June 26-28, 2026, was the inaugural ScentFest SF founded by The Perfume Guy, Sebastian Jara, with more than 100 global niche brands represented and an impressive 4,000+ registered attendees.
“ScentFest SF was created to bring the fragrance community together in a meaningful way, and seeing more than 4,000 people come through our doors for the very first edition exceeded every expectation,” said Jara. “It proved that niche perfumery has a passionate, growing audience that’s eager to discover new brands, meet perfumers, and share their love of scent. This is only the beginning.”
June 26-28, 2026, was the inaugural ScentFest SF founded by The Perfume Guy, Sebastian Jara, with more than 100 global niche brands represented and an impressive 4,000+ registered attendees. Galen Banghart
Travis McIntosh, CEO of supplier Perfumer’s Apprentice and its consumer brand, Scent Trunk, added, "As an online retailer, ScentFest SF was such a fun way to meet so many people who know the Scent Trunk brand and an exciting venue for our fans to share stories of how they connect with our line, and seeing the excitement on their faces when being introduced to our new Whisper of Melancholy launch of four new fragrances!"
The show was anchored by diamond sponsor, Kintessence, U.S. exclusive distributor of niche fragrances; platinum sponsor Kayali, featuring Mona Kattan; gold sponsors Lucky Scent, Granado, Jovoy, Jeroboam, Silver Sponsors Amouage, Xerjoff and Nishane; and bronze sponsor ScentSplit.
ScentSessions, presented by Amouage, sponsored 17 curated panels and highlighted the talents of industry giants like Renaud Salmon (Amouage), Mona Kattan (Kayali), Christophe Laudamiel (Osmo), Julien Rasquinet (CPL Aromas) and Saskia Wilson-Brown (Institute for Art and Olfaction). There was a spotlight gallery featuring 25 historical fragrances from Osmothèque, sponsored by Scent Split. During one of the standing-room-only ScentSessions, guests were treated to a pairing of historical fragrances with perfume antiquities from The Perfume Passage, the largest vintage perfume bottle, compact and ephemera museums in the United States. - Its second location, in Milan, Italy, opens in October 2026 in collaboration with IPBA Italia (Internationale Perfume Bottle Association).
For the ultra niche collectors, the normally shy Victor Wong surprised his cult following with his new Trash Panda Raccoon Urban Edition—the essence of a nocturnal scavenger digging through city dumpsters. People waited patiently in line to smell those through his entire Zoologist collection of fragrances, which were not for purchase at the show, but available at Ministry of Scent where they hosted Victor for an in-store event. Galen Banghart
For history lovers, legacy brands like Granado, founded in Rio de Janeiro 156 years ago, launched a new banana forward fragrance Yes, Nós Temos Banana!, with Mane perfumer Ugo Charron. Heritage brand, L.T. Piver, founded in 1774, showcased itsOlfactive Library with original historic scents and their new fragrances presented by its U.S. distributor, The Marie Marie, which also had a dazzling display of fragrances from Hilde Solani, Mad et Len, Kintsugi and Blackbird.
For the ultra niche collectors, the normally shy Victor Wong surprised his cult following with his new Trash Panda Raccoon Urban Edition—the essence of a nocturnal scavenger digging through city dumpsters. People waited patiently in line to smell those through his entire Zoologist collection of fragrances, which were not for purchase at the show, but available at Ministry of Scent where they hosted Victor for an in-store event. Ministry of Scent also hosted several other after hours parties with Imaginary Authors, Jijide, Chris Collins, and a Curator Happy Hour with Christina Loff (Dry Down Diaries), who moderated a panel.
Loff shares, “I was thrilled to be able to moderate a panel during ScentFest SF. I brought together a group of content creators to talk about fragrance in the age of influence and how we all think about reviewing and talking about perfume at a time when it's never been more popular and there are multiple new releases every day. I really wanted a diverse range of voices on the panel, and I'm so glad we ended up with people who create short form content (Cammy Kim and Asia Grant), long form podcasts (Emma Vernon), and the perspective of a brand founder and perfumer who also shares content online (Bryson Ammons). It was a packed room with really thoughtful questions, and I loved hosting the conversation.”
She added, “ScentFest was an incredible weekend. I was most taken with all of the amazing Asian brands I had never heard of before, and now have so many new favorites on my list. Brands that really stood out to me included Wren Atelier, Mangla, Zhufu, Mimicri and SW19, just to name a few. It was so special to smell creations from all over the world inspired by traditions and experiences so different from my own.”
To quench their thirst for tea scents and Asian inspired notes, perfume lovers enjoyed the new Tears and Smiles Pineapple and Oolong Tea scent by Gatsby Yeh for Scent Trunk, and the enticing and opulent scents from Thai brands Parfums Dusita, Glin Dee, Siam 1928, Prin and Parfum Prissana.Galen Banghart
That was a sentiment overheard numerous times—the curation of Asian brands (many of which sold out of their top sellers) were the highlight of many guests who came through.
