Smelling tobacco, and smelling the cigarette packs of my parents. Not cigarette smoke, but the raw tobacco before it’s burned. If you ever put your nose in a cigarette pack, there’s this smell that smells like extra oxygen to me, because it’s mentholated, and you just want to inhale deeply. Because of that first scent memory, I have tobacco resin in many of my perfumes. A dear friend who is an aromatherapist pointed that out to me — that it’s a thread that runs through. I didn’t even realize I was doing it, I just knew that I really liked this smell. It’s so interesting because I absolutely abhor the smell of cigarette smoke.

— Anu Prestonia of Anu Essentials on her first scent memory. Read more in The Natural-Hair-Care Pioneer Turned Perfumer at The Cut.