
Ethel Cain's Favorite Perfumes
The American artist reveals to fans the fragrances she loves and the memories they evoke
June 9th, 2025
There are fragrances that aren't just worn, they're inhabited. They slip under the skin and become body, soul; they recall rooms, faces, seasons. They are intimate geographies, olfactory tattoos etched in time. For Ethel Cain, American muse with a broken heart and a voice steeped in gothic murmur, perfumes are not mere accessories, but sentimental relics. Emotional portals. Objects that remember places even before maps: an abandoned motel in Indiana, a quiet avenue in the rain in Pittsburgh, a dusty backstage during her first tour. Ethel doesn’t wear fragrance for pleasure, but to exist. Her scents are borders. Ghosts. Signs of an uncertain yet persistent faith. Some smell of forest, others of mother, still others of God. They all have something to say.
Ethel Cain’s favorite perfumes
Le Couvent Maison de Parfum – Eau du Cloître
It’s the golden light filtering through the columns of an empty cloister. Eau du Cloître is perhaps the most spiritual of Ethel’s choices, and it’s no surprise that this perfume is evoked like a suspended moment, a silence inhabited by joy. It opens like a rosary sunlit in the hand: rose and red berries, a breath of morning air, and a heart fresh with damp wood. The fragrance is that of imagined innocence rather than lived, as if time within the convent walls had crystallized into eternal spring.
Olfactory family: Floral
Top notes: Ginger, Grapefruit, Ivy, Blackcurrant, Pink berries
Heart notes: Geranium, Rose, Magnolia, Peony
Base notes: Cedarwood, White musk
Elizabeth Taylor – White Diamonds
White Diamonds is the perfume of American feminine epic. It's the red lipstick of a grandmother sitting on the couch on an overly warm afternoon. For Ethel, it’s “the first fragrance I ever bought,” an olfactory legacy passed down through the women of her family. White Diamonds is opulent, layered, older than Ethel but not outdated: aldehydes and carnations, tuberose and musk, all whisper past luxuries and parlor dramas. It’s a fragrance that seems lifted from Technicolor films or worn VHS tapes, the kind of perfume worn by a woman smoking in the kitchen, staring out a fogged window. There's decadence, but also resilience. Like a diva who never gives up. Like Elizabeth Taylor, its creator.
Olfactory Family: Floral Aldehyde
Top Notes: Aldehydes, Lily, Neroli, Orange and Bergamot
Heart Notes: Egyptian Tuberose, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Narcissus, Carnation, Italian Orris Root, Turkish Rose and Cinnamon
Base Notes: Musk, Amber, Sandalwood, Oakmoss and Patchouli
Versace – Crystal Noir Eau de Toilette
Crystal Noir smells of transition, of fleeing the South, of a girl turned ghost among gothic windows and antique shops. It’s Ethel in her early witchcraft rituals. “Feminine, seductive, mysterious” in the artist’s own words, with its heart of gardenia and orange blossom, it clings to the skin like an affectionate shadow. Its spicy and musky notes outline a figure walking alone past shuttered shops in Cambridge City. It’s a perfume that remembers you even when you’ve forgotten yourself.
