You smell amazing! What are you wearing?
The scented side of cinema ft. Cherry Cheng of Jouissance Parfums
*This post doesn't display fully in the email, so be sure to read it in the Substack app or on your desktop! I highly recommend downloading the app for the complete experience.*
First off Happy Valentine’s Day <33 The idea for this post came to me one day in September of last year while I was spraying on perfume before heading to the movies. Scent, though invisible, plays a subtle yet powerful role in films, often serving as an unspoken character, even if it doesn’t seem significant at first. When we see a bouquet of roses or a bowl of freshly popped popcorn on screen, we instantly know what they smell like. It’s a small but important detail that enhances the movie-watching experience, at least for me it does.
Though we can’t actually smell movies, perfume fills that gap. I love seeing real-life fragrances appear on screen, whether a character is using them or they’re casually displayed on a vanity. There’s something satisfying about spotting a bottle of Chanel or Guerlain. You can learn so much about a character by the beauty products they use: Do they prefer luxury brands or drugstore? Is their collection all from the same line, or do they have a mix? Or maybe they don’t use any products at all. I find it interesting to consider whether the choices fit the time period or align with the character’s personality. As I gathered screenshots for this newsletter, it became clear how perfume is used in a variety of ways to highlight a character’s personality. It might be the super-rich finance bro who’s obsessed with his appearance, or a powerful woman in a Manhattan corporate office, straight out of a rom-com. Perfume can also play a key role in a character’s transformation, with scent helping them embody a new identity.
Um…yes I know this Substack isn’t called Perfumes in Cinema but I found the relation of perfume and floral so fascinating. Keep reading till the end because I reached out to Cherry Cheng, the founder of Jouissance Parfums, whose fragrances are inspired by erotic women’s literature, including works by Anaïs Nin, Anne Declos, and Catherine Millet. I wanted to hear her perspective as a perfumer and ask her how scent can be woven into film. Keep reading if you’d like to read the full interview with Cherry!
The only way out is through the... perfume department.
There was a time where I wanted to have be someone with a signature perfume but now I realize I’m more of someone who changes my perfume based on my mood and day. And I’m cool with that.
I find perfume both nostalgic and haunting which is why I like it. I have a tendency to purchase a perfume because it was a scent I’ve wanted since high school such as Miss Dior Chérie by Dior and Daisy by Marc Jacobs. Both perfumes that had campaigns that I was OBSESSED with. The Miss Dior Cherie commercial, directed by Sofia Coppola, had a profound effect on me as a teenager, and I remember tearing out the Daisy perfume ads from my Teen Vogue to tape on my bedroom walls.
Even though I never owned them in high school, the smell of it now at my age reminds me of my teenage years. The horrors of perfumes are the scents that remind me of a certain time in my life, not necessarily a bad time but it’s scary how a scent can transport me back to a past version of myself. The damp, musty scent of Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland instantly transports me back to summer days spent with my best friends at the park. It’s the same feeling I get when I catch a whiff of the sweet, cake-like fragrance of my first MAC lipstick, bought for my high school senior portraits. Or when I light the Voluspa Goji Tarocco Orange candle I picked up during a brief stint working at Anthropologie. And then there's the familiar, comforting scent of Victoria’s Secret Pear Glacé Lotion, a gift from my mom during a Black Friday trip to the mall. Each of these scents carries me to a different time in my life.
I love to see perfume especially on vanities all clumped up together when I’m watching movies. I’m not necessarily well-versed in the perfume world nor have the most complex sense of smell. But I am a beauty lover who is always curious. There is so many movies and TV shows that reference famous perfumes in both beautiful and humorous ways. I like when fragrance almost lends itself as a joke or helps propel a character into their journey.
