Fine-Tuned Fragrance: Scent inspired by music

One of the original ideas I launched my Substack with was pairing fragrances with music and art as I feel that multi-sensory experiences tend to be quite impactful. This concept has been touched on numerous times in other capacities, with recent examples being the Faux Flora exhibition at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle that ended earlier this year, and one of the indie fragrance darlings of the moment, Zernell Gillie, with his genre-inspired fragrances. Dallas-Fort Worth-based Fine-Tuned Fragrance also explores this concept, making fragrances inspired by music — whether specific songs, sub-genres, or even music venues.

About

Fine-Tuned Fragrances was founded by Chanley Pike in 2022 and has a total of eight core fragrances as of this writing, all of which have custom Spotify playlists accompanying them. In addition to perfumes, FTF also has candles, room sprays, reed diffusers, four roll-on oils (exclusive scents to this format), as well as an accord layering kit with 16 different accords for a huge amount of experimentation.

Their $38 discovery set comes with all eight core fragrances in 3ml sprays (very generous), and has a $20 off voucher for a full-size (60ml) bottle, which is already a bargain at $64. Travel sprays are available as well, with a 9ml travel spray coming in at only $24.

After reviewing the discovery set and spending some time with the line, I wanted to share my thoughts as I continue to work through smaller indie brands in 2025!

Disclosure: The discovery set was very generously gifted by the brand with no requirement or request for review. This review is of my own volition and is my own personal opinion. Fragrance is subjective, so please sample for yourself if something sparks your interest!

Packaging

The discovery set arrived in a branded black box and nicely padded with bubble wrap and tissue paper. Included was the discovery kit (a metal tin inside of a cardboard box) and a small bag with test strips and individual fragrance notes/info cards.

The cards list the fragrance name, music inspiration, notes, and ‘vibe’ on one side, with the reverse having a Spotify link to a curated playlist (which I strongly recommend listening to for each as you sample). Quick note: to scan the links, open Spotify, click on Search, then click the camera icon in the top right and hover over the link. The playlist will then open.

Scents

After spending some time with these, there’s something for everyone here in this line. While you aren’t going to find anything particularly avant garde or abstract here, that really isn’t the goal of the line. Three stood out as potential buys for me. These are listed in no particular order. I do not ‘rate’ fragrances in reviews since scent is subjective, so these are just my thoughts and feelings.

My Highlights —

Velvet Underground - Fresh and green, this dries down with some earthy, woody warmth — featuring elemi, amber, soil, woods. Never gets too heavy, with the bergamot + pepper adding a bit of fuzzy brightness to it. The notes mention a ‘tea-like’ quality to it, which . On paper this stays pretty bouyant and fresh for a very long time, but it warms up and gets more resinous on skin. Like this a lot!

The Cherry Trip - After throwing back their Old Fashioned, your date pulls the luxardo cherry out of the bottom of the glass and feeds it to you. While the whiskey-soaked cherry is front and center, orange zest and bitters float in the background — especially in the opening. This isn’t a sickly sweet maraschino cherry but a deeper, boozier one. A sexy ode to the nightclub ‘The Trip’ and Old Fashioned cocktails.

Smoke Water - Opens a bit fruity with a hint of jasmine, but rose quickly pushes front and center. This isn’t a heady rose, but a dark, rich one. A bit of leather pokes through but it’s fairly faint (think well-worn leather jacket vs a brand new one). A tiny bit of tobacco lingers as well. Initially, the burst of plum makes this almost a little too sweet — like candied rose — but once the leather comes in during the drydown it smells of what I’d imagine Patti Smith’s leather jacket might smell like. My only wish here is for a little bit more smoke or ash to give it a smidge more grit, but I enjoy it as is as well. Inspired by early metal.

The Rest —

Electric boogie - This opens with burst of blood orange, pepper, some clove — fresh and spicy. After about an hour in the drydown, the suede starts to come through with the orris to give it a softer feel. It’s like taking off a suede jacket you wore out to a club, fragrant from accidental splashes of cocktails, and someone else’s perfume from where they hugged you. Inspired by the funk movement of the 1960s.

Surfin (Sound) Waves - Inspired by surf rock and a day at the beach. Breezy, a dash of citrus and woods with a musky coconut suntan lotion that is accurate without being off-putting. I am not at all a beach person nor do I particularly like the smell of suntan lotion or coconut, but this is really transportive and very wearable. Great if you want to beat the winter woes and imagine your bedroom is the beach. This one is the most ‘fun’ to me of the line, conjuring up images of sunbathing, volleyball, and kids making sandcastles.

Kaleidoscope Eyes - Like falling into a springtime field of wildflowers. The pear accord helps to add some sparkling freshness to the top of this, with sweetgrass, matcha, amber giving a little bit of earthy weight to balance out the florals. Makes me think of those psychedelic 1960s floral prints. Very pretty! Gardenia is a floral I tend to struggle with since it reads a bit too ‘classical feminine,’ which is how I would categorize this fragrance. Inspired by the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.’

White Room - Fresh out of a hot shower, you put on some lightly scented lotion and a light sweater. This is a lightly musky, powdery (yet somehow creamy, maybe the sandalwood) vanilla that avoids the sweetened gourmand approach. Inspired by the Cream song of the same name! I think I would like this one as a candle or diffuser.

Ms. Haze - Inspired by the ‘lavender haze’ Hendrix was in when he wrote ‘purple haze,’ this fragrance pulls inspiration from hippie culture, Woodstock, and psychedelics. The cannabis/lavender/patchouli combo can be a bit intense at first, but after letting it dry down for a while they calm down and fade into the blend. Interesting, and probably the ‘wildest’ of the line, though still very approachable.

Final Notes

Chanley did a nice job putting together this lineup of fragrances as well as the total experience with the custom playlists. At the incredible price point of the line, it’s really a no-brainer to recommend checking them out to see if any are for you. While these aren’t daring, avant garde, or definitive, they aren’t meant to be. It’s about having fun with fragrance and music!