Notes from the house

Journal

A thin sheet of clear glass carrying a single branching crack lies on a concrete workbench beside a small dark dish of clear resin and a hand-sanding block, one raking light throwing the crack's refraction across the surface.
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The Bottle Is Made. Two Years, One Idea, and the Finishing We Kept for Ourselves.

2026-09-11 · 7 min read

After two years of design and trials, the parts of our bottle have come off the production line and are about to ship. Each one will then be...

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A bare forearm resting on dark concrete with the inner wrist turned upward, and a fine cloud of tiny droplets suspended in a shaft of light above it, caught the instant before they land.
2026-09-08 · 10 min read

Where to Apply Perfume, and How Many Sprays: What Actually Matters

Where to apply perfume, how many sprays to use, and why you should not rub your...

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A concrete desk lit from one side: on the left a machine-precise column of plain grey documents with razor-aligned edges, on the right a single sheet lying askew with a fountain pen across it and a small dish of raw resin fragments beside it.
2026-09-04 · 10 min read

What We Automate, What We Don't, and Why It Ends Up in the Bottle

Our bookkeeping, filing and regulatory calendar run on a schedule without us. The perfume does not....

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A row of six plain unlabelled glass flacons of the same squared design standing side by side on a concrete surface, each holding a liquid of a different depth of tone from almost clear to near-black.
2026-09-01 · 9 min read

What Is a Flanker in Perfumery? Why Your Favourite Perfume Has Six Versions

A flanker is a new perfume sold under an existing perfume's name. Intense, Elixir, Extrait are...

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One plain unlabelled glass perfume flacon nested in cream packing material inside an open corrugated shipping box, photographed from above on a concrete floor in warm directional light.
2026-08-28 · 9 min read

What It Takes to Legally Send a Bottle of Perfume

Perfume is a flammable liquid, so sending it is a licensed activity rather than a postage...

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Two plain unlabelled glass cylinders side by side on a concrete-grey surface in warm side light — the taller one almost full of clear colourless liquid, the other holding only a shallow layer of deep amber.
2026-08-25 · 10 min read

What Is Perfume Actually Made Of? Mostly Alcohol — Here's Why

Most of the liquid in a perfume bottle is not perfume — it is denatured alcohol....

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Two offcuts of plain corrugated board standing on edge on a concrete-grey surface, cut edges to camera so the wavy fluted layers show — one board noticeably thicker than the other.
2026-08-21 · 6 min read

We Chose Our Shipping Box by the Weight of Its Paper

Our outer shipping box came down to a choice between two sheets of board: 530 g/m²...

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Two identical plain unlabelled glass perfume flacons side by side on a concrete-grey ledge in warm side light, the liquid in one a shade paler than the other.
2026-08-18 · 10 min read

Why Do Perfumes Get Reformulated? The Real Reasons Your Favourite Smells Different

Perfumes change over time, and usually not because someone cheapened them. The four real reasons formulas...

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A thick unmarked rulebook, a closed notebook and a pencil beside a plain brown cardboard shipping box on a meeting-room table in low morning light — a classroom and a cargo box sharing one table.
2026-08-14 · 9 min read

We're Spending Two Days in a Classroom Before We Can Fly a Single Bottle of Perfume

Perfume is a flammable liquid, so flying it is a licensed activity. On 17–18 August our...

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Three plain glass vessels on a concrete-grey surface holding three products made from the same flower — a clear distilled oil, a thick waxy amber concrete and a dark viscous absolute — with white petals scattered in front.
2026-08-11 · 10 min read

What Is an Absolute in Perfumery? Absolutes, Essential Oils and Concretes Explained

An absolute is not a stronger essential oil — it is made a different way. What...

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A small plain unlabelled glass bottle on a concrete-grey surface, with a very long blank strip of cream paper unspooling from its base and running out of the frame — the ingredient list that just got much longer.
2026-08-07 · 7 min read

Perfume Ingredient Lists in Europe Just Got Much Longer. Here's What Actually Changed.

From 31 July 2026, new EU cosmetics must name around 80 fragrance allergens instead of 26....

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Three separate drops of liquid — amber, dusty rose and clear — meeting in one shallow glass dish on a concrete-grey surface, their boundaries visibly dissolving into a single pool: the moment several materials become one accord.
2026-08-04 · 7 min read

What Is an Accord in Perfumery? (And How It Differs From a Note)

An accord is several materials blended until they smell like one thing — perfume's version of...

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A single unlabelled clear-glass perfume bottle resting intact in kraft packing paper inside an opened shipping box on a concrete-grey surface — a test parcel that arrived whole.
2026-07-31 · 5 min read

We Sent Our First Bottles Across a Border. Here's What Arrived.

