Louise Smith

About

Louise Smith is the founder and perfumer of Wales Perfumery, an independent niche house in Monmouthshire, in the Wye Valley. She is the only perfumer behind its range: the house says every fragrance is conceived, formulated and made by her.

Her route into perfume went through science. She went to school in Tenby, in Pembrokeshire, loved chemistry from a childhood chemistry set, and worked on a Lancôme counter while building a career in the pharmaceutical industry. There she ran clinical trials, moved into research and development, and later managed relationships with dental and medical schools. In 2012 an article on perfumery in a chemistry magazine changed her direction. She found a perfumer in Paris and trained there, and has since studied in Italy and London. The sources do not name her teachers or the school, so none is claimed here.

In 2019 she opened a studio in a 500-year-old walled garden near Monmouth and began teaching perfume workshops. The house grew from that. Natur, her first collection, launched in 2022 and draws on the damp earth, woodland and coast of the Welsh landscape. The Celts followed in 2025, with each fragrance inspired by an ancient Celtic tribe. A Perfume Layering Library launched in 2026, designed so that its fragrances can be worn alone or layered together.

She works by story rather than by trend. Everything begins with a question she wants to answer, goes through many drafts and trials, and is then checked for skin safety by a cosmetic chemist before the compliance paperwork is filed. She is a member of the British Society of Perfumers and an ambassador for Fifth Sense, the charity for people affected by smell and taste disorders.