Heretic Parfum: Wearing Nature’s Dirty Beauty with a Rebellious Spirit

“Fragrance is an invisible world that connects us to our own sensuality and allows a deeper connection with ourselves and the world around us.”

— Douglas Little, founder of Heretic Parfum​

Essential Information

• Brand: Heretic Parfum
• Founded: 2016, in Los Angeles
• Founder: Douglas Little
• Official website: hereticparfum.com

The Founder and the Origins of the House

Born in Los Angeles in 1974: A Boy Enchanted by Smell

Douglas Little was born in Los Angeles in 1974 to two photographers. His parents ran a photography studio in North Hollywood and worked as freelance artists. With self-employed parents who were constantly on the move, the young Little was always surrounded by the adult working world: business negotiations, photo shoots, and hair and makeup teams. His father also taught evening photography classes at UCLA, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Little would sit in on them. By the age of fourteen, he reportedly had also completed courses in Japanese calligraphy, pastel drawing, herbalism, and ikebana through his own initiative.​

From an early age, Little’s companions were not children his own age. He raised snakes, spiders, lizards, toads, and a crow named Poe, planted a garden of carnivorous plants, and immersed himself in books. His encounter with fragrance came on the way home in North Hollywood. Passing an inconspicuous little shop called Herb Products Inc., he was stopped in his tracks by the smell of camphor that seemed to seep out of the building.​

“The shop sold dried herbs and essential oils by the ounce, mainly to herbalists. I spent hours poring over its catalog, looking up everything with a strange name and accumulating knowledge.”

— Douglas Little​

He reportedly began selling homemade fragrance oils to his mother’s friends at just twelve years old. He has also recalled a childhood game at a garden center: his mother would take him there, tear off leaves, and ask him to identify their scents. A correct answer earned him twenty-five cents. That was where his sense that “every plant has an invisible signature” began.

As a teenager, he became deeply immersed in Gothic subculture: the sound of Siouxsie and the Banshees, deathrock clubs, clove cigarettes, and black eyeliner. He says that this “world of beautiful decay” still flows beneath Heretic’s fragrances today.​

Where Design and Scent Meet: UCLA, ArtCenter, and Grasse

In terms of formal education, Little studied marketing and product development at UCLA and ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. After graduating, he worked in marketing for a major cosmetics company, but could not shake the feeling that he did not fit within the industry’s mainstream. He says he began to feel that the mainstream beauty industry lacked authenticity in every aspect, from manufacturing to sales.

Following his instincts, he traveled to Grasse, the southern French city often described as the heartland of the global perfume industry. There, he attended lectures at the Syndicat National des Fabricants de Produits Aromatiques, the educational institution of the French aromatic-products manufacturers’ association, learning the fundamentals and chemistry of fragrance composition, as well as a profound respect for the art form.​

“My time in Grasse taught me the structure of composition and fragrance as an art. It gave me a grounding in chemistry and a foundation to build on. More importantly, it gave me a great respect for this wonderful art form and the confidence to boldly color outside the lines.”

— Douglas Little​

2003: Launching D.L. & Co., Candles with Gothic Sensibility and Craftsmanship

After returning from Grasse, Little founded his first fragrance brand, D.L. & Co., in 2003. Also known by the full name “D.L. & Co.: Modern Alchemists and Purveyors of Curious Goods,” it was a brand with an edgy Gothic sensibility centered on artisan-composed scented candles. It reportedly distinguished itself through details such as a special patented blend of soy, palm, and maple waxes, Burmese silk boxes, and Swiss-made pleated tissue paper. Like Aladdin’s magic lamp, the brand found success almost instantly.

Little left D.L. & Co. in 2009 and, after a brief respite, began moving toward his next stage.
In 2010, he heard a woman from a prestigious perfume house remark at a fragrance-industry panel that “natural perfumery is merely the work of housewives and heretics.” Feeling that the word applied to both himself and his brand, Little immediately called his lawyer, applied for a trademark, and made it his company name.

2012–2016: The Birth of Heretic Parfum

After leaving D.L. & Co., Little was convinced that niche fragrance represented the future of the market. He also sensed that the time was coming when natural fragrance materials would finally find acceptance within luxury perfumery.​

“In 2012, I began developing Heretic Parfum. I made a conscious decision that if I was going to put myself through the stress of developing another product line, it had to be exactly what I envisioned, without any compromises.”

— Douglas Little​

In March 2016, the house officially debuted at Barneys New York’s new Chelsea store in Manhattan. Heretic Parfum became the first 100% natural perfume collection to be carried by Barneys.​

The beginning was not smooth, however. In an interview with the New York Post, Little looked back candidly.

“I believed I had great taste and that everyone would love it. But it didn’t work at all.”

