Escentric Molecules Molecule 01

Molecule 01 is a single material in a bottle, and that is the whole idea. Escentric Molecules launched in 2006 with a pair of releases built on the same premise: an Escentric fragrance, which surrounds an aroma molecule with a minimal supporting cast, and a Molecule fragrance, which presents it alone. The brand states plainly that Molecule 01 consists of one hundred per cent Iso E Super, pure and singular, and that Iso E Super does not exist in nature but was created in a laboratory at IFF in 1973. Geza Schoen, the German perfumer behind the house, chose it for what he describes as its radiance, tenacity and power. The brand calls itself the original anti-fragrance brand, and it means it.

There is no pyramid to describe because there are no stages. What Iso E Super smells of is dry, velvety, slightly peppery wood with a warm, skin-like softness underneath, and Schoen has described it as having the sophistication of an aromatic wood alongside something feral yet pure, like clean skin. On the wearer it does not sit on top of the body so much as merge with it. The house's own language for this is that it combines, almost caramelises, with your own smell to make a personal scent signature, which is unusually accurate for marketing copy.

It suits people who dislike smelling of perfume, and it works in any weather, which very few fragrances genuinely do. On a Highveld summer day it will not turn cloying because there is nothing in it to turn. Spray it on skin rather than clothes, and use more than you think you need.

Two honest points. First, a meaningful minority of people cannot smell Iso E Super at all, or catch it only intermittently. The brand acknowledges the effect, saying it seems to vanish and then reappear to the wearer, and that you carry an aura others detect while you cannot. Second, that means judging it on yourself is unreliable, and asking someone else is the only real test. Longevity on skin is six hours and more; on fabric it lasts for days.