Imagine if you could bottle up the scent of the beach from when you were a little one paddling in the sea. Or how about the scent of your favourite memory – a nostalgic remembering of a field full of snow, breathtakingly beautiful and surrounded by woods? This is the motivation behind artisanal perfume house CB I Hate Perfume, a brand created by fragrance impresario Chris Brosius. From his own personal experiences to more archetypal scent memories, his is an anti-mainstream fragrance house that aims to deliver a more individualistic scent understanding.

Now, we’re pretty clued up on perfume here at Escentual. We know our luxury fragrance from our novelty scents and our niche from our mainstream, so it’s rare that a fragrance collection truly takes us by surprise. However with each and every CB I Hate Perfume creation that we smelled, the range managed to do just that.

“Grass?” We said with mirth. “Sure, we’ll see how grass-like you really are!” Then we took one sniff and experienced a complete olfactory meltdown… it really did smell just like the real thing. As we passed that sample of Grass around, each one of us agreed that it was like laying in a freshly cut field at the height of summer, heady yet crisp and seriously refreshing. Then we rooted through the samples and grew increasingly more excited with each scent. In The Library? Like burying your nose in your favourite piece of literature. Russian Caravan Tea? A beautifully evocative smoky tea scent that makes you itch for a brew. These aren’t just pretty smelling fragrances; these are the scents of memories and experiences. Scents to spray liberally and sink into, because they really do transport you to other places.

The collection ranges from the Archetype single note series that are deemed the foundation of all fragrances, to the Reinvention Series, a group of scents that reinterpret traditional perfumery for the modern audience. Personal favourites so far include the delectable Russian Caravan Tea and Mr Hulot’s Holiday, complex fragrances that are incredibly wearable and very special.

You start to realise just how special this range is when you take a look at the extensive range of specially-created accords. From Ink to French Bread, Cellotape to Orange Sherbet, Crayon to Ice Cream Cone, Brosius captures the scents of all of his favourite things and utilises them in each of his fragrances. Eclectic yet so very familiar, CB I Hate Perfume is a new way to fragrance, and it’s just what perfumistas have been waiting for.

Discover more about the incredibly exciting CB I Hate Perfume range here.

Emma x