Villa Erbatium

Villa Erbatium is a South Korean niche perfume house celebrated for imaginative, storytelling fragrances that translate Korean culture, food, drink and cityscapes into scent. Where many houses chase abstraction, Villa Erbatium leans into vivid, legible concepts — a glass of cloudy rice wine, a green-grape beer on a Seoul summer night, the powdery comfort of baby soap — and renders them with a polish that has earned the brand a devoted international following.

The house style is soft, atmospheric and quietly gourmand, favouring creamy musks, milky and powdery accords, gentle woods and realistic fruit and floral notes over loud synthetic blasts. Signature releases include Rice Makgeolli, the cult creamy rice-wine scent; the gothic floral Dracula, created with the long-running Korean stage musical of the same name; and Scent of Seoul, commissioned by the city of Seoul itself.

What to try: Rice Makgeolli for cosy comfort, Fig Whiskey for something boozy and woody, and Allegria for a fresh floral musk. Explore the full Villa Erbatium collection at Redolia Perfumery below.