Sarah Pae, a Korean perfume tailor and the founder and CEO of Scent By, a fragrance consultancy specializing in signature scent development and sensory branding, who serves as the Asia representative of GIP (Grasse Institute of Perfumery) and is a board director of the Art Mia Foundation (China), created an olfactory experience of luxury Korean brands whose aesthetics and storytelling wowed the audience. Standouts from the Korean section were: Mimicri’s scent called Another Broken Pottery and I Am Pencil. Other highlights came from Unvanish, Nahes and Le Persona, whose boozy Whispering Kiss was on the lips of every neo-gourmand lover: “OMG you have to try the red-bean one!” Orris Cocoon by Pesade was another favorite that sold out long before Sunday latecomers arrived. It smells just like it sounds, a cloud of orris wrapped in Longjing tea.
For tea lovers, there was no shortage of excellent tea scents to choose from, though the Aged Pu-Er Tea from perfumer David Huang of Zhufu in glass bamboo packaging was an instant sell-out on the first day as were all the scents from Filipino nose Renato Lopena Jr. of Wren Atelier. To quench their thirst for tea scents and Asian inspired notes, perfume lovers enjoyed the new Tears and Smiles Pineapple and Oolong Tea scent by Gatsby Yeh for Scent Trunk, and the enticing and opulent scents from Thai brands Parfums Dusita, Glin Dee, Siam 1928, Prin and Parfum Prissana.
Reference, showing for the first time, was recently selected to be part of the Sephora Accelerate program.Galen Banghart
Several brands were total newcomers to the industry and took the opportunity to launch their brand at ScentFest SF including: Tankhouse, Kosui, Lune Charié, Roble, Indo Atma, Planets Perfumery, Strange Love’s Off Script and Swirl Works. The designated Discovery Zone with emerging brands and new indies had a constant flow of eager buyers—many who came specifically to meet Maya Njie, who flew over from London, fresh off winning the Golden Pear, artisan award from Institute for Art and Olfaction. Reference, also showing for the first time, was recently selected to be part of the Sephora Accelerate program.
Another new brand launch was from Seychelles: "ScentFest SF was Coco de Mer Fragrances' very first show, and the response blew us away—from loyal customers to brand-new fans. Meeting so many peers in the niche perfume space, with that kind of energy in the room, confirmed we're exactly where we belong. We can't wait to exhibit again."
In addition to the exhibitors, what made ScentFest SF unique were the experiential areas like the the Florra Scent Bar where customers could choose from specialty accords like Cereal Milk to create signature scents on the spot, or one could try the AI guided custom scent experience by Algorithmic Perfumery with library essences like Musk Enigma that smelled “metallic, minerally and nuzzly.”
While all the scents were swirling in the air, one wandered into the poetry-driven art exhibition curated by Alexandre Halweni, global experience director for Nishane. Galen Banghart
Just beyond the art gallery was the ScentSessions by Amouage, a curated program of 17 panel discussions and presentations. Fridays sessions were focused on the business of fragrance with topics ranging from “The Grand Tradition of Haute Parfumerie” to “Artistic Niche to Selling Niche Fragrance,” “Pioneers of California Perfumery” and “Perfumers as Protagonists.” There was a bit of a frenzy for “What Makes the High Perfumery House of Amouage Special” and the “Rapid Fire with Renaud Salmon and Mona Kattan.” Over 200 people were waiting in line for 65 seats. Those who didn’t get a seat were waiting in a different queue to meet Kattan in person at the Kayali boutique.
“ScentFest SF was created to bring the fragrance community together in a meaningful way, and seeing more than 4,000 people come through our doors for the very first edition exceeded every expectation,” said Jara. “It proved that niche perfumery has a passionate, growing audience that’s eager to discover new brands, meet perfumers, and share their love of scent. This is only the beginning.”Galen Banghart
Other academic level sessions included “Conservation through Reconstruction,” “Perfume as Art: Creativity, Culture and Phenomenon” with Ministry of Scent founder Antonia Kohl, and “The Power of Scent: The Science of Smell Loss, Memory and Discovering What You Love.” The House of Sacred Scents also hosted specialty talks at their booth about natural perfumery, conservation and astrology.
Many experts came straight from World Perfumery Congress to lend their expertise and the perfume community at large came to support like: Karen Marin, editor of Essencional, magazine of Esxence, perfumers and leadership from Mane, Max and Paula Forti from ScentXplore, Gus Romero from Fragrance Alliance Network, and a small team from Sephora, which is headquartered in downtown San Francisco.
Ken Isaacs, moderator of Pass-the-Blotter, enthusiastically reported, "It's clear that ScentFest SF has mastered the art of bringing the world together under one roof. Its curation was striking, with Europe, Asia, and the Americas each represented with care and intention.”Galen Banghart
Ken Isaacs, moderator of Pass-the-Blotter, enthusiastically reported, "It's clear that ScentFest SF has mastered the art of bringing the world together under one roof. Its curation was striking, with Europe, Asia, and the Americas each represented with care and intention.”
One last note: My credit card company called me twice to make sure all the (perfume) purchases were mine!
Visit ScentFestSF.com for a full listing of the participating exhibitors and sponsors. And sign up for their newsletter and future announcements.
Yosh Han is a perfumer, educator, and speaker. She consults on olfactive branding, scent development, and fragrance briefs & evaluations. Han is the Creative Director at Scent Trunk and programming curator for ScentFestSF. Her most recent scent installation was Scents and Sonics of the Ocean, a multi-sensorial exhibition for Ocean Memory Project.
