Update Your Scent With These Vibrant New Perfumes for Women and Men

It’s spring, which means the air is filled with the scent of jasmine, daffodils, gardenias, magnolias and other delightful flowers. Channel that energy with these just-launched perfumes from Australia and abroad. Here are our favourites.

Escentric Molecules’ Molecule 01 & Mandarin
If you delight in the scent of a freshly peeled mandarin – and who doesn’t? – you will absolutely crush on Escentric Molecules’s gloriously zesty Mandarin. In fact, we reckon you’ll find it hard not to douse yourself in it. Not only is this refreshingly citrusy perfume a good way to add a thwack of spring to your life, there’s a great story behind the brand, too. Escentric Molecules’ first scent, Molecule 01, was designed to mix with your pheromones to generate a totally bespoke fragrance for each wearer. It has one ingredient, Iso E Super, a synthetic fragrance molecule that is generally used as a supporting scent alongside other aromas. Lizzo is a fan, saying, “The scent is insane. The idea is that it grabs your pheromones and your body’s oils. It smells really good on me, not to toot my own horn. Toot toot!”

Molecule 01 & Patchouli by Escentric Molecules
There’s another perfume by Escentric Molecules that’s just out in Oz, Molecule 01 & Patchouli. It’s a bit more woody as it includes cedarwood and naturally extracted patchouli.

Tarkine by Váhy
Melbourne-born premium fragrance brand Váhy has dropped a new scent: Tarkine. It’s got Australian rainforest vibes, with a hint of vanilla, nutmeg, cedarwood, patchouli and vetiver. Váhy launched in 2020 and is a low-tox, cruelty-free, fully transparent brand (ie it lists all ingredients used) that avoids questionable and potentially harmful ingredients found in some commercial fragrances.

Eidesis by Aesop
This beloved Aussie brand does deeply earthy, nuanced scents, and the latest, Eidesis, is not dissimilar. The unisex scent is woody, spicy and sensual – think notes of black pepper, frankincense, cumin and cedar. It’s created with the help of Barnabé Fillion, who has developed other scents for the brand, including the mesmerising Marrakech (he’s also worked with Paul Smith and Le Labo, and has his own brand, Arpa).

Purple Suede by Goldfield & Banks
The gender-neutral scents by Goldfield & Banks attempt to capture quintessentially Australian smells – such as taking a Pacific coastal walk on a summer’s day or visiting Bruny Island or Kakadu National Park. Its latest, Purple Suede, is a take on Tasmania’s aromatic lavender fields . If you think lavender equals nanna vibes, don’t – it’s a contemporary interpretation of one of the world’s best scented plants, with a hit of leather and coriander seeds in there too. This new bottle is part of its Botanical Series, which champions world-class Aussie-grown materials.

Rose Tonnerre by Frédéric Malle’s Editions de Parfums
The saying “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is somewhat apt for this one. Perfume “publisher” Frédéric Malle’s Editions de Parfums has relaunched its classic rose fragrance Une Rose with a new name, Rose Tonnerre. And like Goldfield & Banks, it’s flipped the old-school scent script on its head – meaning this isn’t the daggy rose perfume of a different time. This is a bottle of earthy dark rose with a touch of truffle and patchouli.

Sweet Do Nothing by DS & Durga
DS & Durga was founded by Brooklyn-based husband-and-wife team David Seth Moltz (DS) and Kavi Ahuja Moltz (Durga), and their latest fragrance is inspired by Texas. That might seem like a crazily big concept, but it’s more about capturing that relaxed desert lifestyle of sitting on the porch and watching the day go by – hence the name Sweet Do Nothing. The unisex fragrance is simultaneously woody, thanks to the hints of Texas cedars, and floral, with a hit of orange blossom and fig. There’s also a little desert pepper in there.

Aroma Jungle by Costa Brazil
We go from the desert to the jungle with this fresh yet spicy unisex fragrance, Aroma Jungle. The brand is by Brazilian-born Francisco Costa, perfume whoses are heavily influenced by his trips to the Amazon. Pink pepper, grapefruit zest, nutmeg oil and myrrh take you deep into the lush green rainforest and relax you at the same time.

724 by Maison Francis Kurkdjian
There was a moment in 2021 when Baccarat Rouge 540 was the most desirable scent on social media. (Even now, Mecca, which exclusively stocks the label in Australia and New Zealand, tells us it can barely keep up with demand for the product.) Now the perfumer behind the buzzy Maison Francis Kurkdjian creation has launched a new fragrance: 724. It’s made with bergamot oil from Italy and jasmine from Egypt, and has hints of sandalwood and white musk, making it fresh with a slight floral note. Inspired by the world’s most vibrant cities, like Rome and Cairo, it’s named 724 because it’s meant to be worn 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Pause by Abel
Since launching her fragrance company, Abel, New Zealander Frances Shoemack has developed a fascination with creating what she calls “therapeutic perfumes” – scents that help people throughout their day, be it for sleep or big life moments like having a baby. Nurture, for example, has ginger to combat morning sickness, and blossom and rose for energy during weary moments of a pregnancy. The brand’s latest, Pause, is a response to Shoemack and French perfumer Dr Fanny Grau’s journeys of hormonal change, in particular during perimenopause (the period of hormonal change typically experienced by women in their late ’30s to late ’40s, prior to menopause). Rather than the negativity which they say is regular during this phase of life, they wanted to provide a sense of confidence and sophistication – so they took a vibrant bottle and filled it with a rich floral scent. It’s also got essential oils, which they say can help support sleep, reduce stress and promote tranquillity.

Dulce by By/Rosie Jane
1996 is the inspiration for this newbie by Aussie-born, LA-based Rosie Jane Johnston. That was the year the celebrity make-up artist moved to California, and she says it was a time when many of the mainstream perfumes were vanilla scented. That era reminds her of her first days in the state capital, and Dulce taps into her nostalgia (nostalgia seems to be a big guiding fashion trend these days). It’s free of parabens, sulfates, phthalates and phosphates, and comes in a recycled and recyclable packaging. It’s out September 28 via Sephora or the label’s website, and prices start from a very pleasing $28.