The Perfume Society: Sampling, Publishing, and Bringing Perfume Lovers Together

“The aim is to help people choose better”

Lorna McKay, in conversation with Karen Marin for Essencional, published in 2026 (excerpt)

Once you begin to love perfume, you become curious about what lies beyond the bottle. Who created it, and why did it take that particular form? How can you put into words the softness or nostalgia you feel? There is more to discover both before and after a purchase.

Britain’s The Perfume Society has connected fragrance articles, boxes of samples, a magazine, and conversations with perfumers to answer that curiosity. Its founders are fragrance writer Jo Fairley and Lorna McKay, whose experience spans department-store fragrance halls and television shopping. They wanted to open a route for ordinary perfume enthusiasts into a world previously familiar mainly to specialists.

At a Glance
The Founders and the Road to Launch
Connecting Articles, Sampling, and Encounters With People
What Readers in Japan Can Access, and Service Conditions
1. Free Reading and Online Encounters
2. Paid Services and Delivery to Japan
Key Milestones
Additional Note
References

At a Glance

Name: The Perfume Society
Public launch: May 1, 2014, when services began in the United Kingdom
Co-founders: Jo Fairley, also known as Josephine Fairley, and Lorna McKay
Main activities: information about perfume and smelling, The Scented Letter magazine, Discovery Boxes, smelling materials, and events
Legal entities: The Perfume Society, company number 08413372, incorporated February 21, 2013; and Perfume Discovery Ltd, number 08207087, incorporated September 7, 2012, also named in the official terms and conditions
Official website: perfumesociety.org

The Perfume Society is a company limited by guarantee without share capital. Perfume Discovery Ltd is a private limited company. The public launch year differs from the incorporation years of the two entities formed during preparation.

Its activities involve membership, retail, publishing, and brand collaborations. It is not a public institution or a regulatory body representing the perfume industry. Neither the word Society nor its company-limited-by-guarantee structure alone justifies understanding it as a nonprofit public-benefit organization.

The Founders and the Road to Launch

Jo Fairley’s Path to Writing About Scent

One of Jo’s scent memories is her grandmother’s greenhouse. Rose geraniums and tomatoes grew there, and her grandmother would rub the leaves and transfer their smell to young Jo’s fingers. The memory is vivid enough, she says, to bring back even the pattern of her grandmother’s clothes.

Her father, a journalist, brought perfumes home from duty-free shops during his travels for her mother and for Jo. She became familiar with Miss Dior, Calandre, and Rive Gauche while young. Learning about scent began within family life, before learning specialist vocabulary.

“Life is better when you can smell well.”

Jo Fairley, We Wear Perfume, 2016

Jo left school at 16, entered publishing, and became a magazine editor at 23. In 1991, she co-founded the chocolate brand Green & Black’s with her husband Craig Sams. Business and writing continued alongside each other, including Beauty Bible, created with Sarah Stacey, as she brought beauty and everyday living to readers.

Perfume had long been one of her subjects. She met perfumers and brands, but the question of how to turn that knowledge into readers’ own enjoyment would eventually become central to a new venture.

In 2016, Jo compared changes in perfume with changes in food around the time she founded Green & Black’s. Interest was turning toward makers: just as chefs had emerged from kitchens to discuss their food, fragrance creators were coming into view. The Perfume Society’s perfumer profiles likewise express a wish to understand their work and recognize their talent, as one would that of composers or chefs.

Lorna McKay’s Experience in Education and Retail

Lorna comes from Ayrshire in Scotland, and both her parents worked in education. She qualified as a teacher herself, but a summer job at Harrods captivated her, and she stayed for 14 years.

After experience in selling and training, she became a buyer. Following her work in Harrods’ perfume and cosmetics department, she helped create Liberty’s fragrance department in the early 1990s. She later became involved in establishing QVC’s beauty business in the United Kingdom. Different retail settings taught her to listen on the shop floor, create opportunities to try products, and explain them to people at home.

