Every Aesop Fragrance, Ranked by Me, a Fragrance Obsessive

You might know the brand Aesop for their cult-favorite hand soap (and yes, if you didn’t know soap could be something to write home about Aesop’s Resurrection Aromatique Hand Wash exceeds every expectation). If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, however, Aesop is a Melbourne-based brand that’s all about smart, thoroughly researched products that are extremely high quality. 

Take their fragrances, for example. Each Aesop fragrance is carefully curated using interesting and unique ingredients. Their scents range from floral to herbacious, using both lab-made and herbacious ingredients for the longest-lasting scents possible. Aesop fragrances are totally singular, and that’s what makes them such a beauty editor favorite. Keep reading for the best Aesop fragrances out there. 

Key notes: Black Pepper, Frankincense, Sandalwood. Frankincense helps evoke a sense of calm, making it an ideal note in a fragrance. This spicy, woodsy scent is downright addictive. 

Key notes: citrus, basil grand vert. Tacit is a fragrance better experienced than described, but I’ll do my best. It’s citrusy, but a heaping amount of basil grand vert (a particularly fragrant variety of basil) gives it an herbacious edge. 

Key notes: rose, bergamot, shiso, pink pepper, ylang ylang, guaiac wood, jasmine, sandalwood, valerian grass, patchouli, myrrh and musk. Aesop isn’t really known for floral fragrances—this is their first one. In a truly unique twist, this scent takes you through the life cycle of a rose, while green and woodsy undertones keep it interesting. 

Key notes: wood, spice, fresh florals, animalistic. How often do you see “animalistic” in perfume notes? In this perfume, a slight animalistic quality adds a raw edge that makes it just as colorful and exciting as Marrakech, the city it’s inspired by. 

Key notes: herbs, spice. In case it’s not obvious, the thing Aesop does best is create fragrances that are hard to nail down. Karst is a perfect example of that—it smells kind of like a brisk day on the seaside, with mineral, metallic, and herbaceous notes swirling in the air. 

Key notes: galbanum, iris, yuzu. This perfume is supposed to represent an urban wasteland being overtaken by greenery. Galbanum, a medicinal plant with a woodsy and balsamic scent, helps achieve this. 

Key notes: labadanum, ambrette, styrax. Thanks to labadanum, ambrette, and styrax, this fragrance’s key notes, miraceti is able to smell balsamic, ambery, woodsy, and animalic all at once. 

Next, My 2023 Resolution Is to Wear More Interesting Perfumes—These Will Be Standouts