— Douglas Little​

Customers were confused by names that were “too mystical,” scents that were “too complex,” and, above all, the very concept of “natural perfume.” Little paused, discontinued the fragrances that were not selling, and concentrated on those that remained. Then, in 2017, he introduced the Dirty series, which became a turning point.​

“Just when everyone was starting to talk about dirty chemicals, I wanted to respond with a bit of irony: this is a 100% clean perfume, but I’m going to call it Dirty.”

— Douglas Little​

This reversal in naming worked. Fragrances made only from natural materials yet named “Dirty” began attracting attention, riding the wave of clean beauty while setting themselves apart from established clean-beauty brands.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Worldwide Attention

Shortly after the Dirty series was released, a beauty editor at Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop reportedly fell in love with Heretic’s fragrances and introduced them to Paltrow herself.​

“Gwyneth has a clear eye for distinguishing quality from what isn’t quality.”

— Douglas Little​

The two collaborated and, in early 2020, released a candle called This Smells Like My Vagina on Goop’s e-commerce site. Its ingredients included bergamot, cedarwood, ambrette seed, and Damask rose. With the impact of its name, it sold out almost immediately and became a talking point worldwide. Follow-ups such as This Smells Like My Orgasm and This Smells Like My Prenup turned the collaboration into a series.

“I received both praise and harsh criticism. That is when you know you have truly stirred something.”

— Douglas Little​

Through this series of collaborations, Heretic moved beyond the boundaries of a niche fragrance brand and established itself as a provocative cultural voice.

The House’s Commitments

“Radical Transparency”: Ingredient Disclosure as Rebellion

For many years, the perfume industry has legally been allowed to conceal every ingredient in a bottle under the single word “fragrance” (the U.S. Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966 exempts ingredient disclosure as a “trade secret”). Heretic directly challenges this practice, making it a principle to disclose every ingredient in every product on its product pages. Harper’s Bazaar described Heretic as “breaking the industry’s boundaries by offering complete transparency about perfume ingredients.”

Choosing Organic Sugarcane Alcohol

Most commercial perfumes use a denatured alcohol called SD40, alcohol to which toxic chemicals have been added to make it undrinkable. Concerned about its toxicity, Little developed his own sourcing route for non-GMO organic sugarcane alcohol.

“The problem was that, because the alcohol was undenatured, the government assumed we were buying it to make drinks. In the end, we had to team up with a beverage manufacturer, because they were already using this alcohol in their products.”

— Douglas Little​

Little also explains that the sugarcane alcohol itself has a slightly sweet scent, making it part of the aromatic profile and providing the foundation for a more complex, dynamic fragrance.​

The Philosophy of Natural Materials: Beauty in Imperfection

All Heretic fragrances are based on plant-derived natural materials such as essential oils, concretes (semi-solid fragrance materials obtained through solvent extraction), and absolutes (liquid fragrance materials obtained through solvent extraction). Synthetic fragrance materials are generally not used, although some later products contain a proportion of “safe synthetic” ingredients whose safety has been confirmed. In those cases, the full ingredient list is also disclosed.

“With natural fragrance, as with wine, you can sense the nuances of the plant, the soil, and its environment. It has an individuality that synthetics cannot achieve. These scents are alive and leave an olfactory fingerprint.”

— Douglas Little​

The word “Dirty,” which Little favors, refers to a material’s unrefined, unpolished, wild character. Nature’s rough-hewn individuality, from the soil to the stem and petals, with its organic imperfections and earthy beauty intact, is the essence of Heretic’s scents.​

Another characteristic is its view of fragrance not simply as something consumed for a pleasant smell, but as “functional fragrance” based on ancient wisdom such as Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, homeopathy, and herbalism.​

“A chemist once told me that products made with high concentrations of natural materials are elevated almost to the level of treatments. I ask this question in terms of the functionality of the ingredients: can this fragrance communicate something beyond simply smelling good? A calming effect, for example?”

— Douglas Little​

Small-Batch Production in the Los Angeles Studio

Production is still carried out by hand in small batches in the Los Angeles studio. Each fragrance is born at a perfumer’s workstation that Little calls an “organ,” with at least two hundred glass bottles neatly arranged on a wooden desk. Each batch differs subtly with the harvest, which is another reason the fragrances have individual character, like wine.

The official website does not publish a detailed explanation of the packaging. Reviews describe the bottle design as a minimalist expression of the house’s philosophy of “radical transparency,” but the research for this article did not locate an interview in which the founder discussed the design concept in detail.

A Non-Gendered, Nonbinary Approach to Perfume

Heretic positions all its fragrances as “non-gendered,” not bound by gender. Rejecting the traditional perfume market’s divisions into women’s and men’s scents, it aims to create fragrances anyone can wear without being constrained by gender.​

The Fragrance Collection

Heretic’s collection is not a single large line, but is composed of several series, themes, and collaborations.

