The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Scarborough Fair joined Parfums Karmic Hues' Americana Collection in 2025. The name evokes the English folk song associated with the town and fair, while the composition itself explores a more distinctly American register through petrichor, conifer notes, and American spearmint. Perfumer Srivathsa Subramanian Sivakumar built the fragrance around the atmosphere of damp green spaces. Petrichor and conifer notes establish the cool, wet character, with American spearmint adding a crisp herbal accent. What makes it more than a garden fragrance is the whiskey note, a warm amber flicker set against the cool green structure, plus camphor for added lift.
The interesting part is how the material fights itself. Petrichor is cold and mineral, sandalwood and gurjun balsam are heavy and resinous, and hemp brings an unmistakable green, herbal sharpness that reads both botanical and slightly smoky. Then whiskey and camphor arrive with a sweetness and a lift, pulling the composition away from anything static. Clary sage, coriander, rosemary, and thyme supply a herbal spine that keeps the whole thing from tipping into simple freshness, while labdanum absolute gives the drydown an ambery depth. Lily and cyclamen add a soft floral hush underneath all that green. It is a crowded composition, but the notes argue productively rather than competing for attention.
The evolution
The fragrance presents a layered meeting of wet earth, green herbs, warm woods, and resins. Petrichor brings a cool impression of rain-soaked ground, while conifer notes add a dry, aromatic depth. American spearmint lends a sharper herbal character, and parsley contributes a fresh green facet. Camphor introduces a clean brightness that keeps the composition from becoming overly damp or heavy. Clary sage, rosemary, thyme, and coriander deepen the herbal register, creating a textured green core with both crisp and earthy dimensions. The whiskey note brings rounded warmth, introducing a soft amber quality that contrasts with the freshness around it. Hemp adds a green, slightly resinous impression and a subtle smoky accent, while sandalwood and cedarwood form a smooth, dry foundation.
Cultural impact
Scarborough Fair belongs to Parfums Karmic Hues' Americana collection and brings together familiar aromatic-green notes with less conventional accents. Petrichor, American spearmint, parsley, and camphor create a fresh, herbaceous impression, while whiskey, hemp, labdanum, and gurjun balsam bring warmth, smoke, and resinous depth. The combination invites attention to how contrasting materials can shape one another: the bright green elements keep the whiskey and resins from feeling overly sweet, while the warm notes give the composition a richer character.
The House
Parfums Karmic HuesParfums Karmic Hues is an independent artisanal perfume house founded in 2020 by Gagen and perfumer Srivathsa Subramanian Sivakumar, commonly known as S3, in New Jersey, USA. The house operates on a small-batch handmade model, creating fragrances that explore themes of memory, emotion, and cultural narrative. Their catalog draws from diverse source material, including Japanese cinema (Rashomon Volume I and II, 2022), Indian deities and mythology (Mātangi, Parvathā, Mahodara, all 2021), and American landscapes and characters (Chicago Poet, Steel Scarlet, Cheyenne, all 2023). The brand gained notable industry attention when Luca Turin, the influential fragrance critic and author, reviewed three of their fragrances. Karmic Hues maintains an approach where each scent serves as a meditation on a specific concept, moment, or cultural reference point, rather than following seasonal trends or conventional market categories.
The Creator
Srivathsa Subramanian SivakumarSrivathsa gravitates toward clean, well-structured compositions that reveal their character gradually. His work tends toward thoughtful blending rather than bold statements, with attention to how top, heart, and base notes unfold in sequence.
