Perfumer Playlist is the series where we take a deep dive into the back catalogue of a perfumer, showcasing their creations in three specific playlists: The Essentials, Next Steps, and Deep Cuts. We like to call this olfactive discography a perfumer’s “olfactography” because, just like a musical artist, it showcases their versatility, talent, and artistry.

There are few perfumers on the planet who have created as many legendary fragrances. Looking through Morillas’ olfactography is like reading a list of modern perfumery classics and it would be fair to say that the man has been behind the creation of some of the most innovative fragrances of the last 40+ years. You can pretty much guarantee that every perfume lover (and even most casual fragrance wearers) either own one of his creations or have done at some point in time. He is a hugely prolific and exceptionally talented perfumer.

I was lucky enough to catch Alberto discussing his work at a recent Fragrance Foundation event hosted by Alice du Parcq. He is a warm and humorous man who is generous with sharing insights into the behind the scenes of perfumery, but what really struck me was his passion. He’s a man who has an intense passion for creation and this comes through in the innovative fragrances he makes, approaching his work like a problem to solve in the most beautiful way possible.

Within this Perfumer Playlist you’ll find a guide to some of his best fragrances, starting with the essentials you must try, before gravitating to the next steps, and finishing with those hidden gems that are well worth seeking out. All you need to do is press play and enjoy.

The Essentials

Track 1. CK One by Calvin Klein. Entirely evocative of the super-clean ‘90s and the effortlessly cool, genderless marketing behind it, CK One is perhaps Morillas’ most iconic creation. Created to be worn by anyone and everyone, CK One is a clean, citrus floral that is powered by expansive white musks. At the time it was launched it smelled otherworldly: an abstract sculpture of natural materials that made a bold statement. Today it smells undeniably familiar, presenting synthetic materials in a way that feels surprisingly natural.

Track 2. Pleasures by Estée Lauder. Much like CK One, Pleasures represents the repentant age that was the 1990s. As a means to atone for the heaviness and excess of the 1980s, fragrances steered clean and soapy, and there is no pristine, soapy fragrance more legendary than Estée Lauder’s Pleasures. Showcasing a cocktail of white musks that evoke the snowy sparkle of aldehydes, Pleasures is a clean, soothing floral that inspired an entire generation of fragrances.

Track 3. Acqua di Gio Pour Homme by Giorgio Armani. A marine scent with a herbal twist, Acqua di Gio Pour Homme has graced the wrists and necks of millions of men since its launch in 1996. Rather than just evoking the ocean, Acqua di Gio cleverly brings in hints of the Mediterranean, with rosemary and nutmeg amidst the refreshing, melon-like Calone. The result? A sexy Italian man drenched in sea water. No wonder it’s still so popular.

Track 4. Bloom by Gucci. Since 2017, Alberto Morillas has been responsible for creating all of the fragrances for Italian fashion house Gucci, initially working with Creative Director Alessandro Michele (prior to his departure from the brand) to create an olfactory style that was perfectly in cohesion with the visual codes of the house. Bloom, one of the standouts of his work for Gucci, represents the whimsical floral prints of the house. It’s a lightweight white floral that has marine, green, and milky facets, beautifully contrasting a delicate vegetal quality with the sweet, white blooms. Bloom is a white floral for people who think they hate white florals. They don’t, they just haven’t sniffed Bloom yet.

Track 5. Flower by Kenzo. For designer Kenzo Takada, Alberto Morillas was briefed to create the fragrance of a flower with no scent: the poppy. “It is the perfumer’s dream to give a sound to a silent flower”, he has said, and for Flower he imagined a red poppy growing in the city, expressing both strength and fragility. This is expressed through two surprising facets: musk and powder, with mineral, violet tones evoking the concrete of the city and crystalline musks conjuring images of vegetal stems and sweet petals. It is truly a marvellous creation that captures the impossible.

Track 6. Daisy by Marc Jacobs. Morillas is adept at creating floral accords, whether they be representative of nature (a la Bloom) or fantasy (Flower by Kenzo), or in Daisy’s case, a hybrid of both. Daisies have a subtle fragrance but the only daisies that get anywhere near this fragrance are the whimsical plastic flowers that adorn the cap. Daisy is a charming, sparkling scent with a sweet, bubbly strawberry accord that is truly joyful. The floral heart of jasmine and violet is soft and pleasant, evoking summers spent in pretty meadows in floaty dresses. Few fragrances illicit joy as easily as Daisy does.

