Absolute non scents: fragrances to suit even the most ardent perfume hater

Stuck in a floral fug? Make a fresh start and clean up your fragrance with the new neutral perfumes
Suggestions: several scents for those who find perfume a bit of a headache
Emma McCarthy5 March 2015

Perfume has the power to invoke powerful emotions. Love. Lust. Nausea … If you've ever been knocked out by the stench of rose petals on a crowded Tube or found yourself fighting back a coughing fit when your desk neighbour starts spritzing with abandon, then you’ll understand why, for some, perfume isn't a luxury but a headache.

But not all scents are created equal. And for every shudderingly sweet or migraine-inducing incarnation, there's a scent out there to suit even the most ardent perfume hater.

Christopher Brosius is proof of that. After developing a strong aversion to perfume when working as a New York cabbie in the Eighties, he endeavoured to offer an alternative - and CB I Hate Perfume was born.

Non scents - in pictures

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Stocked in a small shop in Brooklyn - and a few eagle-eyed boutiques such as Boxpark's BeautyMART - Brosius's philosophy is that fragrance should be genderless, unimposing and never synthetic.

His extensive inventory of single-note scents are ideal for those who find the complex cocktails of commercial scents unappealing. Individual and unusual accords such as Wet Pavement London and Crushed Fig Leaf sit alongside rare flower absolutes which, just like a fine wine, vary from harvest to harvest.

While these often come with hefty price tags to reflect the cost of the ingredients, his more affordable collection of Ready To Wear scents (from £60) are blended in water - not alcohol like most perfumes - and conjure specific times or places. Current bestsellers include In The Library (first edition novels, leather and a hint of wood polish) and At The Beach 1966 (wet sand, seashell and driftwood).

Brosius was also the original founder of The Library of Fragrance - a brand dedicated to bottling everyday scents. Launched in 1996 with just three scents - Dirt, Grass and Tomato - the offering now includes more than 300 fragrances at just £15 a pop, from the best-selling Baby Powder, Pure Soap and Clean Skin through to the more unusual Thunderstorm, Gin & Tonic and Play-Doh.

Simplicity, it seems, is key to creating ideal anti-scents. Fresh, light and airy notes tend to be crowd-pleasers among floral-phobes. US fragrance brand CLEAN provides a host of naturally pure and hypoallergenic scents, from its original soap-inspired Clean EDP (£59) to Fresh Laundry, Warm Cotton and Rain, while Fresh Life EDP (£70) from Boston-based brand Fresh combines vanilla grass, warm orange and cucumber for a crisp and refreshing scent.

Lush green scents are also a popular non-populist choice. Decou Vert by Italian perfumer Laboratorio Olfattivo (£90), available at East Dulwich's Roullier White, features succulent magnolia leaves for a sparkling watery scent like no other, while L'eau de Phaedon (£69) is a firm favourite among non-fragrance wearers thanks to its allergen-free formula and aquatic notes of agave leaves and aloe vera.

Still not convinced? Try a fragrance which complements your skin's natural scent. "If someone is seeking a subtle, unobtrusive scent I would suggest a composition containing amber, musk or cedar notes to give a clean, sensual, warm skin-like aroma," advises Oksana Polyakova, owner of Shoreditch's Bloom Perfumery.

"Think of this style of scent as enhancing yourself and your appeal." She recommends Phaedon's Cendres de Thé (£69) for "a scent that you wear, rather than it wearing you", while the subtle masculine notes in Olfactive Studio's Autoportrait (£110) amplifies the scent of warm skin.

Silver Musk by Nasomatto (£118) at Roullier White is another that casts aside the standard florals, forests or tropical breezes in favour of the soft natural scent of your skin. Only better.

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