To celebrate our abundance of wonderful Australian fragrance houses at Lore Perfumery, we started a QnA series to get to know all of the people behind the brands a bit more.
When we first stumbled across the Chasing Scents brand in 2024, we knew we’d discovered something really special. A brand that explores the ritual of making and drinking tea. A modern fragrance house creating exquisite scents that are steeped (pun intended) in the founder’s cultural roots. Using actual tea extracts for each scent, Chasing Scents creates what we believe to be the most realistic tea fragrances on the market. Below we have chatted with Sandy, the mastermind (and tea enthusiast) behind the brand.
What is your first or most powerful non-perfume scent memory?
It would probably be milk. It’s deeply comforting, familiar, nostalgic and reminds me of growing up. It’s a scent that feels like home and I love that it can also be added to tea.
What inspired you to start Chasing Scents?
Drinking tea was my little escape during the long, and intense days of my PhD in Chemistry. It was calming, but over time, I realised it wasn’t just the taste I loved, it was the smell. I thought, why not enjoy the scent of tea in the form of perfume.
What would you say are the core tenets of Chasing Scents, what defines it?
Tea is the core element in our perfume creations. See latter question about something people might not know about the brand.
How do you approach the creation of a fragrance? Do you start with a story/concept and then make a fragrance that embodies it, or do you start with the fragrance and write its story from there?
My perfumes usually begin with a story, sometimes inspired by a person, meaningful conversations, or tea enjoyed in a specific place. From there, I start imagining… which ingredients, what feeling and note pairings to start creating.
What’s something that people may not know about Map of the Heart?
We create our own tea and whole flower extracts that are used as part of many ingredients of a perfume. It’s a lengthy process, but worthwhile.
Are there any materials or ingredients you especially love to use in your fragrances?
This is a hard question, other than tea-related ingredients, some other favourites are jasmine sambac and osmanthus absolute.
Is there a fragrance from Chasing Scents that you feel particularly passionate about or connected to?
Tea Service, simply because I missed yum-cha during the lockdown of COVID and this scent was a way to remind me of those good times.
What does it mean to you to be an Australian fragrance house?
It means that I can celebrate Australia’s natural beauty. As an Australian-born Chinese, my upbringing in a multicultural environment has deeply influenced my approach to perfume blending. For example, we can find the native Australian botanical “wattle” note in the Rain Tea perfume.
What fragrance are you wearing today and why?
None, letting my nose rest up today.
