We walked in expecting to see organic cotton clothes, but were surprised to smell a universe of alternative fragrances you won’t find at La Labo. There is a La Labo in Berlin. But we suggest you head to the hipper part of town, to Kreutzberg and stop at Voo. Not an easy price point on anything there –– Voo shirts for $800 my daughter noticed, but for a worthwhile $250 you can have a non-commercial scent that isn’t exactly bespoke, but pretty close to it. We’ve loved using natural perfumes like Ayala Moriel, but they tend to wear off quickly.

The concept shop carries clothing, a cafe, ceramics that look they fell off a flea market truck and were left behind (the kind we like best) but we couldn’t have known that Voo would be selling the smells of your autobiography. Welcome to Berlin! Voo’s selection offers something between sustainable and a commercial option although we can’t vouch for the ingredients in each bottle. A scent in their showroom called Chinese Tobacco caught our eye and nose.

Since the wall came down between East and West, Berlin has been a city of soft chaos and graffiti, attracting misfits from all over the world. The Voo perfumes, found in an alley by Green Fuzz and a great wool shop on Oranienstrasse feel like emotional codes. Here are some of the brands that are curated to be far from mainstream perfumes and scents sponsored by big money and full of artificial enhancements.

Ephemeral Dyadic – a range of perfumes made in Turkey and for those who walk home alone at night by choice. Ephemeral Dyadic is a perfume project founded in 2023 by artist Sinan Saul in a small art studio in Istanbul’s industrial district. The name ‘Ephemeral’ means ‘temporary’, while ‘Dyadic’ stands for ‘the relationship between two subjects’. Drawing inspiration from the concept that scents are fleeting but emotions are eternal, each fragrance creates a unique bond between the wearer and memory.

• Dark Dreams — Smells like a club bathroom mirror at 3:47 AM, where you meet your own eyes and briefly believe you could start over.

• Ozymandias — All the fallen empires of your past relationships bottled with quiet dignity.

• Bodhi & Utah — Desert sage drifting through urban glass — a spiritual prank.

Notes de Bas de Paje is a French parfumerie d’auteur — less a fragrance brand and more a keeper of personal archives. Each extrait de parfum is treated like a fragment of memory, a page torn from a life story, meant to be worn close and shared with no one unless invited. Crafted in small volumes, deeply intimate, Notes de Bas de Paje makes perfume for people who treat scent as narrative, not accessory.

The niche perfume house founded in 2023 by Alice Gensse and Pierre‑Jr Menana. The name plays on the French term for footnote, note de bas de page. Committed to ethical, gender-neutral, and fully French production, the brand approaches fragrance as a literary gesture. Each scent is a subtle, personal, and meaningful sensory footnote that tells a story.

Some of their scents:

• Towédé — Amber fruit drying in the sun, violet smoke rising like memory.

• Olatua — Saltwater soul retrieval.

• Prolégomènes — Smells like the unfinished introduction to a revolution.

19-69: Founded by Swedish artist and product developer Johan Bergelin, 19-69 takes its name from 1969, a year marked by Woodstock, the Stonewall riots, the moon landing, radical art movements, and the death of the Summer of Love. But we didn’t smell patchouli. Bergelin treats perfume like a cinematic road trip — each scent born from a place where youth culture collided with counterculture, where something ended and something more dangerous began.

Influenced by Helmut Newton flash photography, biker films, cheap motel carpets, and the romantic dirt of subculture, the brand doesn’t decorate life — it documents it. These aren’t polite fragrances; they smell like movement, migration, rebellion, and sweat drying in the sun on unfamiliar skin.

Fragrances:

• MIAMI BLUE — Chlorine, sweat, careless decisions.

• Chinese Tobacco — The scent of a hidden backroom where someone rolls a cigarette with ritual precision. Tobacco leaf, tea smoke, and the holy pause between inhale and exhale. Maybe it was your dad’s wine cigar in the 70s. Be transported in this scent of a time machine that can take you back and transport you into the future.

::Voo 

The post Shop at the Voo temple in Berlin appeared first on Green Prophet.

In a fragrance market awash with synthetic blends and mass production, Le Labo stands apart like a whisper of nature in a noisy world. Known for its cult-like following and unapologetically minimalist aesthetic, this New York-born perfume house has garnered global acclaim not only for its handcrafted scents but also for its commitment to sustainability, transparency, and ethical luxury.

Related: natural, green perfume by Ayelet Moriel

Natural Ingredients and Small-Batch Perfumery

At the heart of Le Labo’s ethos is a strong preference for natural, high-quality ingredients. While not every component is 100% natural—certain molecules must be synthesized to remain cruelty-free or allergen-safe—the brand is transparent about sourcing and formulation. Le Labo’s fragrances are vegan, cruelty-free, and free from parabens, preservatives, and artificial colorants. Their iconic labels are printed on recycled paper, and many of their bottles are refillable, with in-store refill stations offered in several global locations to reduce waste.

Each scent is freshly hand-blended and labeled at the moment of purchase—offering a small-batch, artisanal experience more akin to fine dining than factory fragrance. This model not only ensures freshness but also avoids the emissions and inefficiencies of large-scale warehousing.

Le Labo’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond what’s in the bottle. The brand uses recycled packaging, glass instead of plastic, and minimal outer packaging to reduce environmental impact. Even their candles are made with soy wax and cotton wicks, and their shampoo and body products come in plant-based, refillable bottles.

Their studios, which double as retail spaces, are designed with natural, raw materials like reclaimed wood and industrial metal—encouraging a slower, more conscious retail experience that echoes their “slow perfumery” philosophy.

