The prolific Viet-Am fragrance brand that makes thought provoking scents.
There’s something unusual about the way that d.Grayi approaches perfumery. Their releases are less like that of a traditional fragrance house where the focus is on the most marketable to the general public, and rather, d.Grayi chooses to release scents that very few brands venture to produce. The indie brand, helmed by self-taught perfumer James Nguyen, creates scents that feel like memories in molecular form. Each one is a story dissected down to it’s obvious parts but done so in a way that it becomes more and more endearing the more you smell it.
An uncommon note like durian is paired with something familiar like sweet, condensed milk and lime. And yet in the same perfume, Nguyen has added avocado to bring it all together to pay homage to Sinh Tố Bơ, a durian-avocado drink popular in Southeast Asia. This is simply one of the many releases of the brand that makes it worth trying.
Perfect For A Bunny
Lazy Lop, one of their standout creations, is what happens when someone understands that cute can be conceptual. Inspired after Nguyen’s own darling pet bunny, the fragrance plays with the idea of softness as both a texture and an emotion. It features notes that are very much main stays in other rabbit inspired scents like carrots, hay, and tonka. But also incorporates the unexpected banana, which is a particular favorite of Nguyen’s pet bunny and adds just enough fruitiness to the mix that keeps you sniffing to catch it on your skin before it develops into an agreeable woody base.
Eau de Jasmine Rice
But it’s the scent Jasmine Rice that is the social media favorite and for good reason. It showcases d.Grayi’s ability for transforming overlooked concepts in perfumery into something tangible. This isn’t just a recreation of steamed rice, it’s an entire mise en scene captured in scent form. The steam accord in this is photorealistic, carrying with it the tell-tale scent of fresh jasmine flowers and the slightly sweet, deeply comforting aroma of rice itself. One can’t help but muse upon memories of lifting up the lid of freshly cooked rice just to catch a whiff of this very scent. And as it develops, there’s that lingering sweetness that’s not quite rice pudding, but still familiar. It’s hints of a wooden rice paddle that’s scooped the fresh rice, it’s clean cotton, and the faintest whiff of milk. Amongst it’s rice fragrance peers, it’s notably distinct.
Discovery Set for the Month
Last year for AAPI Heritage Month, d.Grayi curated a discovery set of his own creations that reads like a love letter to the diaspora experience. The collection isn’t just about representing Asian ingredients, it’s about capturing the ineffable feelings of existing between two worlds, of finding home in scent form, and paying homage to traditions passed down from one generation to another. Each vial is a small vignette to specific moments: the steam rising from a rice cooker, the warming citrus tea on a cold winter morning, and even a milky childhood sweet treat just to name a few.
