Meet the new breed of Irish perfumers making bespoke, one off fragrances

Forget celebrity fragrances. These days women want bespoke, one off fragrances — enter the new breed of Irish perfumers, making scents that set their wearers apart, says Carolyn Moore

Last summer, in Granada, an instantly recognisable smell filled my nostrils as I walked past a building that turned out to be a perfumery. Like a cartoon character floating on air, I was drawn inside, my nose trailing the scent that had stopped me in my tracks.

The smell was storax, and though I couldn’t have named it, I knew straight away it was the base note of my beloved Chaos, a Donna Karan perfume that was gifted to me one Christmas and discontinued soon after. A complex, prickly, almost medicinal concoction, I’d spent years searching for something similar, but never found anything like it.