The Best Picks From Hispanic-Founded Fragrance Brands
Quiero volver a sudamerica feat. Eauso Vert, DedCool, Nopalera, and more!
Holis amiges! En este punto de mi vida, mi español es un poquito rotito despues de dos anos afuera de sudamerica, entonces este blog post estaria en ingles, disculpame. Hispanic heritage month ended this week on October 15th, and for the past few weeks I’ve been working on tracking down fragrance-oriented products from fine perfumes to hair mists to soaps from brands founded by Hispanic entrepreneurs and perfumers. The two years I spent in Argentina and the fact that I now speak Spanish because of them are some of the most inspiring aspects of my life and to see brands like those below using ingredients and concepts specific to their experiences of their differing cultures makes me eager to go back south ASAP (ideally to Mexico this time). I can only hope that more and more Hispanic and Latine perfumers will flourish in the coming years, but as of now, here is my too-short roster!
Note: I also know of Xinū and House of Bō, but both were way too expensive for me to try, not available for sampling at any local joints, and declined my requests for samples, so I can only hope to come across them some day soon (and am interested in hearing your experiences of the brands, of you have any)!
If you like these posts, please let me know by liking and commenting here or on Esque’s Instagram, subbing to the Esque Substack (this) for free, getting bonus posts for five bucks a month, or for ZERO DOLLARS, share (tag me if on IG so I can see and thank you)! If you share with three friends (or enemies), you’ll automatically get a free month’s subscription to Esque’s paywalled posts. If you buy anything from an Esque link, there’s a chance I’ll earn a percentage commission at no cost to you—if you end up inspired by anything below, please send over a photo of your new togs by replying to this email and I’ll comp you a month of Esque!
If you cannot afford the $5/month, I totally understand—respond to any of my email sends and I will set you up with a $1.50 subscription or comp you, whatever you need. Esque is for everyone!
Thank you SO MUCH for your support, whatever you are able and willing to do to help is extremely valuable to me and I’m honored to be a small part of your life on the web.
Eauso Vert
Eauso Vert was founded by Tanya Gonzalez and Faye Harris and features fragrances inspired by nocturnal florals, cooking spices, and specific locations in South America. Every time I smell the line in stores, I am taken by two fragrances out of the line: Vanilla Embers and Sintra, both of which are contained in the brand’s Discovery Set (which I find to be a bit overpriced, so I recommend smelling in person or trading samples with a friend).
One of the best vanilla fragrances I’ve ever smelled, Vanilla Embers spikes its sweetness with cardamom and turmeric, creating a scent that smells like the back corner of a perfectly-curated spice cabinet.
I’m a huge orris-head (orris is the buttery, creamy root of the Iris flower), and combining it with white florals like, in this case, ylang-ylang, make for a heady-but-light, incredibly seductive skin scent that I wish I had a bottle of.
DedCool
DedCool, founded by first generation Chilean-American Carina Chaz, was kind enough to supply me with a discovery set, its new Mochi Milk EDP, and a bottle of body lotion in the scent Taunt (which I have already half-emptied).
The Mochi Milk EDP feels like dusting yourself with powdered sugar or the powder that coats a peach-flavored marshmallow. It’s dry, starchy but not super glutinous like D’Annam’s Strawberry Mochi, and slightly tinged with a processed impression of stone fruit, like a freeze-dried peach slice. It’s easy to wear, layers great with deeper vanillas and more syrupy gourmands, and doesn’t feel cloying in heat. I’d say this is an ideal spring/summer scent that delivers the invigorating sweetness of a good gourmand minus any heaviness, though I do think this means that it wouldn’t bode as well during fall or winter, when its diaphanous powderiness might not provide the buffer layer I look for in a cold-weather scent.
This body lotion surprised me as my favorite item I tried—like Mochi Milk, this scent is dry, but it has a bit of a tang from bergamot and a warmth from amber that invigorate and relax in turn, making this a scent I would reach for in colder weather. I saw someone describe this as “what a cool babysitter in the ‘90s would have worn” and I concur—it’s not revolutionizing the lotion game, but it’s nostalgic without feeling dated or boring.
I would definitely recommend trying the Discovery set before committing to a DedCool scent (not least because you’ll get a 20% off coupon toward a full-size fragrance), because from the notes, I didn’t think I’d love Sunlit Blooms, but it ended up being my favorite out of the EDPs on offer—a strange, nostalgic-but-contemporary sweetness that you don’t usually find in florals emanates from under a layer of greenery. The “Milks” didn’t do much for me, though I can see why people who aren’t into perfume as a creative exercise would like them, and as I mentioned above, I really enjoyed Taunt.