My most nostalgic perfume is L’Eau Rose by Balenciaga, which has since been discontinued. Thankfully, I still have my original half-empty pink bottle. This was the first perfume I truly fell in love with. I discovered it at South Coast Plaza in Orange County, casually picking it up near the door of the Balenciaga store. Although I wanted to buy it right then, I decided to wait and see if I still loved it weeks later. When I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I went to Nordstrom to make the purchase. To my surprise, it was priced incorrectly, and they let me pay half the original price. It felt like a dream come true—my first designer perfume bought with my own money. I wore it for years in while still living in California, always terrified of running out and having to pay full price. That’s probably why my bottle is still only half empty. I still love this perfume, though I haven’t worn it in years since moving to New York. It’s a scent that I have to be fully prepared to smell. These days, it almost hurts my nose. Was it always this sweet and nauseating, or has my perception changed over time?
Lately, my perfume rotation includes Gloam by Aesop, Eau de Californie by Celine, and Do Son by Diptique My latest addition is La Bague D'O by Jouissance, and I’m already becoming obsessed with it. It feels like the perfect scent to wear for Valentine’s Day right now.
Speaking of Jouissance, a perfume brand I recently discovered through Instagram. I had the privilege of speaking to the founder, Cherry Cheng. We both share the love of both film and literature. I was able to smell her curated selection of perfumes beforehand and I can say they are amazing and so unique. La Bague D’O is my current favorite, on her website she describes it as “A journey by car to an unknown destination, the leisurely pleasure of ritualistic dressing, sacred submission, the candy wrapper shine of glossy fashion photographs, purple welts that take weeks to heal, a masked ball and the iron ring on your third finger”. Just reading the fragrance descriptions I was hooked and wanted to dissect her brain, so without further ado here is my interview with Cherry!
Hi Cherry! Thanks for chatting with me. Could you give a brief introduction—where you're based, a little more about your brand, JOUISSANCE, etc.
Hi Iris! It’s a pleasure to be a guest on your beautiful Substack channel. I’m based in London, and JOUISSANCE is a passion project born from my deep obsession with fragrance, literature, and film. Our debut fragrance collection draws inspiration from the lives and works of three elemental erotic writers of the 20th century: Anne Desclos, Anaïs Nin, and Catherine Millet.
Each fragrance is built around a unique combination of floral notes:
LA BAGUE D’O – romantic and theatrical; rose, jasmine, geranium, violet.
EN PLEIN AIR – fresh and sharp; lily of the valley, grass.
LES CAHIERS SECRETS – nostalgic and subtle; lily, iris, heliotropin.
We had so much fun bringing these scents to life at our past events, collaborating with our talented florist friends, Sage Flowers and Christie Leigh, who handpicked exquisite floral arrangements that beautifully corresponded to the main floral notes in each fragrance.
Was there a particular fragrance that first sparked your love for scents?
My earliest scent memories are of the functional household fragrances from my childhood in Beijing, followed by mass-market teen fragrances from Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret, when I moved to the U.S. at 16.
It wasn’t until five years ago that I began to rethink fragrance as an art form, much like literature and film. The fragrance that sparked this shift for me was Chanel No. 5. I know it’s a rather common choice, but for me, it felt special because I hadn’t grown up with it. I didn’t know anyone of my parents’ or grandparents’ age who wore it as their signature scent, so I never associated it with a particular generation.
I was struck by how Ernest Beaux and Coco Chanel revolutionized the fragrance industry by introducing an overdose of aldehydes in this creation. While it wasn’t the first fragrance to do so, Chanel’s consistent marketing definitely played a pivotal role in cementing its legacy.
What’s even more impressive is the house of Chanel’s exceptional commitment to the production quality of this iconic fragrance. Today, special cultivations of Rose de Mai (rosa centifolia) and Jasmine Grandiflorum—the two key natural floral notes in Chanel No. 5—are grown exclusively in Grasse for Chanel’s use.
How do you see the emotional and sensory elements in women’s erotic literature translating into your perfume creations? Is there a particular atmosphere or feeling you aim to evoke through your scents?
We did a lot of research into the iconic fragrances and fragrance trends of the eras when the literary works that inspired our perfumes were written. It’s important to me that our re-imagination of these stories stays historically faithful—at least to the best of our ability—which is probably why sometimes people say our fragrances have a nostalgic quality.
