Enhala International Perfume Exhibition Bucharest

Enhala International Perfume Exhibition report part 2 logo via Enhala

My first installment focused on Romanian brands, but the Enhala International Perfume Exhibition was attended by exhibitors from many countries. If the fair floor was where the niche revolution was on display, the workshops were where it was being contextualized and analyzed – and the program Enhala put together across the three days was genuinely impressive in its range., emerging trends, sniffing accords, contextualizing them, and back and forth on the future of fragrance technology.

Art installation created by Andreas Wilhelm at the Enhala International Perfume Exhibition, photo by Nicoleta

.I attended the workshop by Andreas Wilhelm, award-winning Swiss master perfumer, olfactive punk, and the man behind Perfume Sucks. His panel, Led by Scent: Where Stories Begin Before Words, explored scent as invisible language: how fragrance becomes story, identity, and memory, and how brands can be felt before they are understood. The conversation was open and wide-ranging: olfactive branding, emerging trends, sniffing accords, contextualizing them, and back and forths on the future of fragrance technology. Andreas is that rare kind of presence that, through his answers, opens new questions in your mind, encouraging you to explore more. He would make an extraordinary teacher, if he ever wanted to wear that hat alongside his many others, as he is disarmingly intelligent, highly artistic, with sharp humour and just the right touch of irreverence that makes you feel (at least) 50% cooler and smarter just by being in a room with him.

Andreas was also the creator of the art installation at the Enhala International Perfume Exhibition – and it was, in many ways, the emotional counterpoint to everything else happening on the fair floor. A dark room. A safe space. The sound of rain. A large, luminous cloud, soft, physical, glowing cold blue from within, sitting on a table in the middle of the space, framed by the hotel’s carved wooden arches and old stained glass. In the corners, suspended from the ceiling, small translucent umbrella-shelters you could step inside, where the smell of petrichor waited for you: wet earth and rain. A moment of respite in the middle of sensory overload. It made me think of Marla’s penguin cave from Fight Club, that private mental sanctuary, the space the mind retreats to when everything becomes too much. And guess what? It worked every time!

Olfactory Peregrination project, by Cristian Marianciuc, photos by Nicoleta

On the ground floor, we had the exposition of Romanian artist, and former ÇaFleureBon colleague, Cristian Marianciuc, whose project Olfactory Peregrination gives physical form to scent. Each of his jewel-like origami paper cranes is a portrait of a fragrance – assigned colours, textures, and visual stories into a seamless translation from the invisible into the tangible. Seeing his cranes displayed alongside the very perfumes that inspired them felt so right in its synesthetic beauty: two different languages, one open conversation, the kind that opens new pathways of perception, as any true artistic endeavour does.

Andreas Wilhelm of Perfume Sucks, photo by Nicoleta  

I recently wrote about Soap Bubble, one of my Best of Scent picks of last year, and also awarded Ylem Parfums my Best New House of 2025, the cosmic, science-meets-mysticism project where Andreas works as a perfumer. But I was so happy that during Enhala International Perfume Exhibition, I got to revisit his own brand: the open-source project of Perfume. Sucks. I visited old friends from the classic Color Line: Purple, a cold amber that sublimates the sensation of a glacier; Living Coral, a purple-blooded, stiff-upper-lipped orris reconstructed into something fun and modern; Green, a weed-infused hazelnut munchies experience; and Blue: sea, sun, happiness, and sunblock. The Conspiracy Line operates on a different frequency entirely, and the scents are composed using the principles of Fibonacci numbers, with ingredients arranged in the golden ratio to each other. Wealth 4181 (finalist in the Artisanal category at the 2024 Art & Olfaction Awards) is for those who want to literally smell like money – built on a headspace analysis of a freshly printed 200- Swiss franc note, dressed up with powdered iris and posh musks. Fuel 0987 is, for me, the smell of climbing the stairs to a plane – that hit of kerosene and tarmac heat and pure anticipatory adrenaline: give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire: gasoline and oud at full throttle. Flash 0021 is a mushroomy truffle that sends you somewhere between the forest floor and an undergrowth-Pan-Labyrinth-type- LSD trip. New in the line: Love, functional regression therapy in a bottle, with memories of being young, chewing caramel popcorn in the cinema, cozy as a kitten, snuggled up between mom and dad. And Human –a skin-close, heart-wide open armour of ambrette, cistus, and vanilla.