City Exclusives: A Scented Travelogue with a Conscience

One of Le Labo’s most beloved—and elusive—projects is the City Exclusives collection. Typically only available in their city of origin, these scents are like bottled postcards, each inspired by the energy, culture, and olfactory identity of a global destination.

For a limited time every year—this time starting August 1—these fragrances go on a world tour, available in 1.5 ml discovery sizes and full bottles come September. It’s a rare chance to smell Tokyo’s Gaiac 10, Paris’s Vanille 44, or Dubai’s Cuir 28, even if you’re thousands of miles away.

This year’s exciting addition? OSMANTHUS 19, the new Kyoto exclusive—bringing the soft floral sweetness of osmanthus flowers into the fold.

Here’s the full travel-worthy list of scents:

• OSMANTHUS 19 (Kyoto)

• CORIANDRE 39 (Mexico City)

• MYRRHE 55 (Shanghai)

• CEDRAT 37 (Berlin)

• CITRON 28 (Seoul)

• TABAC 28 (Miami)

• BIGARADE 18 (Hong Kong)

• MOUSSE DE CHENE 30 (Amsterdam)

• ALDEHYDE 44 (Dallas)

• LIMETTE 37 (San Francisco)

• CUIR 28 (Dubai)

• TUBEREUSE 40 (New York)

• BAIE ROSE 26 (Chicago)

• POIVRE 23 (London)

• MUSC 25 (Los Angeles)

• GAIAC 10 (Tokyo)

• VANILLE 44 (Paris)

• BENJOIN 19 (Moscow)

This global collection is a creative reminder of the power of place and memory in fragrance—and an innovative approach to sustainability through limited releases, refillability, and responsible luxury.

A Quiet Revolution in Beauty

While many luxury brands are only now waking up to environmental responsibility, Le Labo has been whispering it from the beginning. From ingredient integrity and minimalist packaging to refill stations and city-inspired storytelling, Le Labo proves that sustainability doesn’t have to shout—it can smell like osmanthus, myrrh, or a hint of city smoke.

In a world oversaturated with fast beauty, Le Labo offers something different: a slow, mindful ritual that respects people, place, and planet. That’s why it’s more than perfume. It’s philosophy. In a bottle.

—
For more, visit lelabofragrances.ca and follow the City Exclusives journey.

The post Le Labo: Bottling the Soul of Cities, with a Sustainable Touch appeared first on Green Prophet.

Unveiling the Scents of the Afterlife: Did Ancient Egyptian Mummies Smell Like the Gifts of the Three Wise Men?

Researchers are investigating whether the smell of an Egyptian mummy could enable them to discover what materials were used to preserve the body without disturbing it. They extracted air from the sarcophagi of nine mummies and asked expert smellers to rate the scents for contemporary odour qualities such as woodiness and sweetness. Woodsy and sweet with a hint of pistachio, was the answer.

They then analysed each air sample to identify volatile compounds responsible for certain smells. The team also hope their work can provide curators with a synthetic recreation of how mummies smell to make exhibits more engaging.

Researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana conducted the first-ever systematic analysis of the smells associated with mummified bodies. Using advanced technology, including an electronic ‘nose’ and trained human sniffers, they examined nine mummies displayed and stored at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum.

Related: Iran’s mummy shrunken salt heads

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, offer a new perspective on ancient embalming practices and how museums preserve these historical artifacts.

One researcher is developing the scent into a perfume, and is calling it the Scent of Eternity.

“The smell of mummified bodies has for years attracted significant interest from experts and the general public, but no combined chemical and perceptual scientific study has been conducted until now,” said Professor Matija Strlič, lead author of the study. “This ground-breaking research really helps us better plan conservation and understand the ancient embalming materials. It adds another layer of data to enrich the museum exhibition of mummified bodies.”

To identify the chemicals released by the mummies, the team used a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer. A panel of trained sniffers also evaluated the scents’ quality and intensity, allowing researchers to distinguish between odors originating from the original mummification process and those from modern conservation methods.

Dr. Cecilia Bembibre, a member of the research team, highlighted two significant aspects of the study: “First, new information was revealed by the smells, highlighting the importance of using our senses to understand the past. Secondly, while most of the studies on mummified bodies have taken place in European museums so far, here we worked closely with Egyptian colleagues to ensure their expertise and perceptual experience were represented, and we jointly developed an ethical and respectful approach to studying the mummified bodies.”

Related: meet the face of Pharaoh Thutmoses IV

One of the study’s key findings is the ancient Egyptians’ awareness of the link between scent and purity, particularly in the embalming of gods and pharaohs. The process involved oils, resins, and balms such as pine, cedar, myrrh, and frankincense, which still emit pleasant aromas after 5,000 years.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, Psalm 45 offers a clue to how the ancients felt about fragrance: “All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia”).

In Psalm 141, prayers are likened to incense. The sense of smell is one of the oldest in animal evolution. And, even if it is not the prime sense for humans, it remains one of great potency.

Interestingly, the presence of myrrh and frankincense has led some researchers to speculate about a historical connection to the gifts brought by the Three Wise Men to the newborn Jesus, as described in the Christian tradition. These valuable resins, known for their spiritual and preservative properties, were highly prized in the ancient world and were commonly used in religious rituals and burial practices. Is there a link to the materials used in mummification or at the Jewish Temple as offerings? 

Looking ahead, the research team aims to create “smellscapes” – recreations of the scents of ancient mummified bodies – to enhance museum exhibitions. This innovative approach could allow visitors to experience history in a new, immersive way, not only enriching our understanding of the past but also transforming how we engage with it.

The post Why do mummies smell so sweet? appeared first on Green Prophet.