How to get into perfume
This guide will make it easier for you.
Hello hello,
Excited to bring you another issue from Circe this week, and this time it’s all about perfume. Circe is that person that instantly recognises if you are wearing a new fragrance and can pick up on the notes. And in the past five years, it feels like perfume has gone from a nice gift or reliable product to something much more complex and involved. There is a lot to learn and it turns out that, like wine, you get out what you put in. So Circe is here to be our guide! 🌟
As ever, scroll for the news you missed this week, weekend recs, and a Hot & Not from Laroie.
Have a great weekend,
Holly x
Circe’s Ultimate Guide To Perfume °‧🫧⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
While humans were trying to progress from the Bronze Age to Iron, a factory in Cyprus was more concerned with what combination of anise, pine, coriander, bergamot, almond, and parsley would wear most nicely. That is the oldest evidence of perfume manufacturing ever found - and (in my opinion) an example of good priorities. Perfume is an ancient, ancient, art with a broad influence: it’s given common ground to scientists, religious leaders and the beauty industry for millennia. And today, when we see people dropping almost £400 on Baccarat Rouge 540 to smell like Rihanna, it’s still every bit as important. Smelling good is huge.
There’s a lot to love about perfume beyond just how it makes you smell. Like a really good accessory, it can express pretty much anything you want it to without you saying a word. Your perfume can change with the seasons, with your body chemistry, with the scent of your favourite shampoo. And if you manage to hold onto one bottle for long enough, it can mature into something entirely different, like a wine I cannot afford. Its notes get examined with language so esoteric that almost everything goes. I once saw a perfume described as “like watching surgery be performed for the first time”. It was called Inexcusable Evil - probably an acquired taste.
For me, leaving the house without perfume on is like not brushing your teeth, or skipping deodorant (not good!). So, I’ve made this little guide for anyone who wants to learn a bit more about the fragrances they love, understand their taste and maybe even find their signature scent. Here we go!
Some words/phrases to know:
Accord: A blend of multiple notes that creates a new, unified scent impression (e.g. “leather accord”). This relates to the idea of a musical chord (there’s a lot of music in perfume - see ‘notes’ further down).
Drydown: The phase after a perfume has been on your skin for a while - when base notes emerge and the scent settles.
Eau de Parfum (EDP): Mid-to-strong perfume concentration (15-20%), long-lasting.
Eau de Toilette (EDT): Lighter than an EDP (5-15%), bright, airy, good for everyday wear.
Notes: Isolated smells within a perfume, grouped into top, middle and base. (E.g. a perfume might have a ‘rose’ note).
Projection: How far a fragrance radiates from your skin into the surrounding space. (So, can others smell it easily, or is it more intimate?)
Resins: Thick and sticky plant extracts that add depth to a perfume and usually bring out sweet, spicy, woody or smoky notes.
Sillage: The scented trail a perfume leaves behind as you move. From the French word for the wake left in the water by ships.
More about ‘notes’:
Each perfume performs in three acts, so it will smell slightly different the longer it’s worn. These are broken down into the following sets of notes…
Top notes: The initial impression of a perfume, typically the brightest (think citrus, herbs, spices). Top notes have the lowest molecular weights and highest volatilities, meaning they evaporate quickly.
Middle (or heart) notes: The central stage of a fragrance, appearing after the top notes fade - often florals, spices or fruits. People typically say this is a perfume’s “true personality”.
Base notes: These come out at the drydown stage. Base notes are the deepest, longest-lasting parts of a perfume - so, woods, musks, vanillas, resins - lingering for hours after you spray it on.
The scent categories/families/accords:
To me, knowing which of the following categories you enjoy the most will be the key to understanding your taste in perfumes…
Citrus: Bright, fresh and uplifting. Built on notes like bergamot, lemon, and grapefruit.
Floral: Soft, romantic and feminine-leaning. Centred on flowers like rose, jasmine or iris.
White Floral: Creamy and radiant - notes include tuberose, gardenia and orange blossom.
Fruity: Sweet and juicy, mostly berries, pear, peach or apple.
Green (also vetiver): Leafy and crisp (think grass and fresh-cut plants).
Herbal/Aromatic: Fresh, cool, slightly earthy; notes of lavender, sage, rosemary and other herbs.
Aquatic/Marine: As the name suggests, these are inspired by sea mist, salt and ocean breezes.
Woody: Warm and elegant notes of cedar and sandalwood. (Le Labo Santal 33 is a very famous example of this).
Amber: One of my faves. Amber is a rich, sweet and warm “fantasy accord”, meaning it’s the name given to the impression made by a blend of different notes (usually from resins). Not to be confused with ambergris (a rare substance secreted by sperm whales, also used in perfume, but typically attributed to musky or marine accords).
Spicy: Lively and warm, featuring notes like cardamom, cinnamon, pepper or clove.
Gourmand: Sweet, edible and dessert-like - vanilla, caramel, chocolate, tonka, almond. Think of Lush products.
Leather: Very smoky, often almost bitter. Also, the smell of the inside of a leather bag or fresh tobacco.
Musk: Another favourite, musk is soft and skin-like. A lot of the “your-skin-but-better” fragrances are musks.
Chypre: Elegant and earthy, originated with Coty’s Chypre in 1917. These can actually be divided further into floral chypres, fruity chypres, leather chypres, etc. Hermes Barenia, for example, is more of a fruity chypre.