At Liberty, she changed a setting in which shoppers had to ask a salesperson to bring a tester out of a cupboard. Removing the counters allowed customers to approach products themselves. What mattered to Lorna was not only how a store wanted to present itself, but how customers actually shopped.

She applied that thinking to fragrance knowledge too. She developed FRED, a system for finding alternatives using a favorite perfume as a starting point, which later led to The Perfume Society’s fragrance recommendation tool. It was an attempt to make classification an opening for conversation with shoppers, rather than merely a way for stores to organize stock.

A Fragrance Recommendation Tool Connects Them in 1992

In 1992, Jo introduced Lorna’s fragrance recommendation system in YOU magazine. Intrigued by the idea of guiding someone from a perfume they liked toward another, she spent years encouraging Lorna to bring it back in a usable form.

Their relationship did not suddenly begin in 2014. Jo, who communicated perfume through words, and Lorna, who designed settings for choosing it, had shared interests long before then.

The immediate catalyst was a smelling session Jo organized for YOU. Ten perfume enthusiasts tried ten spring fragrances, with their responses intended for an article. Editor Sue Peart was there, as was Lorna, who had come from France as the fragrance expert.

While arranging the perfumes, Jo remarked that it was surprising there was no society for enjoying fragrance. Sue encouraged her to create one. The work of gathering readers to smell together became the idea for a new business.

The two spent about a week in France working out its form, followed by roughly two and a half years of preparation. Jo described their division of responsibilities in 2015 as editorial for herself and business for Lorna. From the beginning, the concept extended beyond a website to include samples and face-to-face contact.

Launching in May 2014 and Growing a Magazine

The Perfume Society launched on May 1, 2014. The date echoed the French tradition of giving lily of the valley on May Day. People who helped with the launch handed out sprigs of the flower to fragrance-industry contacts in London.

From the outset, the venture combined a website, Discovery Boxes, the digital magazine The Scented Letter, question-and-answer sessions, and workshops. Independent articles at the time described a publicly accessible website alongside membership at an introductory annual price of £25, providing access to a sample set, the digital magazine, and events. This was the arrangement at launch.

The early website prominently introduced female perfumers. Placing women’s work first among its introductions to fragrance creators was a distinctive aspect of the launch. Its approach to brands was also broad rather than limited to niche perfumery.

By 2015, the magazine had expanded from a digital publication into a printed form. Designer Jenny Semple had supported its pages since the first issue. Rather than collecting only Jo’s writing, it became a magazine welcoming different voices, including Suzy Nightingale and Persolaise.

Distinguish the Founders From Today’s Management

Company records show that Jo resigned as a director of both The Perfume Society and Perfume Discovery Ltd on April 14, 2021. Her current official profile also explains that, after leaving the business, she continued editing The Scented Letter. Her historical position as a co-founder should be distinguished from her present management role.

The Perfume Society’s current register lists Lorna and Hannah McKay as directors. Its spring 2026 smelling materials also point to a video in which Lorna and Alison explain the perfumes in the box. Editing, running the business, and guiding people through smelling are overlapping contributions that shape the venture.

Connecting Articles, Sampling, and Encounters With People

Discovery Boxes and Smelling Notes

Discovery Boxes gather samples from several brands around a theme. Brand Boxes, which explore the world of a single house, offer a different basis for selection.

The point is not simply that small perfumes arrive. The boxes connect to Smelling Notes designed to guide observation. Initially supplied as postcards, these materials are also accessed online through QR codes in descriptions of boxes currently listed.

Alongside descriptions and background, Smelling Notes offer questions to ask yourself while smelling. For Eight & Bob Original, for instance, they invite you to notice when woody notes appear as the fragrance settles and warms on the skin. For Paul Smith Essential, they ask which notes stand out to you. Rather than testing whether you can give a correct answer, they direct attention to changes over time and differences in impressions.

The autumn 2022 materials also asked readers to compare several perfumes and look for cardamom in them. This offers a way to consider how the same named material feels in different fragrances. In spring 2026, Smelling Notes appeared alongside an unboxing discussion video, continuing the movement between paper, screen, and the scent in your hands.