Track 7. Cologne by Mugler. It feels correct to bookend this Essentials playlist with the two legendary unisex colognes in Alberto Morillas’ olfactography. Whilst CK One is a squeaky-clean synthetic interpretation of nature, Mugler’s Cologne is an otherworldly contrast of dirty and clean. With vibrant, green grassy notes carried by a ton of white musk, Mugler Cologne smells like you’ve just stepped out of a steamy shower, after using a delightful soap (it is, in fact, inspired by a Moroccan soap used by M. Mugler). Where the surprise comes in though, is in the shape of a human warmth that suggests that maybe, just maybe, you weren’t alone in that shower… Good for you, to be honest.

Next Steps

Now that you’ve explored the blockbusters in Alberto’s back catalogue, it’s time to move on to the next steps. These scents are a step beyond The Essentials. They may not be the first things you reach for and may be a flanker of one of his icons. They may also be a bit more niche and obscure, but they are easily found and are definitely not to be missed.

Track 1. Guilty Cologne Pour Homme by Gucci. Being honest, the original Gucci Guilty for him (and for her, if we’re being really honest) are not much to write home about, but some of the flankers are truly fantastic. Case in point: Guilty Cologne Pour Homme. This is a modern take on the classic aromatic colognes your dad would have worn in the 1980s and it’s a great twist. Awash with juicy basil, which brings gourmand liquorice hints amongst the greenery, rosemary, juniper and cypress, and a ton of billowy white musks, Gucci Guilty Cologne Pour Homme begs to be worn with a white linen shirt with way too many buttons undone. Summer never smelled so good.

Track 2. Dali Eau de Parfum by Salvador Dali. Despite creating his signature fragrance, Alberto Morillas never got to meet Salvador Dalí due to the famed surrealist being ill at the time. He did however, turn Dalí’s vision into a tremendously unique and beautiful perfume. Launched in 1985, this is a big, unctuous floral chypre with bubbling aldehydes, dry flowers, and a rich base of resins, musks, moss and woods. It’s utterly glorious and whilst it may be worth owning for the delightfully weird nose and lips bottle alone, the fragrance itself is a beautiful relic of the 1980s that is totally worth exploring. It's a spectacular Dalí artwork that absolutely anybody can own.

Track 3: M7/M7 Oud Absolu by YSL. One could argue that M7 is one of Morillas’ most iconic creations and therefore, should be firmly placed in The Essentials section of this playlist. Unfortunately, it seems to be a little bit harder to find these days, often relegated to drawers under department store counters, which is a shame. It’s also a very unusual fragrance that perhaps isn’t for everyone. Reportedly the first mainstream fragrance to utilise real oud, M7 is a soft, plush wood fragrance with an offbeat, medicinal oud accord that is delightfully odd. It’s a polarising fragrance that showcases the perfumer’s talent for creating accords that are surprising and new. It’s also just a little bit sexy, if you ask me.

Track 4: Good Girl Gone Bad by Kilian. Before we had slews of lost cherries and bitter peaches, we had Good Girl Gone Bad. Centering on the juicy, gummy-like peachiness and apricot-esque facets of osmanthus paired with narcotic white blooms (jasmine and tuberose), Good Girl Gone Bad has an intense, liqueur-like feel. It’s syrupy and glistening, hinting at a raucous, boozy night out that ends with all sorts of fabulous depravity.

Track 5: Pi by Givenchy. A vanilla fragranced named after a mathematical constant and fronted by an Astronaut may not be a recipe for success (I do wonder what they were smoking in that briefing room…) but it is a testament to Morillas’ talent of creating beautiful smells. I like to think of Pi as perfect olfactory background noise. With its warm, citrus-soaked vanilla, it makes no grand statement. Instead, it just hums along all day, quite gently, simply smelling fantastic.

Track 6: Memoire d’une Odeur by Gucci. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting Alberto Morillas and other than his passion, I was struck by his humour. He is a man that does not take himself too seriously (but clearly takes his work so) and occasionally this humour comes across in his creations. Memoire d’une Odeur is a great example because on the surface it’s a green, mineral fragrance that aims to recreate the scent of Roman chamomile. But underneath it’s a funky green floral with hints of blue cheese. The joke, you ask? The fact that he and Gucci had the audacity to release something so audaciously odd as a mainstream fragrance is the perfect punchline.

