{"title":"Luis Hou","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLuis Hou\u003c\/strong\u003e is a contemporary perfumer who has composed for the niche house d'Annam, working in the house's signature style of vivid, legible storytelling that renders Asian food and culture as wearable scent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor d'Annam, Luis composed \u003ca href=\"\/products\/d-annam-mooncake-eau-de-parfum\"\u003eMooncake\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/d-annam-bubble-tea-eau-de-parfum\"\u003eBubble Tea\u003c\/a\u003e, each an olfactory love letter to a dish, drink or ritual, offered here at Redolia Perfumery as a full bottle from the house founded by Nick Hoang.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis d'Annam work captures two beloved treats: Mooncake, a rich gourmand of golden syrup, salted egg yolk, lotus seed and honey that evokes the Mid-Autumn Festival; and Bubble Tea, a playful, creamy blend of black tea, boba, brown sugar and milk. Both showcase the house approach of rendering a specific Asian food or drink as a vivid, legible, wearable scent, built with real perfumery finesse rather than novelty, and sit alongside the wider Vietnam-inspired collection composed by IFF perfumer Anh Ngo.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExplore Luis Hou's d'Annam fragrances at Redolia Perfumery below.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"d-annam-mooncake-eau-de-parfum","title":"d'Annam Mooncake Eau de Parfum","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat it smells like\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe mooncake is a pastry of profound cultural weight across East and Southeast Asia—a mid-autumn festival essential, often gifted in ornate boxes, its golden exterior stamped with characters or images of the moon. Inside, a dense filling of lotus seed paste or red bean, sometimes studded with salted egg yolk, a ingredient that transforms sweetness into something more complex, more memorable. Luis Hou's composition captures this duality with precision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe fragrance opens with golden syrup—that deep amber warmth of caramelised sugar, the kind that coats the roof of a mooncake's exterior—paired immediately with mung bean, which brings an earthy, almost savoury grounding. It's a clever opening: sweetness tempered by something green and slightly mineral, preventing the composition from tipping into pure confection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe heart reveals the filling. Salted egg yolk arrives as a creamy, almost buttery presence—rich and slightly salty, the way the ingredient itself tastes when bitten into. Lotus seed follows, contributing a soft, slightly powdery floral quality that feels gentle rather than perfume-counter loud. Together, these notes create an effect that's simultaneously gourmand and restrained, indulgent but not cloying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe base settles into honey and vanilla—the fragrance's warmest, most enveloping layer. The honey feels natural rather than amber-like, a true honeyed sweetness that lingers on skin. Vanilla acts as a soft anchor, preventing the composition from becoming too heavy. What emerges across the wear is a scent that smells genuinely edible without ever feeling like a dessert fragrance in the conventional sense. It's legible, immediate, and rooted in something real: the memory of biting into a mooncake, the contrast of textures, the balance of salt and sweet, the ritual of sharing it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWho made it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLuis Hou composed d'Annam Mooncake as part of his ongoing work with the house, bringing his contemporary approach to d'Annam's signature style of vivid, legible food-and-culture storytelling. Hou works within the house's established language—fragrances that read as immediate olfactory narratives, rooted in specific Asian culinary and cultural moments—translating the mooncake's sensory reality into wearable form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ed'Annam itself was founded by Nick Hoang, whose name means 'from Annam,' the historical name for Vietnam. The house composes fragrances as olfactory love letters to East and Southeast Asian food, culture and memory: white rice, mango sticky rice, matcha soft serve, bubble tea, and now mooncake. Each fragrance is an eau de parfum, housed in minimalist rounded clear-glass bottles paired with illustrated art boxes—design that feels considered and restrained, allowing the fragrance itself to be the primary focus. The Vietnam-inspired collection draws chiefly on the work of IFF perfumer Anh Ngo, with additional compositions like this one from Luis Hou, ensuring the house's output remains varied in voice whilst consistent in vision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWho it's for\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ed'Annam Mooncake appeals to those who approach fragrance as a form of cultural and sensory storytelling rather than as abstract olfactory art. It's for people who find meaning in food—who understand that a mooncake isn't simply a pastry but a vessel for tradition, family, and seasonal ritual. It suits those drawn to gourmand fragrances but who find many in the category too broad, too sweet, too generic. Here, the gourmand elements are specific, rooted, and balanced by earthy and savoury notes that prevent the composition from feeling one-dimensional.