Toward the end of August, we took a trip to London to see old friends, some of whom were also visiting from elsewhere. Although we hadn’t seen each other in years, it felt like no time had passed, and we picked up right where we’d left off. Fortunately, our tight scheduling worked out according to plan, it rained only on one day, and I still got to fit in some perfume-related stops. Here they are, in chronological order of my visits.

The Fragrance Shop

I was intrigued when I first learned about EveryHuman Algorithmic Perfumery, based in the Netherlands—the world’s first AI-guided scent creation platform using input from a quiz to create custom fragrances. So, of course I was excited to see that they had partnered with The Fragrance Shop in London to set up a pop-up location.

The machine looked every bit as impressive as I’d anticipated, but the atmosphere was somewhat anticlimactic as it was unstaffed and didn’t stand out as well among the noise of other, popular brands and their advertising. I didn’t end up testing it as I wasn’t very keen on spending 45 pounds for three scents that I couldn’t smell before deciding to buy.

The Fragrance Shop was the first store I’d seen that stocked a wide selection ranging from mass market, designer, and some of the more well-known niche brands such as Akro, The Merchant of Venice, and The House of Oud. It even has a “trending” section.

Dover Street Market

This wasn’t on my list, but we walked by and I’m always happy to visit a Dover Street Market in a new location, even though their goods are generally outside of my price range. Perfumes were front and center on the ground floor.

Even more thrilling than perfumes are the clothes, which may as well be sculptures in a contemporary art museum. I wish one of us had tried on the Comme des Garçons jacket with four arms, or the Balenciaga top that looks like a pair of jeans folded over itself, with the legs crossed and sewn to the back.

Liberty

This department store housed in a Tudor-revival building is worth seeing just for the architecture, but it also sells many beautiful things from wallpaper to stationery and lots of clothing and perfumes in between.

For serious collectors, there is a section of luxury items including giant display bottles from the 1980s and 1990s.

Also available in large format are Ralph Lauren Safari and Chanel Égoïste Platinum and Allure Homme.

Last year, Liberty launched their own line of fragrances, LBTY, with each bottle encased in a box featuring an archival Liberty print design. I sniffed them all and found them to be decent, easy-to-like representations of each genre. My favorite was Liberty Maze, a citrus-floral-wood with notes of earl grey and birch that seemed well suited to the end of summer.

By the Outernet, an entertainment venue in the highly foot-trafficked Charing Cross and Tottenham Court Road area whose presence is first seen at ground level with an open room walled with giant LED screens, people were giving out free samples of Prada Paradoxe Virtual Flower. The screens also showed ads for it. Funnily enough, it took me a while to realize it was a new flanker being so heavily promoted, and not the original Prada Paradoxe.

My non-perfumista friend remarked that even though it was new, it seemed like something she’d smelled before. When I tried it, I felt the same way—it was like a thousand other mainstream fragrances that had come before it. Feminine leaning and a definite crowd pleaser, with notes of “vert de bergamot, jasmine AI accord,” and musk. A sweet but airy, warm floral that opens like juicy pear to my nose before settling into a light pink sweater.

Perfumer H

I’ve seen a lot of love for Perfumer H among the fragrance community, so of course I had to make a trek to one of the stores even on a rainy day.

Right by the doormat was a rack that looked deceptively like it was meant to hold wet umbrellas, and I almost put mine in… but stopped when I saw that it was actually for empty candle containers as part of their candle refill service. The SA was very tactful about it and highly attentive as I sniffed the many perfumes built around five classic eaux de parfum from the Icons collection: Bergamot, Rain Cloud, Leather, Ink, and Smoke.

Knowing that Smoke is popular among perfumistas, I paid special attention, and its lightness surprised me. It’s a cool frankincense and the birch was barely perceptible to my nose. I was more taken by Charcoal, which evoked earth and petrichor to me (notes include cade, juniper, galbanum, and elemi); my other half said it smelled just like a charcoal briquet.