The World Around Perfume in The Scented Letter

The Scented Letter is not simply a catalogue of new releases. Its subjects have included perfumers’ working lives in A Working Nose, materials and creation, scent and memory, travel, culture, and everyday life.

The spring 2024 issue combined Suzy Nightingale’s exploration of incense trends in perfume and home fragrance with Bruno Jovanovic’s work, an extract from a book about Mandy Aftel’s scent museum, and scented household objects. The editorial approach moves outward from a perfume to its materials and the culture of daily life.

That year, an article by Scott McGlashan about his grandmother and the scent of Soir de Paris was also introduced as a British Jasmine Award nominee. Perfume writing thus includes not only creators, but also the memories of the people who wear fragrance.

The digital edition evolved from a membership benefit at launch into a magazine also presented as free to read through email registration. The printed edition is a separate paid product. A description of the spring 2024 issue listed the digital edition as free, the print edition at £15, and the VIP price at £12.50. Differences between formats and changes in arrangements over time need to be kept separate.

Places Where Perfumers Can Talk With Readers

In-person events have featured Guerlain’s Thierry Wasser, Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen, Lyn Harris, and Frédéric Malle, among others. These provide opportunities not only to smell perfume but to question its makers directly. Collaborations with British department stores and perfume shops have supported these encounters. By 2015, the Society had also welcomed a visiting program from the historical perfume conservatory Osmothèque, creating opportunities to encounter both current creation and perfume history.

The 2016 event with Francis Kurkdjian at Liberty in London was proposed to Jo by Kurkdjian himself. He sought that opportunity despite knowing how difficult it could be to explain creation to an audience.

“It’s more about sharing views.”

Francis Kurkdjian, interviewed by Persolaise for Now Smell This, 2016

The challenge was to explain things to visitors simply, precisely, and honestly. Kurkdjian was not aiming to assemble language meaningful only to perfume specialists. Because scent has no visible form, there is a need for occasions when its makers explain what they have done.

On April 6, 2020, the Society held its first Instagram Live perfumer interview with Kurkdjian. Jo joined from home and put readers’ questions to him. Subsequent conversations explored subjects including Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen’s collaboration and creativity during lockdown. Encounters had expanded from visiting a British venue to asking questions through a screen and watching the video afterward.

Words and Observation for Training the Nose

Smelling workshops have encouraged participants to consider not only what is in a fragrance, but the colors, textures, places, and people it brings to mind. Suzy and Jo have guided some of these events in London and elsewhere in Britain.

These questions connect with approaches to learning discussed with perfumers. Mathieu Nardin emphasizes linking smells to personal feelings and memories; Alberto Morillas recommends putting sensations into words and smelling repeatedly. Christine Nagel’s advice is brief and directed toward everyday life.

“Be olfactively curious. Smell everything you can, everywhere, every day.”

Christine Nagel, in The Perfume Society’s article on how perfumers train their noses (excerpt)

Learning here does not mean only becoming able to identify every perfumery material. It also includes smelling the same perfume on another day and describing how your impression changes. The materials and makers’ words provide support for that observation.

Brand Collaboration and Editorial Approach

Samples are provided with the consent of brands or their UK distributors. While creating opportunities to try perfume, The Perfume Society also sells products and works on joint projects with brands. Its relationships with readers and with brands seeking to reach those readers are connected within the business.

In 2015, Jo distinguished payment for a listing in the fragrance recommendation tool from coverage in general editorial articles. She also made clear an approach that did not dismiss readers’ tastes and left them to decide for themselves.

“We will never tell people what to think about something or make them feel bad about their choices.”

Jo Fairley, in conversation with Persolaise, 2015

This editorial position is easier to understand as guidance that brings readers closer to perfume and helps them judge for themselves, rather than as a place to read severe ratings. The current terms and conditions likewise do not treat recommendations from the fragrance tool as a substitute for trying perfume on the skin before deciding. Judgment remains with readers after they finish an article.

