easy ANSWERS

The Price of Easy

Why do so many modern perfumes feel different, yet somehow strangely similar?

In this episode, I look at how perfumery arrived here. Synthetic molecules such as Ambroxan and Iso E Super transformed perfumery — and I use them myself and love them. They are powerful, stable, reliable and wonderful to work with. But mass production, globalization, cost, availability and regulation have gradually pushed much of the industry toward the same highly efficient solutions.

Naturals are different. Rose, jasmine, cistus, labdanum and other materials can be expensive, variable, difficult and sometimes frustrating. But they also bring friction, complexity and surprise.

I talk about why my own perfumes use both worlds — Ambroxan and cistus, Iso E and jasmine absolute, synthetics and large amounts of naturals — and why that matters.

If modern perfumery sometimes feels too polished or predictable, there are two ways out: look backwards to the treasures of the past, or look sidewards toward independent perfumers who can still afford to make things differently.