{"id":33548,"date":"2025-10-16T14:14:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/?p=33548"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:14:30","slug":"talking-about-scents-of-sin-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/talking-about-scents-of-sin-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking About Scents of Sin & Sustainability\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Heretic Parfum throws an event, you know it won\u2019t smell like everyone else\u2019s. Hosted by founder Douglas Little, last night\u2019s Scent & Spirit<\/em> was proof of what we\u2019ve always suspected: Heretic perfumes aren\u2019t simply created, they\u2019re conjured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douglas shared that he named the brand after being told that natural perfumers were \u201cfor housewives and heretics.\u201d Instead of taking offense, he took ownership. \u201cHeretic means someone with an opinion that\u2019s different from everyone else\u2019s,\u201d<\/em> he explained. And that\u2019s exactly what defines his work, a refusal to blend in, a heresy that blends goth romanticism with smoke, spice, and spirit. Lots of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to our Director of Integrated Marketing, Brittney Jackson Moseley, we had a front-row seat (and camera roll) full of exclusive footage, including a few minutes with the main perfumery heretic himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What Comes First\u2014the Story or the Scent?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When asked what sparks his creative process, Douglas\u2019s answer was immediate: the ingredient.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s being driven by an ingredient. When I get new materials from suppliers, I\u2019ll open a bottle and it immediately inspires a direction I didn\u2019t even know I needed to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt rarely stems from the story first. It usually starts with an ingredient\u2014the feeling it gives me leads me to the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His approach turns the traditional perfumer\u2019s process on its head: rather than forcing a narrative, he lets each raw material tell its own story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Truth About \u2018Clean Fragrance\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a world obsessed with \u201cclean beauty,\u201d Douglas doesn\u2019t see \u201cclean fragrance\u201d as a marketing claim, he sees it as a duty.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes brands have a responsibility to create fragrances that are safe for people and the planet. When Heretic launched, he worked exclusively with naturals, but over time, he\u2019s embraced safe synthetics that enhance longevity without compromising ethics. His partners are carefully chosen for sustainability and transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClean shouldn\u2019t be a buzzword\u2014it should be a baseline.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we have that on t-shirts, please? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Most Heretical Thing He\u2019s Done Lately<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When asked about his most heretical act in perfumery, Douglas didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with fossilized amber,\u201d he said. \u201cIt made absolutely no sense \u2014 it\u2019s insanely expensive and hard to come by. But as a perfumer and an artist, it was intoxicating. It was the most punk rock thing I could do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Do Our Scents Reveal Who We Are?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Moseley asked him: Do you think a person\u2019s choice of perfume reveals who they are\u2014or who they want to be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think most people know who they are,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people pick fragrance based on how their partner will interpret it, which is the wrong way to wear scent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you wear a fragrance you love<\/em> and it makes you feel something, you\u2019ll be more attractive to everyone around you. F*** what anyone else thinks\u2014that\u2019s the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fragrance as Folklore, Alchemy, and Heresy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Douglas\u2019s creative universe is where gothic romanticism meets botanical science. His work often channels ghosts, witches, and forgotten myths, exploring scent as a language of transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recently brought Poltergeist into Ghosts<\/em>, an exhibition at Basel\u2019s Kunstmuseum, creating olfactory interpretations of spirits. From there came The Ghosts Discovery Set<\/em><\/a>, proof that Halloween isn\u2019t just a holiday for Heretic. It\u2019s a mood. No, better yet, it\u2019s a mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His October 1 launch, H\u00e4xan (Swedish for \u201cwitch\u201d), digs even deeper. Inspired by the 1922 film of the same name, banned across most of Europe for being \u201ctoo salacious,\u201d the fragrance reclaims the witch archetype as a symbol of free thought and fearless femininity. Douglas, if you ever read this, research the myth of witches in Balkan folklore. Usually, witches are women who have knowledge beyond the \u201cveil\u201d; they\u2019re feared, fearless, and totally badass. l<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe words witch and heretic are so closely intertwined,\u201d he shared. \u201cWitches are feared because they can\u2019t be controlled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H\u00e4xan is built around osmanthus, that quiet, leathery-apricot bloom, grounded with amber and paper notes that hint at knowledge and ink. It\u2019s a fragrance of metamorphosis: smoky, cerebral, and beautifully strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Heretic Highlights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The brand\u2019s upcoming Edward Gorey Collection celebrates the macabre illustrator with hauntingly elegant room sprays. And yes,  Midnight Toker<\/em> and Black Salt<\/em> are as darkly delicious as they sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midnight Toker<\/em> is Douglas\u2019s ode to his teenage goth years in The Valley: clove cigarettes, black eyeliner, and late-night Helter Skelter memories.
Black Salt<\/em> reimagines summer through a nocturnal lens, where incense smoke drifting over seaweed at a midnight beach paints the most gothic picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about being at the beach at night, hanging out with a bunch of weirdos,\u201d he said with a grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Making of a Heretic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Douglas\u2019s fascination with scent began early, straining his mother\u2019s perfumes at six, buying essential oils with lunch money at eleven. His parents, both photographers, surrounded him with the smell of developer fluid, which became his first scent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trained by Mandy Aftel, he learned to treat naturals like living materials\u2014evolving, maturing, and changing over time, much like fine wine. That philosophy infuses everything he makes: perfumery as alchemy, as storytelling, as heresy, because \u201cF*** what anyone else thinks\u201d. Everyone can break rules, but burn them for warmth; only the genius ones do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Heretic Parfum throws an event, you know it won\u2019t smell like everyone else\u2019s. Hosted by founder Douglas Little, last night\u2019s Scent & Spirit was proof of what we\u2019ve always suspected: Heretic perfumes aren\u2019t simply created, they\u2019re conjured. Douglas shared that he named the brand after being told that natural perfumers were \u201cfor housewives and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":33556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3357],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_0474-4-scaled.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33548"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33568,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33548\/revisions\/33568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scentbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}