What Readers in Japan Can Access, and Service Conditions

Free Reading and Online Encounters

The website publicly offers perfumer profiles in The Noses, material guides in Ingredients, scent classifications, fragrance FAQs, and articles. Readers in Japan can use these English-language resources to learn about perfume’s background and ways of smelling.

For example, read a creator’s page and then smell one of their fragrances that you own. Use Smelling Notes to pay attention to changes over time, then return to the creator’s words. Reading and smelling can be connected without making a box purchase the only starting point.

Records of conversations provide a route to the official YouTube channel. Past videos can be explored alongside articles, while current online events should be checked through each individual announcement. An online interview and a class involving shipment of a smelling kit have different conditions.

Paid Services and Delivery to Japan

The following displays and conditions were checked on official pages on October 14, 2026. A displayed price does not necessarily mean that orders are being accepted or stock is available.

Service	Display and Format	Regions and Important Distinctions
Discovery Boxes	Sampling sets combining several brands. The Niche VII page displayed £23 for general customers, £19 for VIPs, shipping extra, and out-of-stock status.	Products containing perfume are for UK delivery only. The Channel Islands are excluded. Delivery to Japan is not available.
Seasonal Scents Subscription	Seasonal sampling boxes. The listed page displayed £21 every three months, with online materials and an unboxing video. It also displayed an unavailable-for-purchase notice.	For the UK, additionally excluding Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, and UK offshore islands. A shipping surcharge may apply depending on the postcode.
The Scented Letter Print Edition	A paid product separate from the digital magazine. Descriptions of past issues retain print and VIP prices.	Check overseas postage and current availability individually through the magazine’s product pages and official enquiries.
VIP Membership	An arrangement that has combined a welcome box, discounts on boxes, and advance event information.	The former joining page now returns 404. Do not use the former £25 annual price or benefits as current conditions for signing up.

The official terms and conditions state that orders containing perfume with delivery addresses outside the United Kingdom are subject to cancellation and refund. It is important not to sign up from Japan assuming UK services are available on the same terms.

For in-person events in Britain, check the venue, date and time, eligibility, and price in the individual announcement. A past event at a London department store does not establish that it is currently held regularly. The Events page describes past activities, but no new booking list was displayed at the time of checking.

Official links: an example sampling box, seasonal subscription boxes, magazine product listings, and enquiries. Check official prices, shipping charges, benefits, and availability when applying or ordering.

Key Milestones

Year or Period	Event
1992	Jo introduces Lorna’s fragrance recommendation system in YOU magazine. It becomes a predecessor of the later recommendation tool.
September 7, 2012	Perfume Discovery Ltd is incorporated.
February 21, 2013	The Perfume Society is incorporated.
May 1, 2014	Public activities begin, combining the website, sampling boxes, digital magazine, and events.
By 2015	The Scented Letter expands from digital to printed form.
2016	An in-person event with Kurkdjian takes place at Liberty, broadening contact between makers and readers.
April 6, 2020	The first Instagram Live perfumer interview features Kurkdjian, with readers’ questions conveyed from Jo’s home.
April 14, 2021	Jo resigns as a director of both companies. Her current profile states that she continues editing the magazine.
2024	The tenth anniversary; the digital magazine is also presented as accessible through free registration.
Spring 2026	An explanatory box video with Lorna and Alison appears alongside online Smelling Notes.

A constant in The Perfume Society’s history is its creation of opportunities for fragrance enthusiasts to perceive and choose for themselves. Writers’ words, samples in the hand, and conversations with makers offer distinct entrances, yet all lead toward wanting to smell the same fragrance once again.

Additional Note

As of October 14, 2026, the former VIP joining page and the old international digital-subscription page returned 404; the free-magazine registration page did not display a signup form; and the magazine product listing showed no products. The history of offering a free digital magazine and the ability to register now are separate matters. Distinguish accessible web articles and materials from new enrolment in paid services, and check registration or subscriptions through the official contact route. These displays alone do not establish that all activities have ended.

References

Services and links checked: October 14, 2026.