Perfumery didn’t become boring by accident. It became boring because redundancy is profitable.

The industry is oversaturated—not with ideas, but with imitators. Same structures. Same safe DNA. Same recycled “crowd-pleaser” formulas wrapped in a new story and pushed out like it’s revolutionary. Innovation has been replaced by optimization. Why take risks when the easiest path to profit is already mapped

Today, the name of the game isn’t artistry—it’s scalability. Maximum profitability. Minimal risk. Simple production. If it smells familiar enough to offend no one and excite no one, it’s ready for market. Add a focus group, a celebrity face, and a marketing budget the size of a small country, and suddenly mediocrity becomes “luxury.”

And let’s talk about the packaging. Because wow—what a distraction.

We’re living in the era of the shelf trophy. Over-designed bottles, metallic finishes, gradients, heavy caps, and sculptural nonsense that exist to mask the fact that what’s inside smells like a dozen other fragrances you already own. The most common type of fragrance collector now? The “just for the bottle” crowd. It doesn’t matter if it smells identical to five releases from last year—as long as it looks cool on social media, it’s a win.

Uniqueness and creativity have become afterthoughts. Exploration is optional. Familiarity is king.

Artisanal perfumery, meanwhile, is labeled “too risky.” Too weird. Too challenging. Too personal. And that says everything. Because when everyone smells like the same mainstream DNA, risk is the only place discovery still exists. You can’t explore anything meaningful if you never leave the safe bubble. Glory has always belonged to the brave—not to the cautious imitator.

It’s okay if the bottle isn’t perfect.
It’s okay if the branding isn’t flawless.
It’s okay if the presentation isn’t polished to corporate standards.

If the fragrance inside is exceptional, that’s what matters. But many people have lost sight of that. They hand their money to the company with the biggest investors and assume scale equals quality. Sure, the presentation will be cleaner. More professional. More expensive-looking. But don’t expect anything groundbreaking in the juice.

Large corporations aren’t interested in giving you the rare, the strange, or the unexplored. They’re interested in what sells safely. Artisanal perfumers are interested in what hasn’t been done yet.

They’re working with personal ingredients. Hand-made tinctures. Aged materials. Small-batch distillations. Things that take time, patience, and obsession. Things that don’t fit neatly into spreadsheets. If you think that shiny blue bottle from the big box store is made with any of that, you’re going to be very disappointed.

So don’t fall for fancy bottles and redundant fragrances. Don’t confuse polish with soul. Have fun. Take risks. Smell something that challenges you instead of flattering you.

Explore something less perfect—but more personal.