“Freshness is one of the key elements for a fragrance; it should uplift as much as giving you the energy to feel invigorated and strong.”
- Geza Schoen.
The aroma-molecule Iso E Super is the very reason you’re reading this piece, thanks to Escentric Molecules co-founder Geza Schoen’s fascination with it that started some 20 years ago. It’s subtle, woody and remarkably irresistible. It’s also, at times, non-existent. It comes. Then it goes. Then it washes over you in an instant, before it's gone in the next. Despite what you may think, it’s not magic, it’s science, disguised as a radical disappearing act that taunts its wearer throughout the day. This coming-and-going-but-never-fully-leaving effect dominates all of Molecule + scents of the brand, and of course, its first and most ubiquitous, Molecule 01. But when it comes to Cologne One, Escentric Molecules’ most recent addition, there’s something slightly askew. Subtlety prevails, but so does its peppy freshness, so much so that it’s at the heart of every whiff.
Unlike Molecule 01, Cologne One is different. Not so different that it doesn’t rely on Iso E Super’s woody witchcraft power (indeed, this is partly what helps Cologne One last dawn till dusk), but different enough so that, unlike with traditional scents, where a new kind of relationship forms with its wearer as the hours pass, this one stays absolute, forming a freshness loop over time. Such uniformity is anything but the norm. When scent is first applied to skin, it’s just that, scent. No chemical reaction, no pheromone-induced musk. Over the course of hours, this changes as relevant notes cling to the wearer’s skin, interacting with their own biological makeup. Seldom does a scent remain as crisp as the steel atomiser it spritzes from, creating an ever-evolving freshness loop that lasts from top to middle and all the way to the dry down.
Freshness, by its very definition, should be fleeting. It’s something that pops before fading to reveal other distinctions. It’s never the smell itself because the moment you’ve pinpointed it, it’s already subsided. And yet, when it comes to Cologne One, the idea of freshness never really leaves. There’s no such thing as ‘re-encountering’ the scent throughout the day because there is little to re-encounter in the usual sense. Moments of joy never become memories because in Cologne One, they are ever-present. Memory aside, Cologne One also refutes the entire history of cologne, taking stereotypical tropes long associated with men (we’re all too familiar with the endless number of aquatic-based colognes that populate store shelves) and redefining cologne as unisex. Florals for women? Escentric Molecules is right to think that’s not very groundbreaking, no matter the season.
This freshness, beholden to the crispness of Juniper and faint cucumber fizz, isn’t the only thing that’s constant; so is the cologne’s pungency, one that can only be associated with a freshly poured glass of gin (ready to match that first nerve-soothing sip), and the references refuse to stop there. Citrus exists in abundance, yes, but just like a gin and tonic, gin and lemonade (or whatever your Saturday night gin-infused drink of choice is), Cologne One’s sky-blue mint-layered packaging echoes the beverage’s patent effervescence and youthful optimism that a first sip brings.
Fragrances have long been gendered. They ask us to follow our noses in the hope of recurring memories that flood our waking selves throughout the day. They also fade as time passes, just like real memories. It’s a good thing, then, that nothing about Cologne One screams ‘perfume’ as you may know it. Longing is replaced by a constant reminder of freshness that bubbles on the wearer's skin throughout the day.
This sense of bubbling, endless movement is echoed in Josie Hall’s campaign imagery, where shifting circles and looping forms suggest both visual rhythm and the effervescence of a freshly poured glass of gin and tonic.
Are those bubbles just soda, or is this the freshness loop caught in action, bubbling up to the surface long after the wearer’s first spray? It’s impossible to tell, especially when the scent carries the same kind of euphoria as an ice-cold glass of gin on an early summer’s evening.