For example, we felt that lily and orris were fitting choices for LES CAHIERS SECRETS—our fragrance inspired by the early diaries of Anaïs Nin, set against the backdrop of 1930s Paris. Because lily notes were commonly used to scent face creams, while orris—derived from the rhizome of the iris flower—was often ground into powder and used in powder-based cosmetic products. These for me are the smells of a Parisian boudoir. Heliotropin was included for a sweet, buttery body. And cumin was the finishing touch that added warmth, sensuality, and a slight touch of vulgarity.
LA BAGUE D’O is bold and theatrical, embodying a different type of femininity. And this is reflected in the contrast of the composition—floral bouquet in the body balanced by the depth of patchouli, amber, and castoreum in the base. Much like the heroine of Story of O, this fragrance is beguilingly beautiful, but beneath the surface there is a dark complexity.
Lastly, EN PLEIN AIR is the most contemporary and unisex fragrance of the trio. It draws inspiration from Catherine Millet, the renowned art critic and memoirist who has been a luminary in the French art scene since the 1970s. We selected a blend of citrus notes—bergamot, lemon, and grapefruit—to capture her sharp intellect. The floral elements are more subtle here, with lily of the valley and grass notes emphasizing freshness.
There’s an interesting connection between beauty, desire, and death—a beauty so overwhelming, or a desire so consuming, that it ultimately suffocates us. And for me rose is the ultimate symbol that perfectly captures this paradox.
Fragrance in film is often a subtle yet powerful tool for conveying emotions. In your opinion, how does scent influence the emotional tone of a movie? Can you recall any films where you felt the presence of fragrance, even if it wasn’t explicitly mentioned?
The first scene that comes to mind is the rose bed of Angela Hayes in American Beauty (1999), directed by Sam Mendes. It’s such an iconic and powerful moment. The scene also brings to mind Laurence Alma-Tadema’s famous painting, The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), in which the Roman emperor Elagabalus buried his banquet guests under a cascade of rose petals from a false ceiling—some were smothered to death, unable to escape. There’s an interesting connection between beauty, desire, and death—a beauty so overwhelming, or a desire so consuming, that it ultimately suffocates us. And for me rose is the ultimate symbol that perfectly captures this paradox.
How would you approach creating a signature scent for a movie character? What factors (personality, backstory, setting) would you consider when designing a fragrance for someone on screen?
Similar to the approach we took for the debut fragrances of JOUISSANCE, my process will begin with researching the context of the film—examining the era, key artistic and aesthetic movements, and the iconic fragrances of the period.
I’ll then watch the film multiple times, carefully noting scenes that evoke scents or align with the character's essence.
And lastly, I’ll delve into the character itself. Their personality will help me to make decisions on the fragrance’s gender, composition, and tone. This will also help me to decide whether I want the most impact on top, heart, or base notes, whether to lean towards more contrast or harmony, and whether the overall structure is going to be more linear or has a lot of developments.
Is there an existing movie character you can imagine embodying one of your own perfumes?
The inspirations behind two of our fragrances – LA BAGUE D’O and LES CAHIERS SECRETS – have been brought to life through film adaptations: Just Jaeckin’s Story of O (1975) and Philip Kaufman’s Henry & June (1990). We took inspirations from both films when we were creating the fragrances. Corinne Cléry’s portrayal of O in Story of O is nothing short of divine, while Uma Thurman, in Henry & June, undeniably steals the show as June Mansfield, the enigmatic wife of Henry Miller and the muse of Nin’s obsession.
There isn't a direct connection between any specific film and EN PLEIN AIR, but the film that most evokes this fragrance is Eric Rohmer’s La Collectionneuse (1967). Haydée, portrayed by Haydée Politoff, mirrors the image I have of a young Catherine Millet—her hedonistic, carefree spirit and youthful energy capturing a similar sense of airiness and liberation. The way Haydée moves through the world with a kind of effortless independence is how I imagine Millet’s early years as recalled in her memoir, making this film a perfect visual parallel to the fragrance.
