Molecule 01 has been a staple in my perfume wardrobe for 15 years. I still remember vividly the first time I smelt it. A colleague was wearing it and walked into my office and my nose froze in shock and awe and my brain tingled! “What are you wearing?!?!” .. “Oh, You can smell it?”, was her reply. She removed the bottle from her handbag, handed it to me to let me spray it on myself and she then went onto tell me it’s origin story and how I could only buy it on t’internet. I was hooked!!! Addicted!! I couldn’t stop sniffing myself all day, my brain doing somersaults trying to get to the bottom of this scent, these notes!! I purchased a bottle that night as soon as I got home, and yes, I could still smell it on me.
I’ve learnt over the years that my nose loves synthetics; ambroxan, iso e super etc. I’m aware that how our unique olfactory systems process synthetics means that people experience the fragrance differently, some not at all… so here is how it’s smells to me;
This is gorgeous! Brain tingling, clean, fresh and woody, with a bright yet gentle sweet floral. It’s cool and sparkling but is also velvety, powdery and with a slight hint of amber to it. The bright floral is quite forward to me, but a floral note I can’t explain, which makes my brain tingle and my nose love it more. It’s almost like a violet and bluebell hybrid mixed with violet leaf. But it runs apparel with the fresh woodiness. It’s neither white, green nor blue. It’s difficult to explain, as they aren’t separate notes, rather a complex, olfactory singularity. It’s amazing!
They say that Molecule 01 interacts with your skin and smells different on other people. I honestly don’t get this. And I do get perfumes that smell beautiful on other people and yet settle into my skin unpleasantly. But here, how I describe Molecule 01 is exactly how I smell it on other people, the same, always, all the time. The projection and silage is high to my nose. It’s not over powering, this can been worn anywhere, but it’s definite and distinct. When I walk into a room, or if someone walks past me on the street wearing it, I can immediately smell and identify it. I can smell it all day! The only slight difference I get to the scent profile is dependent on the weather. In warmer months the floral is more forward, when it’s cold in the winter the woodiness is more forward but the floral is still there.
It was ground breaking at its time of release. And since then there have been many others in the same vein as a singular or forward synthetic (JHAG Not Perfume). But Molecule 01 was love at first whiff for me. There’s a strong scent association of happy memories there also - my colleague and I unknowingly bought each other a bottle of Molecule 01 that Christmas after she introduced it to me. Our respective other half’s had also bought us bottles!! It was an Iso E Super Crimbo! It was ‘our’ perfume.
If I had one negative thing to say about it, it would be the bottle, especially for the price point. I really don’t like it. The shape, the feel, the horrible ‘chemistry’ graphics. When my colleague pulled it out of her handbag and handed it to me, I thought it was some dupe perfume, amateur, badly made and without thought or feeling. It’s creatively vacant and doesn’t really didn’t match the amazingness my nose and brain experiences. It deserves better.
I just love this perfume so much. If I was asked to paint a picture to describe it, I would say wearing Molecule 01 is like standing naked under a cool, refreshing waterfall in a lush green forest, with the odd scattered, fallen, decaying tree, as a breeze carries the scent of the forest floor filled with other worldly white, blue and purple luminous flowers towards your nose …on another planet, in another universe!
