These perfumeries are bottling the fragrance of your favourite memories

When Abhishek Sengupta returned to Kolkata in November last year after realising that he could not afford the exorbitant rent for his apartment in Mumbai’s upscale neighbourhood Khar on a consultant’s salary, he was despondent. He wanted to take along something that captured the essence of the city. “It’s strange,” he says, “I’ve always known Kolkata to be home. But now Mumbai has an equal place in my heart.”

While many people choose to bring back souvenirs or items they have bought, Abhishek decided to invest in a perfume that smells like Maximum City. “Mumbai has a particular smell that’s hard to replicate. I’m not talking about the sometimes-saline smell, but the city’s energetic, almost frenetic aroma,” he explains.

A colleague recommended Byredo’s perfume Mumbai Noise — a scent crowded with contrasts: rich, warm woody and amber, blended with plummy Davana (Artemisia pallens) positioned alongside leather, bitter coffee stirred with sweet tonka beans. The scent captures the smoky haze of incense interspersed with street side coffee carts and dissonant soundscapes. “I rarely spritz on the scent; I just keep it to give it a whiff now and again,” says Abhishek.

Byredo, the European luxury brand founded in Stockholm in 2006 by Ben Gorham, has gained a cult following for its scents, which celebrate the nostalgia of “coming home” — a feeling of emotions and memories awakened. In fact, many of our purchases today are driven by nostalgia. Fragrance brands, too, are tapping into this emotion effectively, as scientific details about formulations are too complex for marketing. Instead, storytelling offers customers something to believe in, making the experience feel natural rather than forced.

Booming industry

Statista, a German online platform that specialises in data gathering and visualisation, projects that India’s fragrance market will have an annual growth rate of 1.56% from 2024 to 2028. Non-luxury fragrances are expected to account for 57% of total sales.

There is also a growing demand for traditional and natural scents, reflecting a preference for local and eco-friendly products. For instance, Bombay Perfumery’s Chai Musk, a unisex fragrance, also celebrates the vibrancy of Mumbai, capturing its hustle, shared stories, and the ever-present chai culture. Then there is Forest Essentials’ Nargis, one of their best-selling fragrances, which is sourced from the snow-clad valleys of Kashmir for their sweet essential oil.

Receptivity for natural perfumes is part of the broader affinity and movement towards natural, organic beauty. Additionally, synthetic alternatives can never completely replicate the scent of the original, natural flower or ingredient.

“At Forest Essentials, we wanted to create an exceptional range of natural perfumes as per the tenets of the ancient science of Ayurveda, keeping the legacy of traditional Indian perfumery alive. Our perfumes use the traditional process of Sandhan Kalpana and contain pure grain alcohol, as mentioned in ancient texts,” says Sanya Dawar, marketing and brand communications lead at Forest Essentials.

Emotional connection

Manan Gandhi, founder of Bombay Perfumery, believes nostalgia varies for each person and is influenced by diverse cultural scents. “It’s challenging to pinpoint specific nostalgic notes, but generally, Indians have a strong nostalgic connection to floral scents, which are tied to festivals, weddings, temples, and other cultural events. Many consumers are drawn to Bombay Perfumery’s floral scents like Madurai Talkies and Moire, which feature popular Indian flowers such as jasmine, rose, and rajnigandha (tuberose).”

Madurai Talkies

Varisha P, a marketing consultant from Bengaluru, recently bought perfume oil from Call of the Valley, a Mumbai-based beauty brand founded in 2019 by Jean-Christophe Bonnafous. Bonnafous, who splits his time between Puducherry and Mumbai, created the brand to reconnect city dwellers with nature through the sensory experience of wearing precious oils and fragrances. Varisha says she had never tried this type of fragrance before, which is applied directly to the skin with a roll-on applicator, but was pleasantly surprised by its mild scent, as she prefers fragrances that are not overwhelming. “I purchased the Vetiver roll-on because it reminded me of a fragrance my mother, who passed away in 2018, would wear. The notes of the perfume sort of reflect my mother’s personality, which was a beautiful contrast of being cool and warm,” says Varisha.

Manan believes that since nostalgia is heavily linked to emotions and personal memories, brands should be mindful not to use it as a marketing tool purely to convert new consumers.

The fragrance industry in India is evolving, emphasising collaboration, emotional connections with consumers, and a deep understanding of fragrance context and purpose. Beyond just preserving memories, fragrance brands now serve as developers who mediate between clients and perfumers. Storytelling and forging emotional bonds are pivotal. It is crucial to identify the emotional associations consumers have with fragrances, as reactions to perfumes can often reflect deeper personal sentiments.