Track 7: Perfect Oud by Mizensir. A lot of the fragrances we’ve covered so far have been for mainstream and niche brands, but it’s impossible to explore the work of Alberto Morillas without diving into the fragrances he has created for his own brand, Mizensir. Perfect Oud is easily the most popular. Evoking burning oud chips, Perfect Oud is a softly smoky fragrance with facets of inky leather, shimmering frankincense, and intense, sweet rose. Its strength is its softness. It does not shout (like many in the genre) and boasts a beautiful, iridescent quality.

Deep Cuts

The deep cuts in the perfumer’s olfactography are the hidden gems that don’t get as much attention, despite being some of their best work. Perhaps they are discontinued or are creations for a more obscure brand. They may even be weird and challenging, or they could simply be a scent that didn’t get as much love as it deserved. These are Alberto Morillas’ deep cuts.

Track 1. Au Lac by Eau d’Italie. Italian fragrance house Eau d’Italie comes from the owners of the five-star luxury hotel La Sireneuse in Positano. Unsurprisingly, they bring a truly luxurious, detail-focused approach to the fragrances in their collection, which really is a hidden gem. Au Lac (‘at the lake’) is no exception and presents the scent of flowers and fresh lake water. The result is a curious aquatic floral where all the ingredients (fig, bitter orange, osmanthus, water lily) appear from behind a rushing waterfall. Au Lac is inspired and fascinating perfumery at its very best.

Track 2. Man Terrae Essence by BVLGARI. Flankers fascinate me. They are, essentially, remixes of popular fragrances that, when done well, pull out a particular element of the original and explore it in a new way. The BVLGARI Man flankers are examples of good flankers done well and Terrae Essence is perhaps the most striking of the bunch. Here, Morillas riffs on the mineral vetiver of Terre d’Hermes, taking it deeper into the ground, creating an animalic leather contrast to the powdery orange clay. A true marvel of perfumery that should not be overlooked.

Track 3. The Virgin Violet by Gucci. Alberto Morillas’ work for Gucci is expansive and wide ranging, leaving no stone of the olfactory world unturned. His take on violet, which is usually a bit of a tough sell due to its association with Parma Violets, is a beautifully wispy, delicate affair that’ll make you rethink your relationship with the note. Evoking clean linen washed in violet and iris detergent and hung out to dry in a summer’s breeze, The Virgin Violet is a sparkling, mineral affair that is beautiful simply because of its simplicity. It may not be the first Alberto Morillas fragrance you should explore, but it should definitely be on your list.

Track 4. Eau de Gingembre by Mizensir. There is no fragrance on this planet that is more refreshing than Eau de Gingembre. This is the olfactory equivalent of violently shaking a can of ginger soda and cracking it open, releasing a fizzy, transparent fountain of delightful gingeriness everywhere. Yes, it’s as delightful as it sounds and you’ll be as happy as Larry covered in it.

Track 5. Belle d’Opium by YSL. Sadly discontinued, this unusual take on Opium boasted a wonderful apple-flavoured hookah accord that brought beautiful citrus smoke to the rich resins of Opium. Lighter, and more contemporary than the 1970s original, but thematically much more relevant than any of the recent Opium flankers, Belle d’Opium is a criminally underrated fragrance that sadly did not stand the test of time.

Track 6. Iris Prima by Penhaligon’s. Iris Prima was created to evoke the spirit of the ballet and whilst it’s long gone now, it’s certainly not forgotten. Personally, I think that it’s one of the greatest iris fragrances ever made, with a warm, auburn orris note evoking the soft suede of the soles of ballet slippers and the dust on hardwood dance floors. Iris Prima was a supple, intimate take on iris, presented in sepia tones to display an unusual warmth. Truly masterful.

Track 7. Guilty Absolute Pour Homme by Gucci. It’s hard to imagine that one of Alberto Morillas’ most innovative, challenging, and masterful creations is a flanker for a mainstream Gucci fragrance, but this is a testament to the relationship he has with the brand. Together they have not been afraid to take risks and you can almost feel the perfumer’s excitement at having no boundaries within the composition. On the surface Guilty Absolute Pour Homme is an incredibly smoky vetiver, but it’s way more nuanced than that. It’s phenolic and medicinal, not to mention dark and tarry, but what is most remarkable is how light and spacious it is. What could have been an incredibly rich, parching, and intense fragrance, is actually masterfully expansive and diffusive, with a huge amount of room to breathe. A masterpiece from a master perfumer.

Thomas Dunckley

Fragrance Expert, Copywriter, Trainer, Speaker, Podcast/Event Host, known as Making Scents Make Sense on social media and on perfumetok.