Summary: Some of the best indie Australian fragrance brands are still flying under the radar – you just have to know where to look. This roundup gathers seven up-and-coming names, many of them female and queer-owned, making distinctive scents you won’t smell on everyone else. Consider it your shortcut to a signature that’s actually your own.

Love getting your hands on cool things before they’re cool? I gotchu. Everybody wants to be the best smelling person in the room. And there are plenty of great brands out there that can do that. But if you want to be the best smelling person in the room and not smell the same as everyone else, you need something… different.

If you want to smell incredible, support small businesses, support small businesses that are also female- or queer-owned, AND get the aura points that come from being into cool brands before they’re mainstream cool… this list is for you.

This post was originally shared on Liv’s substack, Smells Like Money.

Yalana Fragrances

Yalana Fragrances is a proudly Aboriginal-owned fragrance brand, founded by Carly Berry, who is a proud Wannarua woman.

They just launched (and I mean literally just launched) with their first three fragrances, each one inspired by the memories and growth that come from solo travel.

After smelling my way through their incredibly affordable discovery kit (only $15???), their first collection is exceptional, and it was hard to pick a favourite for this article. Even if the notes aren’t ones you usually gravitate towards, I highly encourage you to sample all three.

My Top Pick? Yalana Fragrances Veyra Eau de Parfum, $149.00

Veyra opens bright and joyful with a hint of expensive hotel soap to it, the orange blossom rounded out by sweet berries. After around 10 minutes, the florals start to melt away and a gentle saffron note emerges, giving depth to the lingering sweet florals.

There’s a touch of leather in the drydown, but it’s incredibly gentle and supple – not a leather note to be afraid of. It stays sweet the whole way through but moves from sweet-and-bright to sweet-and-deep.

Wear this when… you want to embrace all the different parts of yourself. Yes, you can be pretty and girly and sweet and kind and also deep and mysterious and powerful and sexy and strong.

Fleurac Fragrances

Fleurac has just stepped out in the Australian fragrance scene (they launched at the end of May). The brand was born from founder Bec’s difficulties navigating fragrance products on her fertility journey – so she decided to create the products she wished existed.

Fleurac launched with two scents, each available as a roll-on perfume oil and a skin-loving solid balm, all held to the same standard as skincare. All her products are phthalate- and paraben-free, created in coconut oil bases. The solid balms contain beeswax, but the roll-on oils are suitable for vegans.

My Top Pick? Fleurac Fragrances Perfume Oil Forest Fig, $58.00

At first touch on your skin, Forest Fig blooms with a bergamot closer to sweet orange. Within 10 minutes, it settles into a beautifully green creamy fig resting on a bed of soft sandalwood. It manages to be uplifting, clean, fresh, green, and creamy all at once.

Wear this when… you’ve thrown on a simple outfit but want to feel a little more put together. This is the fragrance equivalent of that favourite necklace that elevates a white shirt into something more fashion.

Hello Stranger

Melbourne local Kristie left her career in real estate to pursue her passion for perfume, and the result is Hello Stranger.

They currently have five perfumes (though I happen to know they have two more in the works), each designed to evoke moments that are universally recognised but individually experienced. They have a distinct signature of airy, beautifully layered musks that give a floaty, daydreamy quality to their scents.

My Top Pick? Hello Stranger Bittersweet Eau de Parfum, $119.95

This perfume is the first and ONLY perfume with a watermelon note I’ve ever enjoyed. It’s like if watermelon chewy candy was made of elegant chiffon.

It’s sweet but not sticky, with creamy coconut and layers and layers of musks that envelop you like a dreamy cloud.

Wear this when… you’re heading beachside for a holiday – or wish you were. This fragrance will instantly transport you to a sunset somewhere near the ocean, fruity drink in hand, soft breeze gliding over your skin.

Tulita

Tulita is a woman-owned Australian brand that draws on Ayurveda to create their perfumes. Each one is aligned to a specific chakra, and their crystal bottle caps can be used as a massage tool or gua sha tool.

All their perfumes are of all-natural origin, with a strong commitment to ethical sourcing and minimising their environmental impact. Beauty, brains, AND personality? Tulita is the person who I’d be jealous of if I didn’t love them so much – they are truly the whole package.

My Pick? Tulita Sasra, $290.00

You might not have realised that you want to smell like a crisp green apple sitting on a bed of herbs, but trust me, you do. This scent is zesty, juicy, and uplifting. It’s sweet from the apple but mostly green with a slight herbal touch that’s both grounding and sophisticated.

Wear this when… you have a bunch of things on your to-do list, but you want to move through them with a smile on your face. Sasra is intended to help open the throat chakra, with specific ingredients and a lapis lazuli crystal bottle cap.

Whether you believe in the “woo” or not, this will have you feeling fresh, energised, and confident.

Aysha Hansen

Aysha Hansen is more established than some of the others in this article. And while she might be a darling in the perfume community, she’s still hidden enough to be a great pick if you want a scent that nobody else in the room is wearing.

If you like the sound of classic floral notes presented in an incredibly chic, modern way, her signature style could be for you.

My Pick? Aysha Hansen Ambrosia, $150.00

This perfume smells like a golden sunset over a field of flowers and fragrant grasses. The opening is a bouquet of apple, plum, and ripe nectarine. As it settles, the fruit softens into a floral honey with a soft, purring texture.

Wear this when… you want to radiate sunshine and feminine goddess energy – like Persephone emerging from the underworld, fruit and flowers blooming at your feet.

Örök Fragrances

Örök Fragrances is a young brand (they only launched in 2023), but the founder John has figured something out about creating an incredibly vivid image using scent. I smelled through their range blind, and the things I wrote down were very similar to both the listed notes and scenes described on the website.

As a brand, Örök are all about celebrating the individual stories that make up the human experience. John Domjan founded the brand with the goal of “sharing narratives of queer joy, diversity, adversity and resilience”. Each of their five scents are very different, completely unisex, and well worth exploring.

My Pick? Örök Fragrances Undergrowth, $160.00

Strawberries crushed in a toddler’s palm and smeared across their smiling face as they reach for you to pick them up. Grass stains on knees. Damp earth clinging to a wool blanket, folded up and carried home after a day in the park.

Wear this when… you want to lean into sepia-toned whimsy and nurture your inner child (or your actual child). Earthy and grounded, sweet and fruity, this scent contains multitudes, and so do you.

Grimoire Parfums

Grimoire is a Melbourne-based small brand. The founder, Troy, was an artist before he came to perfumery, and his debut collection draws inspiration from mythological creatures from around the world. These fragrances aren’t for everybody, but if they’re for you, they are FOR YOU.

Troy said he draws inspiration from the great vintage classics “from when brands were more creative and not victims of corporate structures”, and that inspiration definitely comes through in the whole range. Each one is rich and complex, sweet and savoury and deep.

My Pick? Grimoire Parfums Penanggal, From $95.00

Okay, I’m biased. This is my wife’s signature scent, and she wore it on our elopement day. But it’s a special fragrance even without those scent memories attached. Simultaneously dark and moody and humid and tropical. There’s some sweetness in there, interwoven with dark, earthy notes.

Wear this when… you’re going to the forest to talk to the trees. Or when you’re in the city and want to bring the forest with you. This is for the moody, smouldering, mysterious types who also know how to crack a well-timed joke.

Summing It Up

As perfume lovers who exist on social media, it can be easy to lust after all the new releases that other countries get before we do. But Australia has an incredibly rich, varied, and frankly excellent perfume scene – I hope this helps you explore it!

This post was originally shared on Liv’s substack, Smells Like Money.