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Pepper, Cardamom, Ginger
Heart Notes: Gardenia, Orange Blossom, Peony
Base Notes: Sandalwood, Musk, Amber
@sapphiredelight It’s a sensual and delicate fragrance with a floral-oriental aroma and a warm, amber and musky base. It smells rich and sensual! #perfume #crystalnoir #parfum #fragrancetok #versacecrystalnoir #perfumetok #smellsgood #versaceperfume #versaceparfum #ttslevelup #giftguide #tiktokshoploveatfirstfind #seasonalgems #ttsdelightnow #tiktokshoprestock #tiktokshopspringglowup #tiktokshopcreatorpicks #springtok #shopwomenowned #TikTokShopMothersDay original sound - Sapphiredelight
@hey_marianne Replying to @Kat the story behind Elizabeth Taylor’s Gardenia perfume! #elizabethtaylor #elizabethtaylorperfume #elizabethtaylorgardenia #gardeniaperfume #elizabethtaylorfragrance #heymarianne L.Boccherini, Minuet from String Quartet No.5 in F major - AllMusicGallery
@plsmells Replying to @Adrienne Let’s Smell the infamous Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds This was highly requested after my last Lizzy review and I’m still not sure how I feel about this decision. Let me know your thoughts on this fragrance, and tell me what Elizabeth Taylor fragrance I should review next #burlington #burlingtonfinds #affordableperfume #perfume #perfumetok #fragrance #fragrancetiktok #elizabethtaylor #perfumereview #firstimpression #perfumecollector #sotd #smellgood Jazz Bossa Nova - TOKYO Lonesome Blue
Elizabeth Taylor – Gardenia
Sprayed at every concert of the Freezer Bride Tour, Gardenia is a distillation of travel, of cheap motels and rain on the windshield. The opening green leaves dissolve into delicate peony and orchid, with a gardenia heart that seems to wilt the moment it's sprayed, as if to say nothing lasts forever. This fragrance is a blurred Polaroid of those days, when being an artist was still survival and wonder. It’s portable melancholy.
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Green Leaves, Lily of the Valley
Heart Notes: Gardenia, Peony, Orchid
Base Notes: Musk, Carnation
Yohji Yamamoto – Yohji 1996
In a darker, more abstract era, Ethel chose to scent herself with glitch. Yohji 1996 is a perfume that doesn’t want to be liked. It's an olfactory refusal. A declaration of otherness. Described by her as “the scent of a 2000s video game where you fight aliens in an abandoned mall,” this creation by Yohji Yamamoto is an electronic enigma wrapped in black fruits and unsettling green notes. It’s Pittsburgh in the rain, concrete, closed windows, the feeling of being elsewhere. The vanilla and musk in the base make it strangely warm, like a hug received in a dream.
Olfactory Family: Fruity Chypre
Top Notes: Galbanum, Bergamot, Green Notes
Heart Notes: Blackberry, Raspberry
Base Notes: Vanilla, Sandalwood, Musk
Byredo – Casablanca Lily
Some scents open like theater curtains. Casablanca Lily is a fragrance that enters the room before you do, leaving behind a sumptuous, nearly decadent trail. It's drama in a bottle. For Ethel, it’s “my boyfriend’s perfume,” but also the height of performative femininity: opulent white flowers, a red-velvet-bath sensuality. Casablanca Lily embodies her vision of eroticism, made of gardenia, plum, and honey. It smells of warm skin, postcard-European beauty or a goddess descending onto a Moroccan rooftop. It seduces, soothes, lingers.
Olfactory Family: Oriental Floral
Top Notes: Gardenia, Plum
Heart Notes: Indian Tuberose, Carnation
Base Notes: Honey, Rosewood
Byredo – La Tulipe
“The freshness of spring.” La Tulipe is rebirth, the sweetness after tears. Freesia and rhubarb opening like windows flung wide after months of silence. Ethel here is new light, perhaps after a long night: the fragrance is transparent, alive, a freshly picked tulip still with earth on its roots. It’s the hope of new beginnings, of second chances, of a full breath. Green, bucolic, intrinsically alive.
