This Perfume Makes You Smell Like Extinct Flowers—and Yes, That’s a Good Thing

Anyone who’s gone down the ScentTok rabbit hole knows that the world of perfume is as vast as it is overwhelming. And while there are tried-and-true trending perfumes that always hit a high note, it’s a real challenge to find something truly unique. Enter Future Society, a perfumery that has created one-of-a-kind scents utilizing the genetic sequencing of extinct flower samples from Harvard Herbarium. If it sounds like the perfumer’s version of Jurassic Park, that’s because it is. They’ve collaborated with some of world’s best perfumers to bring these lost blooms back to life, and the results are intoxicating. Their Scent Surrection Collection is a lineup of six fragrances that are quite literally like nothing you’ve ever smelled before.

The Haunted Rose is my personal favorite, and it always gets compliments when I’m out. The scent is reminiscent of a Turkish lukum shop, where the delights fill the air with the aroma of fragrant rosewater, sugar, vanilla, pistachio, and orange blossom. This bottle harkens the extinct Macrostylis villosa subspecies 1 + 2, a flower from South Africa last recorded in 1960. It’s nostalgia-inducing and incredibly nuanced. Rather than being purely floral, which rose scents tend to be, there’s a splash of passionfruit warmed by saffron, a pinch of black pepper, and a smooth base of sandalwood. (I mean, doesn’t that just sound delicious?)

Courtesy of Future Society

Some of Future Society’s scents are even inspired by the West. For instance, the vibrant Solar Canopy eau de parfum contains Hibiscadelphus wilderianus, a flower last recorded on Hawaii’s southern slope in 1912. It wasn’t until 2017, when samples were extracted from the Harvard Herbarium by synthetic biologists, that smelling this flower become a possibility again. It also contains top notes of bergamot, red currant, pink pepper, with mids of Turkish rose, lychee, pistachio, magnolia, and a vetiver base.

Courtesy of Future Society

You can buy Future Society’s unique scents in several formats including body cream, body cleanser, and eau de perfum. Or better yet, opt in for a discovery set that will allow you to sample them all.

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