Daniel Liatowitsch of NVRNAGN, photo by Nicoleta

My revelation was discovering Swiss-American NVRGN (Never and Again), a brand founded by filmmaker and (ex) bass player Daniel Liatowitsch, built around all the things we cannot leave behind, with all perfumes composed by Andreas Wilhelm. Having spent a career documenting other people’s stories, Daniel wanted to tell his own, and the lineup reads like a memoir in scent: Reunion is a love story under a white canopy of wisteria with clean linen and lily of the valley; Solitaire an 80s nightclub with chocolate-dusted coffee martinis; Paradis  – a long exposure snapshot of a rainbow, waist-deep in warm ocean water in Maui, guava and lychee and the forbidden fruit of transience; Festival is all stage smoke and torn leather and Lackerli, a traditional Swiss pastry: is all sweet, spicy & nostalgia-glazed. The one that made me forget to breathe was Deluge. It smells like rain, wet concrete, and the vivid memory of a small hand, held in Daniel’s hand. She is no longer here.

Diandra Barsalou of Tale Parfum, photo by Nicoleta

Tale is founded by Chad Hodge, a screenwriter and perfumer, and Diandra Barsalou, a creative director, brand storyteller, and perfumer – a multidisciplinary approach to perfumery that shows in every detail (from the gorgeous art to the cool packaging and beautiful SKU names). I finally got to smell the Art and Olfaction Golden Pear-awarded Bad Lilly (composed by Michael Nordstrand), and it is so fairy-tale-ishly mischievous, fun, flirty, and whimsical that I swooned by the booth every day, sniffing it repeatedly, each time at a complete loss for words for how glorious it is. Imagine a nettle-stung elven forest, pale-luminous-green, wild, verdant, earthy – the most Alice-behind-the-mirror perfume you can imagine. Water Me does exactly what the name promises: crunchy sap, soft moss, and lung-opening ozonic notes. Rouse is a boarding-school-posh pink rose bloom with a hidden leather fetish. And Fleurt is a perfectly plated five-star indulgence – cotton candy, condensed milk, vanilla, almond gelato. Yum.

Tara Derakshan of NEH, photos by Nicoleta, and product lineup photo via the brand

Quite serendipitously, I discovered NEH on the 8th of March, International Women’s Day, and I cannot imagine a more fitting encounter. This is a brand where fragrance, holistic well-being, and the power of the sensory converge, and the energy of it feels so amazingly empowering feminine, thanks to founder Tara Derakshan’s vision. The entire concept is solid and the execution flawless. The team of women behind it are so aligned in their creative, spiritual, and intuitive energy that it radiates in every detail: from the weight of the bottles and the cut-out details of the packaging, to the names and copy of each fragrance, to the olfactive profiles themselves, to Tara holding the bottle with her impeccable nail polish and a ring bearing the brand’s name – every detail was polished and perfectly curated, and yet the whole thing breathed a cool Zen effortlessness that made it feel entirely uncontrived. NEH is rooted in personal healing and the desire to align daily life with one’s highest self and each scent carries its own intention and energy, paired with affirmations and frequency music, designed to open a portal to self-discovery and inner transformation. It is hard to single out one fragrance, because the entire line is meant to be experienced as a whole, a cohesive arc designed to inspire, awaken, and activate – so I advise you to experience it that way, if you can.

Joelle Sakkal of IDMAN, photo by Nicoleta, and product details photo via the brand

Continuing with the feminine energy of the goddesses at the stands, meet Joelle Sakkal of IDMAN, a Dubai-based niche house built on the belief that fragrance is the most intimate form of self-expression. There were plenty of interesting things to smell, after fondling the tactile crystal caps and fun, innovative applicators of the perfume balms. The all-over body spray Carte Blanche was the cleanest, freshest take on the smell of weed, and Mango Sticky Rice, which does exactly what it promises, and does it so well, I am still craving it. IDMAN also offers perfume balms alongside the extracts and body sprays; the full application ritual is built into the lineup, because Joelle clearly understands that how you choose to wear a fragrance is part of the experience too.

Zoologist booth and detail of Love Birds, by Nathalie Feisthauer photos by Nicoleta

Got a chance to pet my beloved old pets at the Zoologist booth: Moth, my ultimate goth-girl scent; Civet, the retro-nostalgic va-va-voom; Bat (new formula), the anxiety-inducing claustrophobia in a bottle, smelling of caves and darkness; and the jolly freshness of Panda. And then there was Love Birds (Nathalie Feisthauer), the newest addition to the aviary, composed by Nathalie Feisthauer: fruity and fresh, smelling of clear skies, ripe kiwi, and bright-green-spring joie-de-vie. Loved the idea of the special edition, with three label colors, each a different rarity: green (the most common), blue (half as rare), and purple (the “legendary” rare one). The color remains a mystery until you open the box, a charming nod to the inner child in all of us, mirroring exactly the feeling Love Birds gives you when spray on the skin – an instant mood lift. *The brand was in the expo represented by the local distributor, Beautik Parfumerie.