Olfactory family: Floral
Top notes: Freesia, Cyclamen, Rhubarb
Heart notes: Pink Tulip
Base notes: Green Notes, Vetiver, Woody Notes
@matteofumagallisubdolo #profumi #profumidinicchia #ethelcain #profumivintage #yohjiyamamoto Televangelism - Ethel Cain
@scentsofrai “What if tulips have scent?” That’s the whole ideation behind the creation of Byredo La Tulipe, which was released in 2010. The florals in La Tulipe are dewy, fresh, and also pretty delicate. Aldehydes wasn't listed as official notes in this perfume, but I clearly smell it since the opening reminds me of hotel soap vibes from Blanche, but not as harsh & vivid. La Tulipe dries down into a creamy floral, with a touch of earthiness & blond woods at the background. What's so magic about this perfume is it evokes happy & cheerful memories of mine, that happened from the early COVID lockdown days. Being "trapped" at home for more than a year, finding comfort from all the chaos happened that time... La Tulipe transports me to that "comfort hours" and all of the good memories contained in it. Definitely one of the finest Byredo clean floral scent I've tried this far. La Tulipe just hits way too close to home, bringing all of those peaceful & happy memories that happened at home during a very strange timeline. Have you tried La Tulipe before? #perfumetok #perfumetiktok #byredo #latulipe #cleanscent nothing burns like the cold -
@vany.collezionaiprofumi #casablancalily #casablancalilybyredo #byredoperfume #byredoperfumes #profumidinicchia #parfumereccomended #parfumeviral #parfumecollection #tuberosa #miele #miele suono originale - Vany colleziona i profumi
Orto Parisi – Viride
Viride is a pastoral perfume, but not naïve. Lavender, tobacco, musk: like walking barefoot on damp soil, among ancient trees and wind that smells of the past. At the same time, it’s green in the dirtiest sense: chlorophyll, bark, sun-warmed skin. For Ethel, it’s an act of defiance, a way to subvert expectations and wear something unpleasant. There’s a nearly metallic note, stinging like a cold ring on hot skin. It’s the fragrance of versions of herself that don’t fit into the world but exist anyway: stubborn, silent, real.
Olfactory Family: Green Aromatic
Top Notes: Roman Wormwood, Artemisia, Lavender
Heart Notes: Jasmine
Base Notes: Fir, Juniper, Tobacco, Cedarwood, Musk
Coty – Sand and Sable
This is the scent of a mother getting ready to go out. Of an older sister spritzing something stolen from the bathroom drawer. A classic from ’83, Sand & Sable is distilled nostalgia: a vintage America of beige carpets, used cars, and soft lighting. Ethel calls it a “cheap thrill,” but there’s nothing cheap about the feelings it evokes. The white flowers, especially gardenia, open like forgotten old Polaroids, while musk and vanilla in the base make it soft, affectionate, almost domestic. It’s the perfume left on a scarf months later.
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Bergamot, Neroli, Peach Aldehyde
Heart Notes: Gardenia, Jasmine, Lilac, Lily of the Valley, Rose, Tuberose
Base Notes: Amber, Benzoin, Musk, Sandalwood
Heretic – Poltergeist
“Smells like a dirty cowboy, smells like possession.” Poltergeist is a ritualistic perfume. Dense, spiritual, carnal. There’s a smell of enchanted woods, wet wood, incense, the mildew of old churches. The pine and smoke notes are so dense they feel visible, like aromatic fog that follows you everywhere. Poltergeist is an olfactory séance, done with the body, an invitation to dance naked around a fire. In this sabbath of tar, smoke, resin, and forest, Ethel finds a sinister sweetness, but also eros and death. Wearing this fragrance by Heretic has the power to evoke the memory of someone you loved and who now watches you from behind the mirror.
