Vanitas Parfums

Vanitas Parfums is an independent London fragrance house founded in 2022 by the perfumer Paul Voulgaridis, who is the only director of the private limited company behind it. The house says each perfume is conceived with structure, proportion and emotional depth in mind, unfolding gradually on skin.

The name comes from the vanitas paintings of past centuries, where flowers sat beside extinguished candles as reminders that beauty is brief. The house treats that brevity as the source of vitality. It works with natural extracts, absolutes, resins and distillations alongside contemporary aroma chemicals, bought from specialist producers around the world.

The range runs to about twenty perfumes, made as extrait de parfum or concentré suprême, plus a layering base called Spectre I: Untethered and a line of raw materials for other makers. The scents are detailed and often built around one idea. A Thousand Layers is a baklava gourmand of honey, nuts and pastry. Mediterre pairs tangerine and white florals with seaweed, sea salt and ambergris. Ikaria is Greek thyme, wild honey and tobacco, and Figueroa is a jammy fig. Shards of Moonlight is a clean musk with cardamom and rose.

Vanitas sits at the artistic, story-led end of independent niche perfume, with long note-by-note descriptions and a lab-bench approach that also appeals to people who make their own. It suits wearers who like conceptual, richly built perfumes.