Inside Buckhead’s new AI fragrance experience, where 500 billion combinations marry perfume and personality.
I fell in love with fragrance as a teenager. The retailers of my adolescence, such as GAP, Clinique and Victoria’s Secret, lined their shelves with scents like Dream, Happy and Love Spell. I had them all. During my first trip to New York, I discovered Burberry Brit at Bloomingdale’s and immediately put a bottle on my Christmas wish list. Santa obliged the request. I’ve been hooked on perfume ever since, picking up bottles during travels overseas and occasionally splurging on a whim just because, viewing fragrance as the ultimate final touch to any outfit.
Even with a collection built from department store counters, duty-free indulgences and a few hands-on workshops, I’d never actually seen the mechanics of fragrances made from scratch until I walked into INDIEHOUSE, a perfumery that recently opened its second metro Atlanta location in Phipps Plaza. The shop is the only permanent retailer in the U.S. to have Algorithmic Perfumery by EveryHuman, an AI custom fragrance machine that builds individualized scents.
The machine draws from 52 different fragrance accords, each one a complex scent building block, creating more than 500 billion possible combinations. It looks sophisticated and futuristic, like something out of a movie; it’s the Cher Horowitz Clueless closet of perfume mechanisms where, with the tap of a button, personalization happens before your eyes.
The process begins with an indepth, online questionnaire. Each question is designed to help the machine select the ideal combination of oils specifically for you. Instead of just asking about your preferences when it comes to an array of scents, participants are also asked about their personality traits to receive a crafted aroma that considers your lifestyle and experiences. At the end of the survey, you receive a code that an employee enters into the machine.
Next, the machine generates three sample fragrances customized to your responses. You get to test all three, pick your favorite, and if you’d like, tweak one of them up to two times. Once you’ve landed on your signature scent, the machine fills an atomizer with your final fragrance and assigns it a name. For $140, you walk away with three 5ml test fragrances, your personalized 30ml creation and an experience that feels like alchemy.
The perfume experience doesn’t end once you leave the store. It follows you home and becomes a part of your fragrance collection, rotated as moments, moods and seasons shift. When I’m feeling nostalgic, I reach for my bottle of Cedar Violet by Aerin, a gift from friends over a decade ago. When my little black dress demands date night attention, I spritz Chloé eau de parfum. In the fall, when I want my mood to match the weather, I turn to my own INDIEHOUSE concoction, Stopping by the Woods, that I created and named myself during a workshop in 2021. No look is complete without a dash of fragrance; it’s this season’s must-have accessory.
WEAR IT RIGHT
A fragrance application guide according to the INDIEHOUSE team.
THE POWER MOVE. Apply to your shoulders; it’s the best place to wear fragrance for maximum projection.
THE PULSE POINTS. Hit your wrists and the back of your neck. Movement amplifies scent in these spots.
THE UNDERRATED ZONE. Don’t forget your ankles, especially if you’re wearing skirts, tights or boots. Heat rises, and the scent goes with it.
THE DÉCOLLETAGE MYTH. Spraying directly on your chest is ineffective. The skin is thin, so the fragrance won’t linger.
THE SPRITZ SKIP. Resist the urge to spray and walk through a cloud of fragrance. It wastes perfume and does nothing for longevity.
INDIEHOUSE
indiehousefragrances.com
@indiehousefragrances
PHOTO: Erik Meadows
