Andrew Jankowski
Portland’s scents are among the world’s finest and freshest. Because of the doughnut chain next door, my neighborhood smells like fresh rising dough, confectioners’ icing, and fruit fillings on its best days, shifting savory at night thanks to a score of breweries and coffee roasters. The neighborhood’s base notes shift seasonally, now emitting petrichor, dried leaves and windy evergreen. If I were blending a fragrance for downtown Portland, I’d layer notes of ivy, river water, florists, global fresh-cooked food, concrete and gasoline (yes, gasoline perfume exists).
Perfume is self-expressive, making a strong first impression and leaving a lasting personal imprint. Ingredients aren’t bound to gender. Some men love wearing florals and fruits, some women love wearing woods and spices, and some people love mixing and matching existing scents into alchemical calling cards. As long as you don’t apply them like you’re fumigating a middle school bathroom, there are barely any rules to wearing perfume.
Some Portland perfumers think of fragrance as an art practice, some consider it medicinal, while others consider their work spiritual. Some have cultivated communities around their potions, while others compete with beauty industry behemoths, standing out from the department store miasma.
Fumerie Perfumerie has a lock on niche fragrances like Escentric Molecules and the cinematic Moth and Rabbit line. The Perfume House has supplied Portland with luxury European labels since 1985. Bellini’s Skin and Parfumerie followed up with a competitive selection in 1993. Bodegas and cultural grocery stores like Barbur Boulevard’s Ares Halal Market can carry Indian, African and Middle Eastern blends. Nearly every boutique in town carries TokyoMilk. But we followed the sillage trail of more than two dozen Portland-made perfumes, and found people making their own way in a tradition-focused industry, with surprisingly affordable entry points—whether you’re seeking a holiday present for a loved one, or a gift for yourself.
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