Fougère: These perfumes are fresh, aromatic, and mostly masculine - combining lavender, coumarin and woods.
How to put the above into practice:
Use Fragrantica: Think of your favourite perfume and look it up on this website - this will help you understand why you like it. Start with the main accords (like woody, iris, floral, citrus, etc), then you can dive deeper with top notes, middle notes and base notes. And for wearability, you’ll also find a section where users rate the sillage and longevity.
Use Reddit: This is a great source to discover more fragrances like the one/s you know you like already. Say you love Glossier You, Google “perfumes similar to Glossier You reddit” and you’ll find a bunch of threads sharing close matches and recommendations.
Browse your nearest department store/perfume boutique: Go to a Diptyque shop, or Le Labo, or a big department store (Selfridges or John Lewis in the UK, Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus in the US). They’ll have people who’ll be able to fill you in on all things perfume. If you’re in London, places like Liberty and Space NK (the big one on Oxford Street) now have dedicated displays that break perfumes up by category/family/accord to help you figure out what it is you’re looking for.
Armed with this info, you should be well on your way to finding your new favourite perfume. But while you’re here, I’ve got some recommendations that I think everyone should try…
My top recommendations:
Glossier, You - This was my (and I think a lot of people’s) gateway into loving perfume. It’s a subtle, skin-like fragrance that’s soft, musky, earthy and floral, designed to feel intimate and personal.
Diptyque, L’eau Papier - Probably my all-time favourite. This is a gorgeous perfume that leads with a fizzy, not-too-sweetness (like a mimosa) and dries down to a comforting musk and creamy rice base. One of the reasons I love this is that it works just as well in spring and summer as it does in autumn and winter.
Hermes, Barenia - This is Holly’s go-to. She said she got a sample before a trip and had never received as many compliments on a perfume as she did when wearing this. It opens with bright, slightly fruity‑fresh notes and settles into a warm, woody‑leathery base. Very, very good.
Jo Malone, Poppy & Barley - Ideal if you like something that marries both fresh and musk notes - and doesn’t feel synthetic. I wore this during the summer of 2024, until a friend decided it was to be her signature scent (I respect the sanctity of this).
The 7 Virtues, Amber Vanilla - Maybe controversial, but I love it when a perfume has the key accords or notes in the name. This is another skin scent that’s cosy and musky. Crucially, the vanilla in this is not too sweet, but more woody and warm.
Le Labo, Another 13 - Yes, another skin scent, but this one stands out because of its longevity (something that’s typically tough for a fragrance like this to pull off). Expect musks, ambrox/woods and subtle floral‑mossy complexity.
If you have a question for Circe, hit reply to this email! 💌
And finally…
News from the Capsule universe this week:
The girls looked good at the Fashion Awards
Miley is engaged!
…and also making time to plan that Hannah Montana anniversary
Of course this lady is the new face of Saint Laurent
Blazy’s Chanel looking very good on Margot Robbie’s Vogue cover
And even better on the New York subway
Speaking of: the Chanel show attendees are right about New York
Rosalía is going on tour
Prada bought Versace and Dario Vitale is exiting after just one season
And if you haven’t already seen: Dua Lipa and Callum Turner being sweet in Mexico
This week, Laroie popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅♀️ …
Laroie is a singer-songwriter from Montreal. Her music blends R&B downtempo and electronic pop, and explores themes like addiction, relationships, and desire. She’s played at Montreal International Jazz Festival, POP Montreal, and Soundcity Festival and has headlined shows at London’s Deptford Junction and Le Cancan Pigalle in Paris. Her single ‘Can’t Let Go’ was nominated for the SOCAN Song of the Year.
🔥🔥🔥Hot🔥🔥🔥
Gloomy season, queer community, plants, volunteering, stretching, buying local, being mindful, having intention, getting a random tattoo, buying art, being a YES person, spontaneity, kindness, unconventional relationships, romance, wigs, silver jewelry, overcoming fears, dirty martinis, black coffee, change, growth, skinny dips, rainbows, thunder, fruits and veggies, taking risks, scrambled eggs, honesty, cold showers and most importantly shrimps!!!!
Hot Not… 🙅♀️🙅♀️🙅♀️
Capitalism, jealousy, judging, beauty standards, genocides, grittiness, guns, violence, femicide, a very milky and sugary coffee, shame, power trips, conditional love, skiing, lacking communication skills, ego driven mofos, bad listeners, gaslighting, apathy, bullies, billionaires, entitlement, climate change, having no compassion, individualism, racism, xenophobia, zionists, close minded peeps, coke, McDonald, Amazon, AI songs or art…
📺 Watching: Eternity in the cinema. Plus this Rachel Sennott interview, which normalises crying during challenging work, this sweet Olivia Dean interview, and Audrey Hobert made a black and white video for ‘Sex and the city’.
📖 Reading: This essay which argues against cosmetic surgery, this super long Letterboxd review (which is more of a personal essay) on the upcoming Joachim Trier film Sentimental Value (something to look forward to in January!!!) and this roundup of Lorde’s favourite bits of culture from 2025.
🎧 Listening to: This (bear with me) “autumn vintage jazz” playlist that makes your house feel a) cosy and b) like a lovely restaurant, Ace, an album by Madison Cunningham, and Hayley Williams on the Good Hang podcast with Amy Poehler.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, please share!
glossier you is my go-to everyday perfume. i just love it so much