Press · 2024
Rei Nguyen in Tatler: Composing Scent, the Art of Finding Balance Through Contrast
- Published
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 min
First published in Vietnamese on 10 September 2024. Translated in 2026 and kept to the original.
In August 2024, Tatler Asia (Vietnam edition) spoke with Rei Nguyen around one question: are opposites ever truly opposite? For Rei, every material has many sides. Black pepper is hot and sharp, yet it opens with a faint touch of citrus. The perfumer’s work is to choose the sides that can stand together.
The piece takes 221B as its example: the clean, slightly green side of leather set beside the honeyed sweetness of rose, to draw Sherlock Holmes, a character Rei has loved since childhood. Rei also talks about long hours alone with her materials, about rain and scents shaped by the past, and says balance exists only in the moment.
The rule is never to have more than one star.
Quotation translated from the Vietnamese. Original article: Tatler Asia, 31 August 2024 — https://www.tatlerasia.com/style/beauty/balance-perfume-making-rei-nguyen-vn (Vietnamese) · 25 March 2025 — https://www.tatlerasia.com/style/beauty/balance-perfume-making-rei-nguyen-vn-en (English)
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