Mind Games

Mind Games is a New York luxury fragrance house founded in 2022 by Alex and Mariana Shalbaf, built on a single conceit: that scent, like chess, is strategy made sensory. Alex Shalbaf came to the project after two decades in niche distribution — he heads The Fragrance Group, one of North America's leading niche fragrance distributors — while Mariana Shalbaf directs the creative and artistic side. That combination shows: the house buys raw materials like a specialist and presents them like a design studio.

Everything Mind Games makes is extrait de parfum, the highest everyday concentration in perfumery, typically 25–30% aromatic compound against the 15–20% of an eau de parfum. In practice that means less alcohol, slower evaporation, and a scent that stays close and rich for eight hours or more rather than blooming and fading by lunchtime. If you are new to the category, this is the format collectors reach for when they want depth over projection.

The collection is organised like a board. The Perfumer Extraordinaire series holds the most opulent compositions; the Artisan line arrives in sculptural chess-piece flacons made as collectibles; the Soulmate range is quieter and more intimate. Across all three, the palette runs to tonka bean absolute, oud, saffron, orris, amber and rare florals, composed by established noses rather than in-house.

Start with Kingside, a warm pistachio-and-tonka gourmand that has become the house's calling card, or its counterpart Queenside. Each Mind Games fragrance is offered here at Redolia Perfumery as a full-size Extrait de Parfum. Explore the Mind Games collection below.