Before we ship to a single customer, we wanted proof a real bottle survives the journey....

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A few pieces of dark, resin-streaked agarwood — oud — resting in warm low light on a concrete-grey surface, the fragrant resinous heartwood a wounded Aquilaria tree produces.
2026-07-28 · 8 min read

What Is Oud? The 'Liquid Gold' of Perfumery, Explained

What is oud? The resinous heartwood of a wounded tree, one of the most expensive raw...

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A flat-lay of unassembled packaging materials — an unfolded kraft carton, a sheet of cream tissue paper, a blank card and a small round paper seal — laid out on a concrete-grey surface as if being planned.
2026-07-24 · 5 min read

Designing the Box Before the Bottle

For an online-only perfume house, the box is the first thing you touch. Here's how we're...

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Dried lavender stems and a halved citrus fruit on a warm concrete-grey surface under strong midsummer sunlight, casting long shadows — how heat lifts a fragrance off the skin.
2026-07-21 · 8 min read

Why Does Perfume Smell Stronger in Summer?

Why does perfume smell stronger in summer? The real science of heat, humidity and skin —...

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A plain unprinted kraft box and an unlabelled clear-glass bottle beside a magnifying glass on a concrete-grey surface — checking the small details on cosmetic packaging.
2026-07-17 · 7 min read

What Do the Symbols on a Perfume Box Mean?

The tiny icons on a perfume box — the open jar, the little 'e', the flame,...

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On a pale concrete-grey surface, dried botanical materials — a twig, amber resin and dried pods — balanced against plain clear-glass laboratory vials and a glass dropper: natural and synthetic materials side by side.
2026-07-14 · 7 min read

Natural vs. Synthetic Perfume Ingredients: What's the Real Difference?

Natural vs synthetic perfume ingredients, explained honestly: what each really is, why great perfumes use both,...

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A clear unlabelled glass perfume bottle nestled in kraft paper cushioning inside an open cardboard shipping box on a concrete-grey surface — perfume packed as a fragile, flammable shipment.
2026-07-10 · 9 min read

Why Shipping a Bottle of Perfume Is Harder Than It Looks

Perfume is alcohol-based, so transport law treats it as a flammable dangerous good — which is...

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A clear unlabelled glass perfume bottle on a pale concrete-grey surface beside a fan of blank paper scent blotters — choosing and testing a fragrance you can't smell in person.
2026-07-07 · 12 min read

How to Choose a Perfume Online When You Can't Smell It First

How to choose a perfume online when you can't smell it first: read notes and families,...

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Two small pieces of clear glass on a pale concrete-grey surface — one marked by a single precise line catching the light, the other by an irregular natural-looking fracture — two takes on a deliberate flaw.
2026-07-03 · 7 min read

When a Bigger House Arrives at Your Idea: Margiela's Fractured Bottle and Ours

Maison Margiela's Scentsorium launched in an intentionally fractured bottle. We've been building a bottle that looks...

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A clear unlabelled glass perfume bottle standing in soft shadow beside an open storage box on a pale concrete-grey shelf, kept out of a bright shaft of daylight — perfume stored away from light and heat.
2026-06-30 · 8 min read

How to Store Perfume So It Lasts (Heat, Light, and Air, Explained)

How to store perfume so it lasts: heat, light, and air are what age a bottle....

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An abstract macro of clear glass run through with fine fracture lines that catch warm directional light and glow along their edges, on a pale concrete-grey surface — a crack catching the light.
2026-06-26 · 5 min read

The Crack Is the Hard Part: Making a Bottle That Looks Broken on Purpose

Our bottle is designed to look cracked. Actually making one — dramatic enough to surprise, sound...

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A small unlabelled clear-glass perfume bottle on a pale concrete-grey surface, a faint wisp of vapour rising and dissolving into a soft shaft of daylight — fragrance evaporating into the air.
2026-06-23 · 7 min read

Why Does Perfume Fade So Fast on Me? (And How to Make It Last)

Why does perfume fade so fast on you? Usually it's skin type, the notes, or how...

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An abstract macro on pale concrete grey of a piece of clear, colourless glass run through with fine fracture lines that catch warm directional light and glow along their edges — beauty held inside breakage.
2026-06-19 · 5 min read

Why We've Spent More Than a Year and a Half on a Bottle That Looks Broken

For over a year and a half we've been designing a perfume bottle that looks broken...

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A still life on pale concrete grey: a small, heavy unlabelled glass vial filled with dark, oil-rich amber perfume concentrate catching a shaft of warm directional light, beside a shallow glass dish holding a few drops of the same dark oil.
2026-06-16 · 6 min read

What Is Extrait de Parfum? The Most Concentrated Way to Wear a Scent

Extrait de parfum is the most concentrated fragrance format. Here's what the percentages mean, why extrait...

