Olfiction Lab Editions

Photo by Oli (who likes to paint sellotape and shoot with it covering the edges of the frame)

Surely, someone, somewhere must have already written words to the effect of “if you can’t properly celebrate yourself on your birthday, then when can you?” And even if they haven’t (they have), it’s this exact sentiment that Olfiction, the UK based perfume studio founded by Art and Olfaction Award winning perfumer Pia Long and creative evaluator Nick Gilbert, are exploring on their 10th Anniversary by releasing their first quartet of Lab Editions.

Having worked with respected niche brands like Beaufort and Zoologist and having launched their own brand Eau de Boujee, these Lab Editions are special releases that have been made exclusively to mark their company’s milestone. Essentially, they’re “an eclectic collection of limited production fragrances” served up in 15ml bottles, but what they really are, is a flex. An example of the duo’s creative industriousness and persistence that falls neatly, at an accessible price point and gets their artistic point(s) across quickly and potently demonstrating their craft, talent and flair.

Perfumer Pia Long and Nick Gilbert, the founders and driving forces behind Olfiction

“Lab Editions is our most liberating creative outlet,” Gilbert agrees, by way of an introduction, quoting the absolute freedom to explore concepts “most personal to us from years of developments and experimentation…”

“I already have so many personal and unfinished starting points for which there was no home in any of our brands or any of our client work,” according to Pia Long, telling of her initial enthusiasm for the project, expressing excitement at the mere thought of finishing these ideas and giving them a wider audience. “There are a few perfumes I have been personally craving and wishing to make for myself, so you’ll see lots of Eau de Colognes and fiction themes cropping up with what we’ve got planned next.”

Olfaction Lab Editions Cologne Orange is an olfactory exploration of the orange tree that revels in using every part of it (the fruit, the flower and the bark and leaves themselves). Last year, when I wrote about Long’s Eau de Boujee Infleurno I noted that it was “awesome to smell someone figuring out a new way to present citrus aromas” and this fragrance definitely bears a bit of passing resemblance to Infleurno in terms of its texture, it’s sharpness and it’s granular spine, but if – like me – you love the classics and constantly crave the lingering tendrils of a [oak]mossy dry down then this perfume is much deeper than it might at first seem. Notes: Bitter orange, Sweet orange, Petitgrain, Bergamot, Rosewood, Neroli, Orange blossom absolute, Rosemary, Coriander seed, Oakmoss absolute, Patchouli, Cedarwood

Olfiction Lab Editions Iconic is the idealised memory of a luxuriant 80s’ face cream. Made impossibly rich and ostentatious, it’s a full-throated luxuriant floral that was previously exhibited (in a slightly different formulation) with the Institute of Art & Olfaction. Sweet, powdery and oh so slightly waxy, this is Olfiction flexing a power floral, full of neroli, violet, orris, rose de mai, tuberose and a hint of vanilla. Notes: Neroli, Violet, Orris, Rose de Mai, Tuberose, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Musk, Vanilla

Olfiction Lab Editions Petrolhead and Salmiakki

Olfiction Lab Editions Petrolhead exists (in part) to explore the wanton appeal of the smell of petrol. As an aside, tell anybody you randomly meet at a party that you are into making smells and perfumes and they’ll very often (I haven’t done the actual requisite polling to put a percentage on it) offer up that they love either the smell of freshly cut grass or, bizarrely, petrol. I fully get it – it’s the forbidden splash cologne and I always want to tell them that it’s probably because petrol is a smell that’s so chocked full of childhood memories of road trips, those pregnant pauses that ended with bags of sweets and it likely holds some of our formative impressions of our parents who had the grandeur and power to drive the car to all the fun places we adored going. Petrolhead explores those notions – a bit – but it positions itself more in the realm of grit and muscle cars, of polished walnut dashboards and cracked leather seats, made as it was initially, for the motoring festival, Goodwood Festival of Speed. Notes: Rubber, Blue ginger, Timut pepper, Leather, Lavender, Ambrocenide, Oakmoss, Cypriol, Patchouli, Castoreum (synthetic)

Olfiction Lab Editions Salimakki is the smell of Finnish salt liquorice and I can attest to such a delicacy being described as ‘divisive’. Personally, I love black liquorice, and I very much enjoy the salted versions. Most of my immediate family and friends however, are repulsed by it and are, let’s say… confused by my love of it. Leaning into the liquorice intonations of myrrh is a great way to make the more astringent parts of the fragrance feel cushioned and if you were to prepare your brain to expect the resins and woody notes more than the liquorice, it might even give you a new appreciation of the kind of tones that lie underneath those recognisably medicinal qualities.

Notes: Green anise, Salmiak salt, Black pepper, Liquorice, Immortelle, Rectified cedarwood, Myrrh, Guaiac, Vetiver, Cade, Birch

– Oli Marlow, Senior Contributor

Disclaimer: bottles of the Lab Editions were kindly provided by Olfiction.

All images used courtesy of the brand unless otherwise noted.

Olfiction Lab Editions are issued directly from the studio, here.

Thanks to the generosity of Nick and Pia we have all four at Olfiction Lab Editions available to a registered reader in the US/EU and UK. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Oli’s reviews and where you live. Happy 10th to Pia and Nick. Draw closes 3/28/2026

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