The Dirty Series: The Heart of the House

Introduced in 2017, the Dirty series forms the core of the house’s identity. Its defining paradox is to call a fragrance “Dirty,” suggesting something unclean and raw, even though it is “clean,” meaning pure and safe. The fragrances foreground the wild, earthy side of natural materials. Major creations include the following.​

• Dirty Grass: An earthy fragrance containing full-spectrum hemp-derived CBD oil, layered with vetiver, lavender, rose, and citrus. A creation in the first “functional fragrance” series, it was launched on April 20, or 4/20, a day associated with cannabis culture, amid growing momentum for hemp legalization.​
• Dirty Violet: Violet leaf, jasmine sambac, patchouli, cedarwood, and labdanum. A collaboration with drag queen and fashion icon Violet Chachki, who described it as “organic, light, fresh, and natural, neither synthetic nor excessive.”​
• Dirty Patchouli: A creation seeking to redefine patchouli not simply as a hippie material, but as a “sensual touchstone” achieved through the highest-quality distillation.​
• Dirty Hinoki: A woody fragrance starring Japanese hinoki cypress.​
• Dirty Vanilla, Dirty Peach, Dirty Rose, Dirty Grapefruit, Dirty Lavender, Dirty Vanilla 2, Dirty Suede, Dirty Lime, and Dirty Rhubarb are among the other confirmed creations.

The Blood Series: Three Creations Carrying Nature’s Vitality

A deep, primal series themed around “blood.”​

• Blood Cedar: Frankincense, blood cedar, pine, wormwood, and Siberian fir absolute.
• Dragon’s Blood: Oud, frankincense, dragon’s blood (the resin of Dracaena cinnabari), and Lebanese cedar.
• Blood Orange: Italian blood orange, bergamot, mandarin, champaca, jasmine sambac, and vanilla.​

The Nocturnal Collection: Flowers That Bloom Only at Night

A series inspired by nocturnal plants.​

• Angel’s Trumpet: The sweet, dangerous scent of thorn apple (angel’s trumpet).
• Nocturnal Tuberose: The rich, sensual floral character of tuberose.
• Queen of the Night: The fantastical scent of a flower that blooms only at night.​

Collaborations and Signature Creations

• Scandalwood: Burmese sandalwood, coriander, Bulgarian rose, labdanum, and white musk. A collaboration with burlesque icon Dita Von Teese, reportedly inspired by the sensual beauty of the 1920s and “vintage erotica.”​​
• Nosferatu: A collaboration with Focus Features, distributor of Robert Eggers’s film Nosferatu (2024). The limited edition was billed as “Eau de Macabre” (a macabre eau de parfum). Its scent layers lilac, ambrette, petrichor (the smell of stone and rain), violet absolute, orris, cypriol, vegan ambergris, and oud. The bottle cap is engraved with Count Orlok’s sigil.

Other Major Creations

• Smudge: A smoky, purifying scent inspired by sage, roots, and resins.​
• Florgasm: A floral in which multiple flowers merge sensually.​
• Bergamusk: A light fusion of bergamot and musk.
• Coeur Noir: A deeply personal creation that Little describes as “a portrait of my inner world: dark, romantic, and a little dangerous.”​
• Poltergeist: A fragrance of transformation and presence, described as “the invisible energy left behind after something, or someone, has passed through.”​
• Häxan: A “scent of witchcraft and shadows” combining fossilized amber, velvety osmanthus, and damp oakmoss.​
• Black Salt: A “fragrance of a haunted coastline,” with lime, black water lily, sea salt, seaweed, and labdanum.​
• Midnight Toker: A creation also featured in Harper’s Bazaar.​

The house also offers several discovery sets of 2 ml samples, grouped by concept under names such as Season of the Witch, The Blood Box, The Smoke Box, Nocturnal, and Beach Goth, allowing customers to explore its fragrances thematically.​

An Additional Note…

• Alongside his work as a fragrance designer, Douglas Little is highly regarded for visual installations and window displays created for leading names such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Bergdorf Goodman, and Maxfield Los Angeles. He has also worked with Swarovski to design a fifty-foot Christmas tree in Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
• He often emphasizes that he is a Scorpio, joking that “a Scorpio’s mission is to convert patchouli haters into patchouli lovers.”​
• At least two hundred glass bottles are arranged in the studio on a wooden desk called an “organ.” In a perfumer’s atelier, “organ” is the general term for the shelving used to organize fragrance-material bottles, a traditional industry name likening the arrangement to a pipe organ.​
• Little also has a strong interest in screen adaptations of science fiction and Gothic literature. He has described designing the set for a film adaptation of Joris-Karl Huysmans’s novel À rebours, or Against Nature, as his “fantasy project.”​​