Noticing the floral notes in your perfumes—roses, white flowers, lilies, jasmines, and violets—I'm curious: Do you have a favorite floral note? And what do different flowers symbolize for you when creating a fragrance?
My favourite floral note in perfumery is orange blossom, though we’ve yet to find the perfect use for it in our fragrances. I love both the essential oil, neroli oil, and the solvent-extracted orange blossom absolute. These two materials have very distinct olfactory profiles – Neroli Oil is greener and airier, while the Absolute is richer, headier, and more honeyed. Orange blossom historically symbolizes innocence and is often used in bridal garlands and bouquets. It's also frequently found in baby products, so there’s a subconsciously comforting and cocooning aspect to it. The orange blossom note is used exquisitely in one of Anaïs Nin’s favourite perfumes, Narcisse Noir by Ernest Daltroff (1991) for Caron, even though the fragrance is named after another flower. The waxy, animalic, and honeyed facets of the orange blossom worked beautifully with the rich, leathery base notes and the warm creaminess of sandalwood.
For me, rose is the ultimate symbol of romance. It’s a flower intertwined with both love and death, and it expresses the most classic notions of femininity. Like orange blossom, rose can be extracted in two ways: rose oil (through hydrodistillation), which is fresh and delicate, and rose absolute (through solvent extraction), which is deeper and more honeyed and complex. The scent profile also varies depending on the region of cultivation, whether it's Bulgaria, Turkey, or Morocco, as well as the variety, Rosa centifolia or Rosa damascena. Rose notes pair beautifully with jasmine in classic bouquet compositions like Chanel No. 5, but they also create beautiful contrasts in less conventional pairings, such as with patchouli in Femme by Rochas (1948) and Aromatics Elixir by Clinique (1971), or with galbanum in Nahema by Guerlain (1979; fun fact for film lovers, this fragrance was inspired by Catherine Deneuve).
White flowers like jasmine, tuberose, and ylang-ylang, which release their intoxicating scents at night, are the epitome of seduction and sensuality, though they each have their own specificities. Some of my favourite white flower fragrances are Fracas by Robert Piguet (1948) and À la nuit by Serge Lutens (2000).
As previously mentioned, lily and orris and both associated with vintage cosmetics products for me. Lily cannot be extracted naturally, so the lily notes in fragrances are often imparted by synthetic ingredients such as Hydroxycitronellal.
Violets, for me, are sweet and synthetics. Again, violet flowers cannot be extracted naturally, therefore it’s often replaced by the synthetic materials from the ionones family. They tend to smell more like the candy Parma violet than any fresh flowers.
Favorite flower?
'La Belle Epoque' Tulip. Although Tulips aren't particularly associated with perfumery, I find them to be some of the most visually stunning flowers.
What’s the current perfume you’re wearing?
I've been wearing Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue (1912) a lot lately to help set the mood for something I'm working on.
Favorite movie?
Moon in the Gutter (1983), directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. Beineix’s Betty Blue (1986) is another favourite.
Lastly, is there anything exciting coming up for JOUISSANCE that we can look forward to in the near future?
We have some exciting launches coming up this year, and I can’t wait to share more details with you very soon. But before that, I have something even closer on the horizon—I'll be heading to New York in late April/early May for our very first JOUISSANCE U.S. event at Stéle Williamsburg! Since our launch, we’ve been overwhelmed by the incredible love and support from our U.S.-based friends, and I’m so excited to finally meet our New York friends in-person. Hope to see you there! 😊
A big big thank you to Cherry for taking the time to chat with me! I truly appreciate it. Follow Jouissance Parfums on Instagram here!
Love,
Iris
I adore this all 🖤 A strong (the strongest?) perfume-in-film association / memory I have is the scene in The Darjeeling Limited where Jason Schwartzman smashes a bottle of perfume sent by his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman). The moment after, where the brothers all smell her in the air, made such a lusty impact on my teenaged self when I first saw it. It made me want a scent that could let me exist even just in air for those who loved me.