Genovese

The concept for Genovese dates back around this time last year (meaning the concept actually predates Rosé and Thalassa, haha!). At that point, I had decided to start my brand, with the core collection exploring fragrances based on color (you can probably see the pattern from the early scents, right?). At the time, the colors in my head were yellow (Clytie), white (Clinophilia), orange (guess which!), purple (guess which!), and green.

For the green slot, I initially tried building a different green scent, but it just wouldn't turn out right, so I shelved the formula. I started asking myself: what gives off a green feeling? I searched around for anything that smelled green yet pleasant—avoiding harsh, raw leaf-green. That's when I thought of culinary herbs, and the very first thing that popped into my head was pesto: the green sauce eaten with pasta.

At first, I was terrified—who on earth would want to smell like pesto, haha? With ingredients like nuts and cheese, it threatened to smell downright rotten. So, I took the aromachemicals recreating the notes found in pesto and mapped them onto a structure that handles green notes brilliantly: a fougère. But of course, being me, I got a bit heavy-handed with the lemon and bergamot, accidentally turning it into an Italian cologne instead, fitting the 🤌 theme, haha!

Key points of this perfume:

1. Sweet Basil is an absolute nightmare to tame; nothing resists it. It took forever to get under control.

2. Standard colognes evaporate the moment a breeze blows past, so I had to figure out how to adjust fixatives to give the base notes staying power without ruining the fragrance's core context.

3. Pulling off all of the above while still making it an everyday wearable scent.

This fragrance is probably the clearest illustration of my approach to conceptualizing and building scents. Since no one realistically wants to smell like pesto, how do you make a pesto-themed fragrance that still evokes pesto without going too far off the deep end into savory cooking smells? I believe perfumery is like communication—explaining your vision so others understand it, much like why a great teacher can make a difficult lesson easy to grasp. Regardless of the concept, the perfumer acts as the conductor of tone and character, ensuring the fragrance successfully conveys what we intend to express.

Number of mods: 14 (Like I said, getting the basil to behave while keeping its scent clearly recognizable was absolute madness).

Mise en Scène

Please welcome little Genovese into your hearts, everyone! It was a sweat-inducing project to finish. For anyone wanting to try it, head over to Scent District!