The Stories Behind the Seven Scents in “Pluviophile – The Rain Lover”

“Pluviophile” is another story about rain. In the rain you savour a quiet joy: its sound becomes a soft curtain, and behind it the voices within are free to speak. The rain will soon pass. But the scent made for those who love it lingers on the skin long after.

Rei Nguyen

Scent need not play a supporting part in art; it can stand as a work in its own right. Perfumer Rei Nguyen showed as much with her first solo exhibition, “Pluviophile – The Rain Lover”.

“Pluviophile – The Rain Lover” opens a series of niche perfume exhibitions by Rei Nguyen. From July 2024 to August 2025, she will present five distinctive scents in a run of exhibitions, each with its own theme. In this first one, she takes us on a journey in scent from Vietnam to Japan through seven scents, each of them a story about rain.

Green Green Grass

Bare feet on soft grass. To touch the earth is a wonderful thing. An earthly scent. When feet kiss the ground.

Bare feet on lush green grass, feeling the cool, soft earth beneath them. Green Green Grass recalls childhood days spent running across the fields, when every step was a new discovery. The scent opens on fresh-cut grass, moves to violet leaf in the middle and settles into a base of damp earth: natural, intimate and familiar.

Top notes: Cut grass

Middle notes: Violet leaf

Base notes: Wet soil

Petrichor

The earth smiles at a passing shower. After days of drought. The scent of a gentle wait.

Petrichor recalls the moment the first drops of rain touch parched ground, bringing with them the familiar notes of geosmin, ozone, Hedione, patchouli, castoreum and labdanum. It is the scent of waiting, and of softness: a feeling anyone will know after rain.

Top notes: Geosmin, Ozone

Middle notes: Hedione

Base notes: Patchouli, Castoreum, Labdanum

Wet Umbrella

Do you know the best thing about a clear umbrella? You feel the rain close around you, and yet you stay dry.

Wet Umbrella calls up an umbrella wet with rain, and above all that feeling of being wrapped in rain without getting wet. Green cucumber, with notes of musk and sandalwood, makes it a cool, refreshing scent.

Top notes: Wet umbrella

Middle note: Green cucumber

Base notes: Musk, Sandalwood

A Lonely Cloud

A wandering cloud has two choices. It can weave itself into other clouds and become rain. Or it can vanish for ever. Whatever form it takes, at heart it remains a lonely cloud, at ease with itself.

A Lonely Cloud tells of a solitary cloud facing a choice: to join the other clouds and fall as rain, or to disappear for ever. With lemon, petitgrain, muguet, ylang-ylang, ambert and vanilla, it is a scent of solitude, yet free and at peace.

Top notes: Lemon, Petitgrain

Middle notes: Muguet, Ylang-ylang

Base notes: Ambert, Vanilla

Rain on a Lake

Rain comes softly down from the sky to wander over a calm lake. With every breath of wind, it dances as it pleases. A tender meeting of waters.

Rain on a Lake pictures raindrops dancing on a still lake. With notes of pink peppercorn, grapefruit, galbanum, hyacinth and vetivert, it strikes a perfect balance between freshness and softness, like light rain falling on water.

Top notes: Pink peppercorn, Grapefruit

Middle notes: Galbanum, Hyacinth

Base notes: Vetivert

On a Wooden Bench

Wood has a natural memory: it keeps the thoughts and feelings of those who sit on it. When you need somewhere to think alone, sometimes a wooden bench is all it takes.

An Old Wooden Chair tells of wood’s natural memory, holding the thoughts and feelings of whoever sits there. With bergamot, geranium, lavender, cedarwood and tonka bean, the scent feels time-worn and warm. It is a place for quiet thought, a corner of your own amid the rush of life.

Top notes: Bergamot

Middle notes: Geranium, Lavender

Base notes: Cedarwood, Tonka bean

Wild Flowers

Beneath the great trunks of the trees. Above carpets of deep green grass.

Wild flowers, slender in form, sway and turn to the rhythm of the rain. Their scent is at its loveliest and purest in the murmur and cool of water. Of the rain.

Top notes: Basil, Sweet Orange

Middle notes: Bluebell, Daisy

Base notes: Mahogany, Guaiac wood

Each scent is a story, an experience and an invitation to see the world through the lens of fragrance. If you love scent and the stories behind it, make time to see this exhibition and the wonder of “Pluviophile – The Rain Lover”.