I smelt this alongside my aunts and uncles upon opening. I was confused as it smelt like memories from my childhood- such as the beautiful distinct balms and sterile medicinal ointments I used to massage my grandmas ailing joints with. I immediately smelt iodex - an ointment that’s iodine based that has a slight reminiscent to the paprika note contained within the fragrance - but upon a even deeper sniff I was met with the comforting coolness and menthol breeze of Vicks or Olbas Oil. My aunt was taken aback she said it reminded her of her childhood back in South Asia. I find it quite fitting and so accurate that Marc Antionne has said that this fragrance is the “light in the darkness” - as the ointments that reminded me of the fragrance, also provide relief to pain/sickness and are technically a metaphorical “lightness in darkness”. My admiration of Marc Antionne’s and Quentins brains really grew. The tuberose was certainly there but not as you know it - it was like the memory of tuberose and wasn’t cloying (as it seems to be in a lot of mass market fragrances). My aunts and uncles rejoiced at this fragrance and I was lost for words with the creativity of the fragrance.

I found this to be a unique and beautiful scent to smell - I will say though - a lot of my childhood nostalgia is linked with what the fragrance reminds me off. That also contributes a lot to why I like this fragrance - hats off to Marc Antionne Barrois for keeping true to his vision and not succumbing to trends of the perfume world.

Eccentric Molecule travel ATOM.iser

Okay this SCRUMPTED me. I’m the biggest chemistry fan and I have always loved Escentric Molecules - I find the founder Geza, to have the most mysterious but cool aura ever. In my eyes Geza can do no wrong, he’s worked with brilliant fragrance houses such as Ormonde Jayne to produce some of the best smelling works, he made my one of most FAVOURITE fragrances in the world and he never misses. Escentric molecules is a brand that combines chemistry and scent. Geza very cleverly, has used captive aroma compounds as main motifs within his fragrances. This is seen most famously within the fragrance 01 - containing up to 65% of iso E super it in concentration.

So what are these molecules? Major fragrance houses such as Givaudan, IFF, Fimenich have a team of aromachemists constantly cooking it up in the lab to create the next “IT” molecule. To explain it quickly, essentially these chemists can identify specific fragrance compounds (normally found in naturals) and create different analogues of the compound to see if they get a different smelling molecule that smells more intense or just simply different. Or they can design and invent a new molecule that smells truly abstract- something that doesn’t even have a precursor smell within nature. Throughout perfumery we have seen countless examples of synthesis of aroma compounds that have revolutionised the fragrance world….

After these companies create the molecules they can sell the molecule or keep it as “captives” (only they can sell it? I think). Iso E super, Cashmerean, ambrofix are examples of these molecules. Escentric molecules overdose these odorants and add other notes to create a completely different fragrance world….

So with this release, I smelt the original 01 but with an added black tea note and I got to try the new travel atomiser. I wish I could upload the clicky yet buttery ASMR sounds of using the atomiser because it makes the most therapeutic sounds (I even demonstrated on FaceTime to my cousin and she agreed).

The atomiser was a beautiful geometric slicked cuboid and it was the size of a pen. The actual scent was like holding dry PG tips tea bags to the nose and taking a huge whiff (I have actually done this before - it is really good calming down trick). The iso e super can be smelt sporadically throughout the day - and it’s a nice little surprise.

Gisou - honey infused hair perfume

Okay I really did have high hopes but this fragrance kinda made me feel like I had been catfished…. Like where was the honey smell😭😭😭😭😭?? Catfishing aside, this was simply nice. Gisou has gained popularity from its combination of skincare, scent and aesthetics. Their lip oils are all over my FYP - and I must say those are actually quite good and smell gorgeous too. This was quite lacklustre to me though - I found the smell to be quite cloying and reminded me of synthetic-y radox soap. It definitely leans into the “clean girl aesthetic” but as a consumer I do wish that the honey scent was more reflected within the hair perfume. There’s a overdose of yellow florals like mimosa and linden. But in all fairness this is a fairly priced product and the smell preforms well.

DEDCOOL - Aura

In terms of Dedcools background I honestly really don’t know that much, but I do know that they do some of the best car fresheners. I brought one from space NK a while back and i found it scented the surroundings beautifully. When I smelt the fragrance: aura, I was impressed but I was soon betrayed by my head. I loved it at first sniff as the pear was so juicy but it soon turned out to be extremely cloying. I actually ended up washing my arm with shampoo as it triggered a migraine. But I recognised that this was probably not aligned with my preference of fragrance categories as it leaned heavily towards gorumands. Nevertheless I sprayed this again on a blotter as I needed to allow this to settle and then I could make a rational judgement.

On the blotter, in terms of it’s smell, it reminded me of L’Oréal shampoo, mixed with custard, pear, condensed milk and sugar and oh, more sugar. This was SWEET. If your very much into clean smelling intense gourmands this could be for you - I actually ended up gifting this to my friend as her fragrance profile is the complete opposite of mine and she appreciated the pear motif throughout the fragrance. I will say that the pear seemed to dissipate fairly quick.

I hope you enjoyed this - I really hope I didn’t sound to h8tr-y. BYEEE

Shoutout voguemagic for “it’s not a scent… it’s a stench”🙏🏼