The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Sesame Chan arrived in 2019 from Anima Vinci. The fragrance was composed by Sophie Labbé, a perfumer whose portfolio runs through some of the most quietly distinctive compositions in contemporary niche perfumery. The brief here reads less like European fine fragrance and more like something borrowed from a different culinary tradition entirely. Roasted sesame anchors the composition, with cashew, hazelnut, ginger, carrot, a base of cedar and vetiver supporting it. Labbé builds the scent around toasted seed as a central element, treating the warmth of that ingredient as something capable of carrying weight on its own. The opening moves quickly into nut territory, with the roasted sesame settling in shortly after, smoky and oily, persistent without ever feeling aggressive.
What makes Sesame Chan structurally interesting is the choice to anchor a gourmand-leaning fragrance around roasted sesame. The carrot in the heart adds a dry, almost earthy sweetness that shifts the composition away from anything overtly sugary and toward something more vegetal, more grounded. The nut accord in the opening, cashew and hazelnut, creates a creamy texture before the sesame even arrives, so the roasted note has a fat, slightly oily base to land on.
The evolution
The opening moves fast and stays bright. Ginger lifts off the skin with a clean, almost zingy heat, and behind it the cashew and hazelnut arrive quickly, warm and faintly buttery rather than overtly nutty. It reads more like spiced warmth than food, which is what keeps it wearable rather than novelty. The roasted sesame settles in steadily, without announcing itself too loudly. It sits into the skin oily and warm, with a faintly smoky undertone that the carrot quietly amplifies from underneath. The heart phase stays close rather than projecting aggressively, the kind of scent that exists in your personal space rather than filling a room. As the composition wears down, the cedar and vetiver base begins to assert itself, drying the sesame out gradually, turning what was creamy and warm into something drier and more contemplative.
Cultural impact
Sesame Chan occupies an unusual position within contemporary perfumery. It draws on notes that most fragrance houses wouldn't think to combine, treating roasted sesame as a structural anchor rather than a passing novelty. The composition rejects the usual gourmand playbook, skipping the vanilla and tonka routes in favor of something drier, more savory, more grounded in the kitchen than the bakery. Within Anima Vinci's catalog, it stands as one of the house's most distinctive releases, the kind of piece that sets the tone for how far the brand is willing to go. The reaction to it tends toward strong opinion.
