Recommended Video
This is an excerpt from MEGA 2025 Beauty Feature
Memoirs, in fragrant form, veiled everyone walking around the Palais floors. The artisanal craftsmanship of scent filled each room with a medley of natural aromatics. The intent and care that goes into these niche formulations were undeniable, with each perfumer setting their personal stage for storytelling. There were tales that felt more theatrical, some tender, some invigorating as equally as wholesome and healing. And the sensory experience of each bottle sprayed provided insight and contrast in one’s beauty story and how just a spritz of delicate materials can serve as full armor or a provocative accent to represent one’s everyday life.
RELATED: A Summer Recalled: Verdant Memories Lives On in This Fresh, Green Fragrance
From raw material companies to perfume brands based in Africa, The Middle East, Asia and European locals, exhibition rooms were warm with a voluminous haze and scent distinctly opulent as the global market place. China, having a designated section for their international exhibitors, distinguished themselves with a collective intent to lead consumers on olfactive journeys that evoke gourmand experiences, intentional healing or both as they all had a core theme of infusing therapeutic aromas. “Chinese culture has influenced our brand tremendously because our [Chinese] culture has been really rich in the soil and we’re surrounded by nature, and honestly, we love eating, we love gathering.” Shanghai based founder Sarah Chang states, “And that for us is part of our brand, Aentos, because we are about slow living and we realized people want to reconnect to nature and don’t know how to.” Aentos’ debut seasonal collection, being one of the first booths I stopped at, is influenced by foraging and spending time in stillness inspiring reconnection with one’s truest self – and having fun with it. A Bjork soundtrack plays as you take moments grounding yourself with their aromatic scents, which in turn, set the playful tone of my journey on the exhibition floor to explore more of Asia’s newest brands.
When speaking with Bu Feng, a China-based brand inspired by folklore, and its founder, Lan Xiao – I asked what it means to be an Asian perfumer in the historic European city of Grasse. “We are definitely trying to bring our own perspective, as Asians, to the international industry and community of perfumery to tell Asian stories,” she shared. “But at the same time, we are just part of the global industry, just like everyone else… Everybody has a culture, everybody has a history.” A truthful statement just as bold and elegant as the fragrances that she designs, and a sentiment that resonated as I searched for more representation for Asia-born brands and perfumers. Continuing my way through the 3 stories of Grasse’s inaugural Perfume Week, I was consistently greeted by smiling faces and handed multiple mouillettes (scent strips). From Poland to Ghana, Switzerland and Singapore – my senses were met with texture, taste and found myself discovering decadent perfumed sorbets by Maison Lautier 1795 along the way.
On the third floor, across from a fragrance brand celebrating Sicilian elixirs, Barum, and a Greek Mythology inspired scent collection, Olymra – I found a table as serendipitous as its name: Tadhana. Whether intentional or not, this brand already carries integrity with its brand identity as I was divinely guided, or destined to find the only Filipina perfumer at the global showcase. From hero scents of Davao Coffee, Coconut, Mango and Ylang Ylang Filipina (only found here in the Philippine Islands) – Tadhana seemed to be leaving a lasting impression on more than one attendee. “Today, a lot of people who are experiencing our perfumes are all saying it’s very unique. The compositions are original, and these are scents they have not smelled before,” the pioneering perfumer boldly continues. “So to them, it feels like an exploration and a discovery… Because we have ingredients that are not found anywhere else, I hope people can explore the richness that we (as Filipinos) have to offer in perfumery — because quite often, most of the perfumes out there kind of smell the same, more or less.”
Confident tones of elegance and luxury left a whimsical impression on me through Albao’s debut collection. “Our big hope for Tadhana is to promote Philippine ingredients in our perfumery, like Calamansi, Dalandan… These oils are only found in the Philippines, and I want the world to know these ingredients.” The trailblazer continues to expand on the community impact perfume can have in the foreseeable future – “As the fragrance world gets to know these ingredients, it will impact our farmers, it will impact our economy, as well as make a dent on the global perfumery stage.” Already bringing the colorful archipelago’s presence into an international market is undoubtedly paving a lane for future Philippine perfumers. Tadhana’s visionary, Shale Albao, is the pathfinder who is using her nation’s vibrancy as a catalyst to innovate new scents emerging out of Asia’s dynamic perfume scene.
As a founding voice in Filipino perfumery, her brand is destined to elevate the standard—finally honoring the elegance of the Philippines in the way it deserves to be represented through an international commodity. Classical notes instrumental to Tadhana’s modern-day scent melodies foster a timeless appeal with innovative reforms. Her formulations delicately weave common materials traditionally instrumental to perfumery leaving scent connoisseurs mesmerized by what seems to be innovative. From the embodiment of top notes that distinguish playful, flirtatious yet vivid cadences – to the encounter one has while savoring the bloom of serendipitous layers, Tadhana’s heart notes will warm you and leave a soulful impression (c’est la vie). The melodic tones of this fragrance symphony carries its adventure seekers into texture, depth and a sense of shared understanding for something new yet familiar and universal across gender and cultural borders.
Rooted with connection, and finding a sentimental identity with each bottle, Tadhana celebrates the sincerest essence of contemporary Filipino culture while inspiring perfumers of neighboring countries. South Korean perfume founder, Yoorim Shim commented on her fellow Asian perfumers’ in exhibition, “When I smelled fragrances from Philippines and China, it was actually very different and interesting in comparison to Korean fragrances. They are more open to experiment. I kept it safe for the Korean consumer first, but I want the Korean perfumers to experiment with more diversity, more interesting things. I want Koreans to be creative and not just stick to playing safe or what is the trend.” With the trend lab of Asia catering to their clientele without veering too far off the beaten path, the mass-market driven leaders might be sacrificing innate formulation creativity for now – but with the pulse of fragrance innovation only being a stones throw away from the epicenter of the K-Beauty phenomena, who’s to say what is in store in the age of perfume’s renaissance era? And especially through Asia.
Experience the first-ever Grasse Perfume Week through Gabbi Pascua’s words in MEGA’s August 2025 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.
Photography by GABBI PASCUA and ALAN DENNIS
