I like to check in with A Lab On Fire on a regular basis, just to see what they’ve been up to. This brand has won my respect over the years, not just for what they do but for what they don’t do. They work with top-notch perfumers to offer unusual but wearable fragrances with quirky back-stories — some of the characteristics that originally attracted me to niche perfumery. Meanwhile, the brand maintains an opacity and reserve that are all but extinct in 2019: no interviews with photogenic creative directors (indeed, no photos of the creative director at all!), no launch parties, no ingratiating social media presence, no peppy PR emails, no free bottles sent to “influencers.”

I’ve owned What We Do In Paris Is Secret and Rose Rebelle Respawn for a long time, and I’ve liked nearly all the other fragrances I’ve sampled from this house, even if I’m chronically lagging behind the newer releases…

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