For Anecdotes by Artists, a new fragrance brand launching exclusively at Sephora on Sept. 14, each scent starts with a story, as its name implies. Rather than leading with transportive notes or celebrity-fronted campaigns, Anecdotes by Artists brings the perfumer’s own memories and emotions to the forefront. For its debut collection of three eaux de parfum, each scent is inspired by a personal anecdote from perfumer Patricia Choux’s life.
“When you understand the story behind a fragrance, you smell it differently,” Founder Dana Steinfeld tells Fashionista via email. “Knowing the creator changes the experience from something you wear to something you feel and relate to on a personal level.”
Photo: Courtesy of Anecdotes by Artists
Steinfeld, a beauty industry veteran who has spent more than 20 years developing fragrance brands, turned her childhood fascination with perfume into a career. Today, Steinfeld serves as the chief innovation and Blue Sky officer at Maesa, a beauty incubator known for brands like Fine’ry, Being Frenshe and Hairitage. While spending more time with perfumers over the course of her career, Steinfeld became increasingly interested in fragrance creation and the personal experiences that inspired different scents.
“Because I’ve spent so many years inside the industry, I also had a front-row seat to how fragrance is typically developed,” she says. “Anecdotes by Artists gave me the opportunity to rethink some of those conventions and ask: ‘What would happen if we started with the perfumer and their story, giving them no creative constraints?'”
Photo: Courtesy of Anecdotes by Artists
In pursuit of adding a meaningful layer to the fragrance experience, Steinfeld let Choux — a FiFi award-winning perfumer behind scents from Nest, Jo Malone, Henry Rose and Snif — run wild. For her aptly-named first scent Wild Cousin, Choux reminisced on a childhood memory where she was forced to eat a dessert she hated: French baba au rhum cake. Instead of merely bottling the dessert’s syrupy scent, she reimagined the cake on her own terms. (“I hated being told to be a good girl,” Choux says.)
Wild Cousin is a warm and spicy gourmand, oozing decadent notes of rum-soaked cake, crème Chantilly, davana flower and oakwood. But who (or what) is the so-called “Wild Cousin”? For Choux, she refers to rum notes as the “‘wild cousin’ of vanilla,” which became “the rebellious, unexpected heart of the fragrance.”
Photo: Courtesy of Anecdotes by Artists
There’s no shortage of vanilla-forward gourmands on the fragrance market, but Choux crafted The Villainelle for the misunderstood sweet tooths. It opens with a frosty burst of iced juniper before melting into vanilla resin, vanilla crystals and incense smoke.
“The Villainelle is a self-portrait, inspired by the idea of being perceived as cold when I’m quite warm as a person,” Choux says. “I started with the contradiction of vanilla. Everyone expects vanilla to be warm, sweet and comforting, so I asked myself, ‘What if vanilla could be cold?'”
Photo: Courtesy of Anecdotes by Artists
For Anecdotes by Artists’ third scent, Choux turned a moment of artistic stagnation into a floral explosion: Painted Petals references Choux’s decision to “kill the boring” in a floral painting she was working on by splashing the canvas with paint, thus imbuing it with “new life.” The resulting juice is a floral fruity bouquet with notes of strawberry leaf, pink rhubarb, tuberose milk and jasmine absolute. Each fragrance is available in a 100mL and 10mL bottle, priced at $140 and $30, respectively.
“My hope is that when consumers experience the Anecdotes by Artists collection, each scent feels like standing before a painting — something that stirs emotion, invites reflection and inspires appreciation for the craft behind it,” Choux says. “I want every fragrance to be a moment of connection, a sensory story that touches people the way art does.”
As the fragrance category continues to surge, Sephora is increasingly positioning itself as a destination for scent discovery. Steinfeld says the retailer felt like “a natural fit from the beginning” for Anecdotes by Artists, as consumers are growing more interested in who is behind the products they love. For Steinfeld, Anecdotes by Artists is “inviting [consumers] into the creative process.”
“Consumers are building fragrance wardrobes, exploring new brands, learning about ingredients, following perfumers and creators and becoming more engaged with the category than ever before and that is especially true of Sephora’s clients,” she explains.
Photo: Courtesy of Anecdotes by Artists
Following Anecdotes by Artists’ inaugural collaboration with Choux, the fragrance brand will spotlight a new “perfumer artist” for each future collection. Instead of the brand supplying specific prompts or scent family directives, perfumers will be given full creative freedom to interpret their personal memories into sensorial experiences.
“At its heart, Anecdotes by Artists isn’t about fragrance alone,” Steinfeld says. “It’s about creative storytelling, human connection and developing a deeper appreciation for the people who create things we love. And for me, there’s no better place to start that conversation than fragrance.”
