If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, how about a perfume without a name? It’s an intriguing proposition put forth by Byredo’s Unnamed scent — the first perfume from the brand to enter the market without an evocative name hinting at its inspiration. Gypsy Water’s rich, floral scent was inspired by the Romany lifestyle. Rose of No Man’s Land was inspired by the nicknames given to the heroic nurses who served on the frontlines of World War I. But Unnamed was simply created to mark the brand’s tenth anniversary.
Despite not having a name, though, the fragrance has a definitive scent. Byredo’s Ben Gorham doesn’t want to unduly influence anyone’s experience, so he’ll only describe its notes, which include pink pepper, a gin accord, Irish root, moss. and a balsam fir. I don’t want to leave you with my own impressions of the scent either, but I will say that it smells like a little like Byredo’s take on CKOne or CK2 — a fresh but complex watery scent with a fruity, peppery, and woody depth to it. It’s intriguing, perhaps because you don’t know what it’s “supposed” to smell like.
The scent is available today as a flash sale on Byredo’s site. Although the label for Unnamed is blank (minus the Byredo logo), each box comes with a personalization kit containing a wooden pencil and alphabet and symbol etch-ons (a sort of take on Glossier’s sticker personalization), that you can use to give it a name. On September 1, unnamedperfume.com will also launch with an interactive that allows users to play around with naming their own fragrance.