Hanssen Diaz of Mutis Nueva Granada, photos by Nicoleta

Mutis Nueva Granada was conceived and created by Hanssen Diaz, a young Colombian artist, as a tribute to the extraordinary botanical heritage of his homeland, known at the time of the Spanish Conquest by the evocative name of Nueva Granada. The bottles were beautiful, and the blotters were natural feathers, which felt entirely right for a brand rooted so deeply in the living, breathing natural world. Out of the scents, the one that stayed with me was Sonora (created by Luca Maffei) inspired by the Danza del Venado (the Deer Dance), a sacred ritual of the Yaqui people in which the deer, symbol of life and spiritual connection, dances among the twilight shadows of the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. On skin, it translates the concept beautifully, recreating the golden desert dust, the smoky sacred ceremony, the unexpected sweetness of dates touched by the desert wind. So Lovely!

Cristian Marianciuc  at the Mendittorosa booth, photos by Nicoleta

The Mendittorosa booth was, as always, a world unto itself, with the ornate bottles that set the mood before you even lift a cap, each one a small alchemical object. Cristian Marianciuc was the master of ceremonies, his artistic sensibility adding so much more depth and context to the whole experience. I loved Mauna (Cristiano Canali) – in Sanskrit, mauna means silence, and fragrance delivers exactly that: a Zen experience centered around Indian sandalwood and Talento (Amélie Bourgeois & Camille Chemardin) – a fragile rosebud slowly opened by mint, with pointy aldehyde thorns protecting it from the world just until it blooms into something fresh, airy, and triumphantly rosy.

Pineward and Apoteker Tepe booth, photo by Nicoleta

One of the most beautiful booths of the entire expo housed Pineward and Apoteker Tepe (by American Holladay Salz, read her profile in American Perfumery), a verdant, fragrant oasis of grass, pine, and living green that felt like stepping briefly into a forest. I re-sniffed some hits from Pineward and made mental notes of revisiting them soon, on my skin. It was my first encounter with Apoteker Tepe, and I reached out for Anabasis – yes, the Dead Can Dance song started instantly playing in my head – and it’s a glorious cool green thing: shiso and mint through cedar and pine.*The brand was in the expo represented by the local distributor: Scentorium.

Francesca Dell Oro, Jijide, Extra Virgo photos by Nicoleta

Always a joy to cover the Italian booths at any expo, and it was pure delight to re-encounter Francesca Dell’Oro – her Envoutant (about which I wrote in detail, here) remains one of my all-time favourites,  and tested the brand new Éclat Exotique (Marine Ipert): a radiant tropical creature of guava, tuberose, tiaré, and peach, the kind of fragrance that simply asks to come along on your next summer vacation. The Vanille collection,  a four-chapter journey from the fresh morning lightness of Vanille 08:00 through the nocturnal carnal mystery of Vanille 24:00, remains a masterclass in the endless complexity of a single ingredient, in the right hands.

Jijide, Milan-based and born in 2016, literally means “positive attitude” in Chinese – two young female perfumers, friends from ISIPCA, one from Shanghai and one from Beirut, asked to make something that smells like comfort and being together: Riso is Shanghai street festival energy, and Grano is wet Paris pavement after rain, boulangerie dough, bread still warm from the oven.

And last but certainly not least – discovering Extra Virgo  was a beautiful surprise – founded by Prince Alex Herbert Postiglione of Limbin, a descendant of the royal Konbaung dynasty of Burma, handcrafted in Florence, drawing from a pagan world where the sacred and the profane blur, with a dark, tactile, deeply sensual mood. Of the Les Fleurs du Mal collection, Fortuna was the one for me: a heart of osmanthus, honeyed and leathery and luminous – sheer Florentine seduction. (Present at Enhala thanks to Release Distribution.)

Enhala International Perfume Exhibition Hall photo by Nicoleta

I walked out of the Marmorosch hotel on the last day, nose thoroughly overworked and heart genuinely full – and that very specific feeling of having taken in such an overdose of beauty. I left with a list of samples to hunt down, mental notes to revisit, and that particular kind of tiredness that only comes from too much beauty condensed in too short a time. The best kind.

See you next year, Enhala.

*All images used were taken by me, unless stated otherwise.

Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor

Disclosure: Some of the samples received during the expo were gifted by the brands, others I have purchased – but opinions are always my own.

Perfume Sucks Wealth was an Art and Olfaction Finalist 2024 and discovery kit, photos via the brand

Thanks to the generosity of Perfume Sucks, we have a bottle of Perfume Sucks Wealth and a discovery kit (Color line, Conspiracy line, and the Sasha Frolova collaboration) for one registered reader worldwide* (except Italy, Spain, Russia, and Greece).You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s Enhala Event Report and where you live. Draw closes 3/21/2026

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