Parfums Jazmin Saraï: Turning Music into Scent

Canada-based perfumer Dana El Masri merges music and fragrance – encouraging consumers to engage with fine perfumery in more sensorially evocative and dynamic ways.

El Masri’s niche fragrance brand Parfums Jazmin Saraï features six signature scents known collectively as The Playlist – inspired by musical rhythm, beats, harmony, lyrics and tempo. Each perfume reimagines a certain song and artist as a scent – with influences coming from a wide-ranging spectrum of musical genres.

The fragrance Neon Graffiti, for example, is sold as “neon on wet concrete” and references electronic, alternative dance, hip-hop, world, grime and R&B – in particular, British rapper M.I.A’s 2004 track Sunshowers. The scent profile is comprised of bergamot, grapefruit, cardamom absolute, cool mint, wet ivy accord, jasmine absolute india, mimosa absolute, sunflower accord, cedarwood, incense and ambrox. 

Illuminating the power of music as well as the effect of scent on our subconscious, El Masri highlights how these mediums can evoke synaesthesia – where two or more sensory pathways are experienced together and influenced by one another in emotive ways. As explored in Elevating Beauty and Selling Sensorial Beauty, experiencing products in more evocative ways is a growing trend and will be a key driver for developers and fragrance houses in the coming year.

For more inspiration, see Lickable Perfume and Somerset House’s Sensory Exhibit. 

For more on the niche fragrance category and olfactory experiences, see Rewriting the Rules of Luxury Fragrance, Esxence 2017, AIX Scent Fair, 2016 and Selling Scent.