British Niche Perfume Brands: Four Houses From London

Four of the houses we carry are recorded in London: Jo Malone London, Penhaligon's, Roja Parfums and Sarah Baker. They range from a house whose site header says Established 1870 to an artist's studio in East London, and they work in four different ways. Each gets a section below, in alphabetical order and without ranking, with the two perfumes that have the most ratings in our research for that house. The other countries are covered in niche perfume houses by country.

What Britain means on these bottles

Origin is a fact about a company and not a scent style, but each of the four says something British about itself. Penhaligon's signs as British Perfumers. Jo Malone London calls itself a British lifestyle brand and states that its colognes are made in Britain. Roja Parfums says its fragrances are made in England, and Sarah Baker dilutes, fills and boxes in small batches in London. British subjects turn up in the perfumes as well: a windswept coast and a Shakespeare comedy.

The four houses

Jo Malone London

The house describes itself as a British lifestyle brand known for its fragrance portfolio, and its own about page says it joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 1999. The perfumes are sold as Cologne and as the richer Cologne Intense, the house's names for its two ranges; our perfume glossary has an entry on such house terms. Each product page names exactly one top, one heart and one base note and suggests other colognes to combine it with, a habit our layering guide looks at more closely. Wood Sage & Sea Salt, a Cologne, takes the bracing air of the British coast as its subject: ambrette seeds on top, sea salt in the heart, sage in the base. Myrrh & Tonka, a Cologne Intense, goes to the dunes of the Namib desert, with lavender, Omumbiri myrrh and tonka bean. Both are filed under Cologne in our catalogue, and the Jo Malone London guide describes all ten.

Penhaligon's

The site header reads British Perfumers, Established 1870; other sources put the founding slightly earlier, so we quote the house. It groups its fragrances in collections: Portraits, which are character-driven Eaux de Parfum with figurine-topped bottles, Trade Routes, British Tales and Potions & Remedies. The website shows a few key notes per fragrance and no full pyramid, and we list what it shows. The Tragedy of Lord George is the patriarch of the Portraits, who greets you with shaving soap and warming rum under a gilded stag's head; the key notes are Ambrox, rum and tonka bean. Halfeti, from Trade Routes, is told as a love story in moonlight with a nod to a legendary black rose: grapefruit, bergamot, Levantine spice, rose and an oud accord, which places it among our oud perfumes. Continue with the Penhaligon's guide.

Roja Parfums

Founded in Mayfair in 2011 by Roja Dove. The house calls itself independent and a pioneer of haute perfumery, says its fragrances are made in England and presents them in crystal-adorned bottles; its flagship boutique is in the Burlington Arcade. Most perfumes exist as a 100 ml Eau de Parfum and a 50 ml Parfum, grouped in collections such as Elysium, Aoud and Isola. The pyramids are long. Elysium Pour Homme, which the brand places in 2017 and presents for men, counts eight top notes, among them grapefruit, lemon, lavender and thyme, has apple and blackcurrant among its heart notes and runs cedarwood and pink pepper through a base with benzoin, vanilla and leather; it is one of our perfumes for men. A Midsummer Dream turns Shakespeare's comedy into a green, mossy forest floor: aldehydes, lemon, bergamot, grapefruit and mandarin on top, cyclamen, geranium, Rose de Mai, orange blossom and magnolia in the heart, and patchouli, oakmoss and vetiver among fifteen base notes. The Roja Parfums guide has the full pyramids.

Sarah Baker

Sarah Baker is a multidisciplinary artist, and the brand she co-owns with Andy Hsu, also an artist, is run as a family business from a studio in East London. Every perfume is a collaboration with a different independent perfumer, who is credited by name on the bottle, and is presented as a character in an ongoing fantasy world, with a mini screenplay of its own and a hand-stamped box. Peach's Revenge, an Extrait de Parfum made with Chris Maurice, is pitched as a juicy, spiced peach with attitude: peach, guava, nectarine and amaretto on top, orris, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and bark in the heart, and amber, vanilla, caramel and musks in the base. Jungle Jezebel, made with Miguel Matos, is a tropical, deliberately provocative floral: banana, peach, bubblegum and grape, then tuberose, ylang-ylang, rose and sandalwood, over civet, vetiver, vanilla, tonka bean and amber. It sits with our tuberose perfumes, and both are in the Sarah Baker guide.

Choosing between them

• Short lists or long ones: Jo Malone London names three notes per perfume and Penhaligon's a few key notes, while the two Roja pyramids above run to twenty-five notes each.
• Made to combine: Jo Malone London builds layering into every product page.
• A character per bottle: the Portraits of Penhaligon's and every perfume of Sarah Baker come with a figure and a story.

If you would sooner start from a season, an occasion or a scent family than from a country, Find your scent asks five short questions.

Frequently asked questions

Which British perfume brands does NicheGems carry?

Four houses recorded in London: Jo Malone London, Penhaligon's, Roja Parfums and Sarah Baker. Together they account for 38 perfumes in our catalogue.

What is the difference between Cologne and Cologne Intense at Jo Malone London?

They are the names of the house's two ranges. The brand presents Cologne Intense as the richer of the two, under the menu heading Rich and Alluring Fragrances. Wood Sage & Sea Salt is a Cologne, Myrrh & Tonka a Cologne Intense.

How old is Penhaligon's?

The header of the house's own site says British Perfumers, Established 1870. Other sources give dates in the late 1860s, so we quote the year the house itself uses.