Olfactory Family: Aromatic
Top Notes: Wormwood, Juniper, Cedarwood, Coriander, Cinnamon, Incense
Heart Notes: Clary Sage, Galbanum and Champaca
Base Notes: Birch Tar, Patchouli, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Benzoin, Rock Rose, Vanilla
@elevated.aromas Orto Parisi Viride #nichefragrance #ortoparisi #fragrancetiktok #perfumetiktok #nicheperfume @Brandscents @waneckscents @Nosvidere @Yousef • fantaisie de parfums @Parfums de Kasparas snow run - leo what
@thewolfinlace #greenscreen Poltergeist from Heretic Parfum is back . #perfume #fragrance #gothic #goth #ghosts #beauty #perfumetok #darkaesthetic "Moonlight" in the dream (Beethoven) - LEOPARD
@carlyeslinger nostalgic fragrance #nostalgicfragrances #nostalgicsmells #nostalgicperfumes #sandandsable #wildsand #cotyfragrances #bathandbodyworks
@scenterstage Battle of the @SergeLutens white florals I guess #sergelutens #sergelutensperfume #sergelutensfragrance #nuitdecellophane #orangeflowerperfume #floralperfume #perfumereview #fragrancetiktok #nichefragrance #whitefloralperfume milky way - Leo Yoshino
@thewolfinlace @Heretic Parfum sent me their Nocturnal Collection, and it’s great. Shocking, I know. #gothic #goth #perfume #beauty #gothicstyle suono originale - Mark Verry
Heretic – Smudge
“The smell of the person you love when they come home.” Smudge is the scent of intimacy: sage, sandalwood, vanilla, and tonka bean. It’s what’s left on the pillow after a long night, a perfume that doesn’t assert itself, but reveals itself. If Poltergeist is the spirit that possesses, Smudge is the one that heals. Ethel describes it as her “meditative fragrance,” to wear when seeking center, when she needs something to remind her who she is, or who she was. It offers the comfort of a secular prayer. It’s the perfume you wear when you’re afraid but choose to enter the room anyway.
Olfactory Family: Oriental Woody
Top Notes: Atlantic Cedar, Incense, Sichuan Pepper
Heart Notes: Clary Sage, Juniper, Tonka Bean
Base Notes: Labdanum, Patchouli, Canadian Balsam, Sandalwood, Styrax
Heretic – Nocturnal Discovery Set
Three different nights, three petals left on the pillow of a messy bed. The Nocturnal Discovery Set by Heretic is a triptych of flowers that never bloom in daylight: carnal tuberose, psychedelic angel’s trumpet, and the elusive Queen of the Night. Each vial is a potential version of Ethel: the desert witch, the French jazz singer, the crying girl on a train. In a world that demands consistency, these samples are the luxury of multiplicity. Perfumes that may never become “hers,” but were at one precise moment. And that’s enough.
Nocturnal Tuberose
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Neroli, Linalool, Sichuan Pepper
Heart Notes: Tuberose, Ylang-Ylang, Jasmine, Rose, Gardenia, Orange Blossom
Base Notes: Ambrette Seed, Vetiver, Cistus
Angel’s Trumpet
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, Pink Water Lily, Tiare Flower
Heart Notes: Tuberose, Ylang-Ylang, Jasmine, Rose, Gardenia, Orange Blossom
Base Notes: Vetiver, Violet Leaf
Queen of the Night
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Ylang-Ylang, Bitter Orange, Lime
Heart Notes: Jasmine, Mimosa
Base Notes: Vanilla, Vetiver
Serge Lutens – Collection Noire Discovery Set
Three fragrances, three identities in motion. The Serge Lutens – Collection Noire Discovery Set is more than a selection: it's a sensory map of the soul. Nuit de Cellophane whispers with osmanthus and mandarin, like silk in the breeze: ethereal, Parisian, weightless. La Fille de Berlin bursts with rose and patchouli, sharp and romantic like a proud scar. Fleurs d’Oranger recalls Serge’s dazzling first encounter with Morocco: white blossoms, cumin, jasmine, liquid happiness bathed in sunlight and wonder. Three olfactory voices, one lingering trail: for those unafraid to shift shape.
Nuit de cellophane
Olfactory Family: Floral
Top Notes: Mandarin, Red Fruit
Heart Notes: Osmanthus Flower, Lily, Jasmine, Iris
Base Notes: Osmanthus Flower, Musk, Flowers
La fille de Berlin
Olfactory Family: Oriental Floral
Top Notes: Rose, Geranium
Heart Notes: Palmarosa
Base Notes: Honey, Vegetal Musk, Patchouli
Fleurs d’oranger
Olfactory Family: Oriental Floral
Top Notes: Orange Blossom
Heart Notes: White Jasmine, Indian Tuberose, White Rose
Base Notes: Vegetal Musk, Cumin, Hibiscus