Every couple of years, a fragrance comes around that shakes up the beauty industry and goes on to become an icon of its time. Take CK One in the '90s with its aromatic, citrusy minimalism or Y2K's Dior J'adore, which was quite literally inspired by gold in liquid form (I still remember the campaign advert with Carmen Kass walking into a pool of gold—iconic behaviour). Since then, we've been spoilt for choice, from celebrity perfumes to niche fragrances and high-street scents to luxury perfumes.
But despite the sheer number of options on the fragrance market now, smelling unique actually proves difficult. With perfumes like Maison Francis Kukrdjian's Baccarat Rouge 540 (not to mention all of its imitators) going TikTok-viral overnight, finding a totally unique signature scent isn't as easy as you might think. Except, that is, for those who know about a little-known fragrance called Molecule 01 by Escentric Molecules.
Despite launching in 2006, this perfume has flown pretty much under the radar and was a bit of an "if you know, you know" scent amongst insiders. Its popularity has since become a beauty-industry phenomenon, and interestingly, it is based on just one single perfume note, Iso E Super, which smells a little bit different on everyone because it reacts with your skin's unique chemistry.
"I realised that the common denominator in all the fragrances I liked was that they contained a large dose of Iso E Super," says Escentric Molecules founder and perfumer Geza Schoen. "It is highly unusual. You can never get enough of it. One sniff and you want the whole bottle," he says. In fact, when Schoen first wore the fragrance out to a bar, people flocked to ask him what he was wearing. "The effect was the stuff of legend," he says.
What Does Molecule 01 Smell Like?
Although the scent smells different on everyone's skin, many report the perfume to have a clean, airy or woody scent. Some describe it as smelling like pencil shavings, cedar, musk or fresh laundry. It's the ultimate skin scent. It's fleeting and elusive in a mysterious way—you might not actually be able to smell it on yourself all the time (although many others will), only for it to resurface after a couple of hours and become noticeable to your nose again. Think of it as the olfactory equivalent of an aloof cat that disappears and turns up when you least expect it. It's not heavy or obtrusive in the way that you would be hit with it as soon as you walked into a room, but someone sitting next to you might be able to detect it. And because it's a subtle scent, it makes a great perfume for migraine sufferers.
Schoen describes Iso E Super as "less an aroma than an effect which lends an indefinable radiance to the wearer." This is because of the way Iso E Super slowly releases and reacts with olfactory receptors. Some people, however, can't smell it on themselves at all. "One of the mysteries of Molecule 01 is that some cannot smell the fragrance at all. This could be due to a few factors," says Schoen. "The only ingredient in Molecule 01 is the aroma-molecule Iso E Super. This is one of a group of fragrance materials, such as musk, that some people are highly sensitive to, whilst others find them hard to detect. Most people, however, detect these ingredients within a normal range of sensitivity," he says.
"It's possible that one may be hyposmic," says Schoen. "Hyposmia, which is partial 'smell-blindness', is somewhat common. Some people are hyposmic for one particular smell, such as musk, or Iso E Super. Additionally, regular users of Molecule 01 may become hyposmic to Iso E Super. In these circumstances we recommend customers take a break from the fragrance for one month," he says.
However, many still choose to wear the perfume, even if they can't smell it on themselves, because it draws attention from others. "The mystery surrounding Iso E Super adds to its allure," says Schoen. "Some people still wear the fragrance even if they cannot smell it themselves, as they find it to be a conversation starter for those who can smell the fragrance and find it infatuating and unique."
Editor Reviews of Escentric Molecules Molecule 01
"It takes me back to my early days of working in the fashion industry—it was the fragrance at that time, and I still can't resist the nostalgia and grown-up feeling it gives me today," says Who What Wear UK editor in chief Hannah Almassi. "My husband and I usually share a bottle, and it's still one of those fragrances that, despite being better known now, still generates so many compliments and smells different on us both."
"I feel like Molecule 01 was the Le Labo Santal 33 of its time—the olfactory signifier of a fashion person," says Who What Wear UK copy editor Georgia Seago. "As a young beauty journalist in London, I’d smell it so often from day to day that it just became really familiar. Even so, I still find it intoxicating and I still enjoy wearing it. I’ve had my bottle for years and the juice hasn’t spoilt at all. And now that Santal 33 exists, Molecule 01 smells unique again."
"I have only ever worn one perfume in my life, and that is Escentric Molecules 01," says Who What Wear UK managing editor Poppy Nash. "My mum had a bottle long before it was a thing, and every time I spray it it reminds me of her. Now, after almost 11 years of wearing it myself, I still get at least one compliment every day. It is woody, musky and ever so slightly sweet, but the beauty of the fragrance is that it smells different to everyone. I get a new bottle every Christmas (it lasts me exactly 12 months) and have a travel-size to take away with me. Call me sentimental, but I hope that one day my daughter will wear it too, so god forbid it ever gets discontinued!"
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