Brityard

After a wonderful lunch with friends, the group of us trekked around Selfridges briefly and then headed to Brityard on Regent Street—I was on a mission to try new flavors of gelato at J’LATO, while my friends settled for coffee or tea. I had two different flavors that included saffron. As Brityard is a collection of “best of British” artisanal brands, 4160Tuesdays also had shelf space there, and I purchased possibly their last “Bestsellers” discovery set before they restock.

Fortnum & Mason

We then walked to Fortnum & Mason and browsed the busy ground floor, a destination for very English tea and biscuits. I thought they had fresh fruits, too, but those turned out to be convincingly realistic marzipan!

Upstairs in the perfume section, it was a lot quieter and less crowded. I tried to play perfume tour guide to my friends, but I wasn’t very familiar with many of the scents myself, so it was a bumbling effort. I picked up Gallivant Ta’if, a Fortnum & Mason exclusive, and sprayed blotters for all of us—it was also the first time I was smelling it. My impression was of a lovely, ambery rose, with spices making it more interesting but letting the rose shine.

4160Tuesdays

I had attended a perfume-making workshop at the old studio in Acton five years ago, and this time we were able to see the current studio in Hammersmith. We had an absolutely delightful visit with perfumer Sarah McCartney and her husband Nick, and Sarah generously gifted me more samples of perfumes that were not in the discovery set. I also like to think we got a valuable lesson in how to be more no-nonsense in the most British way, although it might take a lifetime of practice to get it right. My other half already tells me I’m too much of a fangirl, so I refrained from paparazzi tendencies this time. 😉

Experimental Perfume Club

East London is a bit inconvenient when we usually have a packed agenda in Central London, so I was glad that EPC opened an additional location in Covent Garden. The very enthusiastic French SA told us that they no longer do perfume-making workshops using raw ingredients, but clients can still make custom blends from pre-made accords.

I happened to be carrying two paper bags from Le Labo, which I was reusing from previous purchases as gift bags, not realizing that there was a Le Labo boutique practically across the street. The SA noticed and remarked that Le Labo perfumes were made in Grasse, as were theirs—a point of pride, quite evidently. I liked the few fragrances that I had limited time to try—familiar with a twist—particularly Fig Neroli, a surprising contrast that was fresh, woody, and green.

The store was decorated with paper cranes made by artist Cristian Marianciuc (@icarus.mid.air), some incredibly intricate with cutout wings.

A spotlight on beverages

While I missed the season for floral flavors in London (apparently many restaurants featured edible flowers during the Chelsea Flower Show in May), I discovered some fragrant drinks on this trip.

The fame of Ottolenghi restaurants had reached our knowledge and we had even seen (though not owned) their cookbooks in the United States, so we decided to splurge and ended up going to both ROVI and NOPI on consecutive evenings. ROVI is more vegetable focused and while both restaurants were excellent, we enjoyed the food at ROVI just a little bit more. For dessert, I had a mastic liqueur called Skinos Mastiha for the first time—I expected it to be bitter and herbal, but it was light, green, a bit like licorice root, and sweet.

At NOPI, the drinks list made an offer I couldn’t resist: a jasmine tonka gimlet!

In fact, I took them up on it twice! The initial sips were citrusy, revealing a jasmine note familiar from jasmine teas. The tonka tincture became more apparent only a bit further down, where the blend sweetened with greater concentration.

We had brunch at the rooftop bar Florattica one day just to enjoy an undisturbed view of the London skyline. To my delight, they also had some floral cocktails.

My violet cocktail came garnished with an edible flower. The drinks were better than the food—the view made it all worthwhile.

Rose anything seems easier to find in London. This beautifully layered rose latte at Caffe Concerto was delicious, though quite sweet. I had asked for decaf as it was late afternoon; the first one they made was with regular coffee by mistake, so they brought both and my friend (who isn’t kept awake by caffeine late in the day) got to enjoy the regular one for free.

Finally, at the airport, a display promoting Hendrick’s gin. What got my attention first was the British red telephone booth, and what I stepped closer for was the set of pumps for people to sniff “eau de cucumber.” They weren’t working very well, so I accepted a sample sip, which I also can’t comment on much because it tasted too strongly of pure alcohol.

Inevitably, the time came for us to… go, as the signal indicated.