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A kraft-paper-wrapped parcel tied with twine and a blank kraft gift tag, beside a roll of brown packing tape, on a concrete surface in warm low light.
2026-06-12 · 7 min read

Why Getting a Perfume to Your Door Is Harder Than Making It

Shipping a fragrance is a regulatory and logistics puzzle, not just a parcel. Here's the carrier...

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A still life on pale grey concrete of natural perfume materials — a sprig of dried lavender, a tuft of pale-green oakmoss, a curl of dried orange peel, a dark tonka-like bean, a piece of amber resin, and a fragment of cedar wood.
2026-06-09 · 8 min read

The Main Fragrance Families, Explained (And How to Find Yours)

A clear guide to the main perfume families — floral, chypre, fougère, amber, woody, fresh, gourmand,...

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A weathered desk holding a thick stack of bound documents, a vintage fountain pen, and a wax-sealed envelope in warm low light.
2026-06-05 · 11 min read

How hard it really is to release a perfume in Europe

A plain-English look at what it actually takes to put a perfume on the European market:...

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Three apothecary glass vials of graduated sizes holding amber perfume oil at different depths on pale concrete, a faint wisp of vapor rising.
2026-06-02 · 9 min read

Top, Heart, and Base Notes — And What 'Sillage' Really Means

Top, heart, base — what these perfume terms mean, how they unfold over hours, and what...

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A sheet of cream paper with a fountain pen and soft abstract ink strokes in warm light.
2026-05-29 · 4 min read

Why Our Site Is English-Only — And Why We Chose It on Purpose

We looked closely at translating shoitotokyo.com into many languages, then decided to stay English-only. Here's the...

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Apothecary glass vials of amber perfume oil at graduated concentrations on pale concrete.
2026-05-26 · 5 min read

Eau de Parfum vs Eau de Toilette vs Extrait: What Perfume Concentrations Actually Mean

Eau de parfum, eau de toilette, extrait — what do they actually mean? We explain perfume...

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A single closed unmarked wooden door set into a pale concrete wall, slightly ajar with warm light spilling through the narrow gap across the floor — one quiet entrance, invitation-only.
2026-05-22 · 9 min read

Why Our Website Is Invitation-Only — And How That Actually Works

We relaunched shoitotokyo.com on May 12 as an invitation-only site. Here's what we changed, and the...

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Extreme macro of a bare inner forearm and wrist in warm raking afternoon light on pale concrete, faint vein lines visible — the skin as a living surface that varies from person to person.
2026-05-19 · 9 min read

Why Does Perfume Smell Different on Different People? (The Science of Skin Chemistry)

Five factors decide how a perfume develops on your skin: sebum, pH, temperature, hormones, and the...

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A row of dark sealed unlabeled glass bottles resting on a brushed stainless steel workbench in a dim atelier, lit from above by warm tungsten light, conveying time and chemistry settling during fragrance maceration
2026-05-15 · 8 min read

What Is Maceration in Perfumery? Why Most Brands Skip It (And We Don't)

Maceration is the resting period that lets perfume mature before bottling. We explain how it works,...

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A single weathered glass perfume bottle on raw warm grey concrete in a quiet artisan workshop, with a wooden shelf of older bottles and a notebook of handwritten formulas softly out of focus behind it
2026-05-12 · 7 min read

What Does 'Niche Perfume' Actually Mean? A Definition (And Where the Line Is Blurring)

Niche perfume isn't just expensive perfume. We define the term, explain how it differs from designer...

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On Memory and Skin: Why Smell Bypasses the Brain
2026-05-04 · 10 min read

On Memory and Skin: Why Smell Bypasses the Brain

The neuroscience of why a stranger's soap can stop you mid-step, and what perfumers do with...

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How We Hand-Crack Every SHŌ ITO Bottle: Notes from the Workshop
2026-05-01 · 10 min read

How We Hand-Crack Every SHŌ ITO Bottle: Notes from the Workshop

Every SHŌ ITO bottle arrives with a crack across its face. Here is exactly how, and...

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The Hidden Nose and This Journal: How We Write to You
2026-04-28 · 7 min read

The Hidden Nose and This Journal: How We Write to You

We write in two places. Here is what each one is for, and how they work...

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Notes from the Atelier: Four Formulas at Month Eighteen
2026-04-25 · 13 min read

Notes from the Atelier: Four Formulas at Month Eighteen

What is on the bench in Grasse — sake, matcha, tattoo, sakura — and why none...

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