Ceremonia
This brand was founded by Babba Rivera, whose father was a hairdresser in Chile, and is focused on not just the science and clean beauty side of hair care, but its ritualistic components and sacred nature as indicated by the label’s name. I really want to try Perfume de la Tierra, a gingery jasmine scent that sounds intoxicating, but I was only able to test out Ceremonia’s signature Perfume Mist de Guava, which was generously sent to me.
For a relatively (to the other scents on this list) low price, the presentation of this hair and body mist is gorgeous: a hefty wooden cap adorns the glistening pink bottle like a crown. The mist itself is pretty standard Bath and Body Works-style fare: a tart, slightly sweet, slightly soapy scent that fades into a light fruitiness to compliment without overshadowing any other hair products you might use. It smells like the shampoo you’d use as a child visiting your cool older cousin’s house that you’d immediately covet upon returning to your Head and Shoulders. I wouldn’t purchase this myself, but it would be a lovely gift to a teenager transitioning from mall scents into something more higher end, and the brand’s commitment to radical transparency in regard to its ingredients and processes is a relief compared to the vast majority of American beauty lines.
Frassaï
Frassaï is the brand that I was most excited about trying as it is an Argentine house, founded in 2013 by Natalia Outeda, but unfortunately I was underwhelmed by the fragrances. Nothing from the lineup moved me or even made me take note on my Parfumo account.
The pampas are a vast grassland region that encompass much of Argentina and inspired some of my favorite authors like Cesar Aira, who wrote An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, which includes surreal accounts of the specific majesty of this setting, but this fragrance didn’t stir me like the book (a short, evocative read for anyone who can’t seem to swallow a full-length novel at the moment!) did. Vetiver can either completely seduce me or give me a headache, but this fragrance does neither: it has no surface tension, nothing that vibrates or feels like it could pop at any second, no secret, no punch line. These fragrances are perfectly pleasant, but that’s not what entreats me to spend money (especially this much) on a full bottle.
I truly hope more Argentine fragrance lines pop up soon (or come to my attention, as it’s more than likely I am missing something now that I’ve been back in the US for a few years), or that Frassaï comes out with some scents that feel more connected to the complicated landscapes, both natural and political, of the country.
Arquiste
Founded by David Beckham lookalike (before DB fucked up his face with filler, like, last week lol) Carlos Huber (I mention DB just to say this guy is so hot it scared me when I opened the brand’s “About” page lol), who was born in Mexico City, Arquiste is one of the most well-known brands on this list, famous for its site-specific scents that promise to be transportative experiences. My favorites I’ve smelled over the past few years are Indigo Smoke and Sydney Rock Pool:
The story behind this scent involves Wuyi Mountain monks burning tea leaves during an attack on their crops, apparently the origin of Lapsang Souchong tea, one of my favorite beverages on this earth. The dense smokiness in this perfume is perforated by bergamot, apricot, and pine, so it doesn’t feel too heavy or intense.
Sweetly aquatic and subtly mineralic, Sydney Rock Pool is a summer-defining scent that encapsulates a beach experience from coconutty sunscreen to driftwood to seaweed. Buoyed by jasmine and narcissus blossoms, it’s sweet, salty, and… is there a fragrance equivalent to umami?
Nopalera
Nopalera was founded by Mexican-American Sandra Velasquez and is oriented around the powers of the Nopal cactus, which is a moisturizing and nourishing component of their soaps, scrubs, and oils, and its fragrances borrow from Mexican ritual ingredients like Copal and rose clay.
I tried each of the brand’s three Eau de Parfums, and Dulce de Cuerpo was my favorite, with a base of Copal, vanilla, and incense crowned by a “sweet earth” accord. It was a close second to Eauso Vert’s vanilla embers for my favorite vanilla on this list and has really impressive longevity for its very reasonable price (again, “reasonable” compared to other EDPs—I know the price metrics of the fragrance world can seem unfathomable, but anything $100 or under for a 50mL bottle is pretty great when compared to the prices of most lines).
I really want to try this exfoliating scrub packed with Shea butter, hibiscus, and cactus fibers—I’ve been on a huge body scrub kick recently and the Trader Joe’s pumpkin scrub, though it smells great, probably contains ingredients I would not want traversing my butt crack, so if I ever have the chance to upgrade, this would be my pick. The color is so gorgeous, too, and reading the ingredients it seems to be from nature?
Thanks for dipping your toe into these fragrance brands with me, and please feel free to leave a comment if I missed any of your favorites. Creo que necesito visitar a mas paises en sudamerica para explorar las marcas nuevas, entonces si quieres ayudarme encontrar un oportunidad para viajar, por favor dame un mensaje y disculpa si mi español es demasiado horrible para entender haha no use un traductor…
Ciao!
<3 ESK
Gas.
Indigo Smoke sounds amazing!