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's equally suited to anyone with a connection to East or Southeast Asian culture, whether through heritage, residence, or genuine affection—those for whom a fragrance like this reads as a form of recognition, a scent that honours something real rather than inventing it. It's for the person who wears fragrance as a second language, communicating something about taste and attention through what they choose to smell like.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhen to wear it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ed'Annam Mooncake works beautifully during the mid-autumn festival season itself, when mooncakes are gifted and shared, when the cultural moment is at its height. But it's equally wearable year-round for anyone who simply loves the scent—there's nothing seasonal about appreciating honey, vanilla, and the subtle salted richness of egg yolk rendered as fragrance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt suits daytime wear, when its legibility and warmth feel particularly welcoming. It's intimate enough for evening, when the base notes deepen and the fragrance settles into skin. It works well in quieter settings where its subtlety can be appreciated—it's not a fragrance that announces itself loudly, but rather one that reveals itself to those close enough to notice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the house\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ed'Annam represents a particular approach to niche perfumery: the idea that fragrance can be a direct, unironic expression of cultural specificity and culinary memory. Rather than abstract or invented narratives, each composition in the collection references something real—a dish, a drink, a ritual—and translates it faithfully into scent. The result is a house that feels genuinely distinctive, where each fragrance occupies a specific place in the landscape of contemporary perfumery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe minimalist packaging reinforces this philosophy. The rounded clear-glass bottles and illustrated boxes are beautiful without being precious, designed to let the fragrance be the primary experience. d'Annam fragrances are offered as eau de parfum concentration, ensuring longevity and presence on skin. The house's commitment to legible, food-and-culture storytelling—evident across its entire collection—makes it a natural home for anyone seeking fragrance that means something beyond the purely aesthetic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"d'Annam","offers":[{"title":"1.7 oz (50 ml)","offer_id":54027996660028,"sku":"DAN-mooncake","price":160.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0987\/7078\/0476\/files\/bc-mooncake.png?v=1787848293"},{"product_id":"d-annam-bubble-tea-eau-de-parfum","title":"d'Annam Bubble Tea Eau de Parfum","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat it smells like\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBubble tea arrives as a fragrance the way it arrives in a glass: layered, textured, alive with contrast. Luis Hou has composed something that captures the drink's essential character—the brewed warmth, the chewy sweetness, the creamy finish—without pretending perfume can replicate taste. Instead, d'Annam Bubble Tea speaks in the language of scent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt opens with black tea, steeped and present. Not a whisper of bergamot or Earl Grey abstraction, but the actual dark, slightly astringent character of brewed leaves. This is the drink's foundation, its reason for being. The tea settles quickly into the heart, where boba and brown sugar emerge. Here the fragrance becomes noticeably sweeter, warmer—the tapioca pearls rendered as a gentle, almost creamy roundness, paired with brown sugar's deeper, almost caramel-tinged sweetness. It's gourmand without being cloying, indulgent without losing its grounding in the original drink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe base unfolds slowly. Milk arrives first, softening everything that came before, adding a subtle creaminess that makes the composition feel complete and almost comforting. Vanilla follows, but not as a loud finish. Instead, it acts as a gentle anchor, a whisper of sweetness that lingers without dominating. The overall effect is of a fragrance that tastes the way bubble tea feels: warm in your hands, sweet on your tongue, familiar and a little bit special.