The Oscars of indie perfume
What I smelled, loved, and brought home from a scent-filled week in LA
Before the Fragrance Foundation Awards in NY, I was in LA, for work, but also for Scent Week, put on by the amazing Institute for Art & Olfaction. The week included talks, workshops, a three-day-long scent fair with vendors from all over the country and the world, and of course, the Art and Olfaction Awards (IAO), which are an entirely different experience and focus than the much bigger and glitzier Fragrance Foundation Awards (FiFis). While the FiFis honor big names and brands that tend to have bigger budgets, many of which are owned and operated by the major oil houses like Givaudan and Firmenich, the IAO Awards celebrate a global audience of much independent perfume brands and experimental work in the olfaction space.
I worked in book publishing on and off for a decade, and the way I think of it is that the FiFis are like the Big Five (a term used in publishing to refer to the major houses like Simon & Schuster, Random House, etc.), and the IAO is for the indies, the smaller players making, in my opinion, more experimental and interesting creations that aren’t necessarily designed to sell to the masses. I worked for an independent publisher, and I’ve always gravitated toward the unconventional stuff happening at the fringes. So while I’m happy to celebrate both sides, there’s something I really relish about the smaller indies.
Here at Dry Down Diaries, I welcome all smells, from mass-market to DTC brands to tiny operations happening out of someone’s garage. I don’t care if you love designer fragrances or only want to explore niche stuff. There’s a place for all of it, and this is a space for all of it. The deeper I get into perfume, the more I tend to gravitate toward the artisanal, sometimes strange creations, but make no mistake, I welcome it all.
The Winners
Onto the awards. What I love about the IAO Awards is that anyone can attend, and they have an incredibly rigorous judging process, one that they’re fully transparent about. They tell you who the judges were for each category, how the process works, and even share a code of ethics, which I’ll include below. They also welcome submissions from all over the globe.
Their mission is to recognize innovation, creativity, and artistic integrity in scent-making, particularly from underrepresented or experimental voices in the global fragrance community. By spotlighting independent and experimental work, the IAO Awards aim to elevate perfumery as a legitimate and boundary-pushing art form.
There were two winners for each category. The winners for the Independent category were Bad Lily by TALE Parfum and Northern by Soulvent. I sadly did not have a chance to smell Northern, but I was able to get my nose on Bad Lily. I have smelled a lot of different scents over the past month, and Bad Lily is one of the top 3 smells for me. Created by perfumer Michael Nordstrand, this is such a lush, green, vibrant smell. It kind of just envelops you in this mossy green world with little flowers showing their faces from time to time. I sprayed this in a restaurant for a friend (SORRY this was rude but sometimes we find ourselves in these situations) and the waitress came over almost immediately, I thought to scold us, but it was to ask what that smell was, she took a photo of the bottle and said she would be ordering it. It’s that kind of intoxicating smell. I also really love all three of Tale’s other scents. Water Me is such a strong aquatic scent. And Fleurt is fun and playful and ever so gourmand as the name suggests. I will be writing more about this solid new house soon.
Beloved Thai house, Siam1928 took home an award in the Artisan category, along with OrdioLab’s Mint Rose— which I did not smell. I am a big fan of Siam1928 perfumer Nutt Wesshasartar and his creations for Voyager as well. He won for Mekha Aranya, which features osmanthus, honey, musk, sandalwood, and aldehydes. Jennifer bought this and loves it, and I’m a big fan of so many of their scents. The scent is inspired by Thailand’s northern cloud forests and a mythical temple guardian.
Having just completed a nose training course with the amazing
, I have an even deeper appreciation for Perfumer’s Apprentice, a supplier of fragrance ingredients known for making perfumery more accessible to independent and aspiring perfumers. Our nose training kits, featuring 30 different materials came from PA. So I was happy to see founder Linda Andrews win an award for Contribution to Scent Culture. Without Perfumer’s Apprentice, some of your favorite indie perfumers would not be on your shelves today.I also sadly didn’t have a chance to smell the People’s Choice Award winners, The Mandala by Param Sara and You & I (Will Die) by House of Mammoth. I love the name You & I (Will Die) and want to get my nose on that one so I can tell you all what it smells like.
You can view a full list of the winners here.
Scent Fair
It was especially fun to attend the IAO awards and scent fair weekend with the person who first got me into perfume many years ago by sending me wild reviews from Fragrantica and other sites. I fell for perfume writing before I fell for the scents.
Alie Kiral, the nose and founder of Pearfat is just as lovely and kind as I thought she would be. It was fun to smell through her latest and see her colorful display. I went home with a travel size of Up North, which makes me want to visit Lake Michigan in the summertime.
You better believe I bought a shirt from Zernell Gillie. Disco has my heart, but his latest, R&B, is such a fun tropical summer scent.
There will never be a time when I see
and we don’t take a nail selfie. Btw, you should preorder her book House of Beauty. She’s also opened up her nose training for a new summer session with some IRL events happening in NY.
It was so nice to meet Josh of Paraphrase and Cherry of Jouissance in person! Check out both of their lines if you haven’t already. I took home some lovely incense from Paraphrase and convinced some people to get the Jouissance discovery set because all three of her scents are beautiful. La Bague D’o is my tried and true.
It was very fun to see James Nguyen of D.Grayi in person, their booth was swamped the entire weekend.
I had heard buzzing about Lithuanian house Fum Parfum before the fair, and the hype was worth it. I took home travel sizes of their bestselling, Blur, a beautiful musky skin scent, and the more out-there Drama Queen. They don’t have US distribution yet but if you can get your nose on these scents I recommend it.
File under booths I wish I had spent more time at. I liked smells at Bleu Nour and Tanais but was too overwhelmed to really dive in.
I have a sample I’m excited to wear from The Street Scent, will let you know how it wears. It was fun to hang out with Teddy of Teddy the Perfumer— he makes some great videos and I recommend giving him a follow.
Two other perfume places I recommend you swing by if you’re in LA are Capsule Perfume, where I fell in love with Un Attimo—the most perfect summer scent, and Elorea where you can get a fun drink inspired by their fragrances. I went home with a travel size of Fire.
There was also a Nose Candy scent swap!! It was beautiful and fun and nothing beats the joy on Saul’s face (say hi to him at Ministry of Scent) when he was able to snag Be Delicious.
Love the awards graphics
A little extra love for my fellow Edmontonian Josh from Paraphrase sweltering in that LA heat. 🥵