The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Tom Jansen built Balm to capture a moment: the hour before dark on a tropical shore, when everything turns gold and the air stills. The name is literal, a balm soothes, protects, closes the day out. This is the fragrance for that exhale. Night-blooming jasmine anchors the concept: the transition from day to night made olfactory. Pink pepper carries the last of the light. Creamy sandalwood becomes the warmth underneath everything, tonka bean softening what could be sharp into something that just feels like dusk.
The composition hinges on a single idea: transition. Bergamot opens clean, pink pepper brightens without heat. Night-blooming jasmine is the pivot point, delicate but present, the scent of moving from afternoon into evening. The base does the lasting work: sandalwood that reads warm and milky, tonka bean that sweetens without candy, musk that binds everything to skin. Each layer earns its place. Nothing gratuitous. Just the hour, made wearable.
The evolution
Bergamot and pink pepper open clean, alert but not sharp. Within minutes, jasmine arrives. Not bold, just present, like the last light through curtains. The heart holds for two hours, florals softening as sandalwood pushes up through them. Then the base: tonka bean and sandalwood merging, warmer, sweeter, closer. The drydown becomes skin. Intimate. Four to six hours, closer still in the final hour. On fabric, it lasts into the next morning, faint, warm, the ghost of last night.
Cultural impact
Balm fills a gap in the Piper & Perro catalog, warmth without weight, sweetness without shriek. Its moderate sillage and intimate wear time position it as a personal fragrance, something chosen for yourself rather than announced to a room. In a market that often equates projection with power, this is a quiet counterpoint: the scent you wear when you want to be discovered, not the one that arrives before you do.
The House
Piper & PerroPiper & Perro is a Canadian perfume house founded by Tom Jansen and Amanda Buhse. The brand operates from a core belief that fragrance carries no gender, no borders, and no expectations. This philosophy shapes every decision, from scent composition to bottle design. The house creates unisex fragrances meant for people, not categories. Tom Jansen serves as perfumer and founder, bringing a storytelling approach to the atelier where intimate blending experiences allow guests to create their own signature scents. The house launched its first fragrance in 2018 and has since expanded to offerings like Arid, Ruby, Lepus, Vine, Bound, Zest, Bon, Froth, Berg, and Balm (2025). The brand maintains a presence across social platforms and offers its Atelier experience as a complementary service for those seeking a hands-on fragrance creation process.
The Creator
Tom JansenJansen's training in Grasse gave him a foundation in classical French perfumery, but his work spans well beyond tradition. He brings commercial fluency to his creative practice, understanding what makes a scent function in real-world contexts alongside pure artistic expression.