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a fragrance that reads clearly. There are no hidden notes, no mysterious base accords that shift unexpectedly. What d'Annam has done here is translate a beloved drink into wearable form with directness and respect for the thing itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWho made it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLuis Hou is a contemporary perfumer who has composed d'Annam Bubble Tea in the house's signature style: vivid, legible, food-and-culture storytelling rendered as scent. Working within d'Annam's established aesthetic—where each fragrance functions as an olfactory love letter to a specific East or Southeast Asian food, drink or cultural motif—Hou has created something that feels both immediate and considered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ed'Annam itself was founded by Nick Hoang, whose name means 'from Annam,' the historical name for Vietnam. The house composes fragrances as interpretations of the region's food culture and memory: white rice, mango sticky rice, matcha soft serve, mooncake, and now bubble tea. Each fragrance is an eau de parfum, housed in minimalist rounded clear-glass bottles paired with illustrated art boxes. The Vietnam-inspired collection has been composed chiefly by IFF perfumer Anh Ngo, with additional work from perfumers like Luis Hou, each bringing their own sensibility to the house's central mission.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWho it's for\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBubble Tea is for anyone who understands that fragrance can be a form of storytelling, and that the best stories are often about food, memory, and the small rituals that make life worth living.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's for people who love bubble tea itself—who have opinions about boba texture, who know their regular order, who understand the drink as something more than a trend. But it's equally for those who simply appreciate when a perfume commits to an idea and executes it with clarity. There's no ambiguity here, no attempt to be something other than what it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a gourmand fragrance for those who find gourmand fragrances interesting rather than cloying. The sweetness is present but never overwhelming. The tea note keeps everything grounded. The milk and vanilla at the base prevent it from reading as pure dessert. It's a fragrance that respects the intelligence of the person wearing it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt suits anyone drawn to niche perfumery that prioritises concept and clarity over trend-chasing. If you've worn other d'Annam fragrances and found them rewarding, Bubble Tea will feel like a natural addition. If this is your first encounter with the house, it's an excellent introduction to their philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhen to wear it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBubble Tea is a fragrance for quiet moments and everyday occasions. It's not a statement scent; it's a companion. Wear it when you want something that feels personal rather than performative. It suits afternoon hours particularly well—that time when you might actually have a bubble tea in hand, or wish you did.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt works well in warmer months, when the creaminess of the milk and vanilla feels refreshing rather than heavy. It's equally at home in cooler seasons, where the tea note and brown sugar warmth become more comforting. The fragrance is versatile enough for work, casual outings, or simply wearing at home. It doesn't demand occasion; it simply asks to be appreciated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the house\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ed'Annam is a niche perfume house built on a single, elegant idea: that fragrance can capture the essence of East and Southeast Asian food, culture and memory. Founded by Nick Hoang—whose name references Annam, the historical name for Vietnam—the house treats each composition as an olfactory love letter to a specific cultural touchstone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe collection reads like a menu of memory. White rice. Mango sticky rice. Matcha soft serve. Mooncake. Bubble tea. Each fragrance is conceived not as an abstract interpretation but as a direct, legible translation of something real, something tasted, something cherished. The house works with skilled perfumers, including IFF's Anh Ngo and Luis Hou, to ensure that each composition honours both the original subject and the art of perfumery itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHoused in minimalist rounded clear-glass bottles with illustrated art boxes, d'Annam fragrances are offered as eau de parfum—a concentration that speaks to the house's commitment to quality and longevity. This is niche perfumery in the truest sense: small-batch, concept-driven, uncompromising in its vision.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"d'Annam","offers":[{"title":"1.7 oz (50 ml)","offer_id":54027997970748,"sku":"DAN-bubble-tea","price":160.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0987\/7078\/0476\/files\/BubbleTea-Botle.png?v=1787848301"}],"url":"https:\/\/redolia.com\/collections\/luis-hou.oembed","provider":"Redolia Perfumery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}