Byredo Kabuki perfume brushes

There’s more than one way to apply perfume. Just ask niche perfume brand Byredo.

When we first heard that Byredo was releasing a trio of perfume brushes, it sounded like a new and exciting fragrance innovation. But the truth is the perfumes are actually harkening back to an older method of beauty application. Byredo Kabuki brushes touch on that classic nature while also offering a new sensorial experience for perfume wearers.

Powder has long been a beauty staple—hands up if you watched your mother or grandmother at some point sit in front of their vanity and carefully apply powder (with a pouf of course) to their face and décolleté. Usually, these beauty products were scented, though that was a secondary characteristic to the coverage and porcelain-skin-effect that the products offered.

So though a perfume in a powder is new, the technique is classic—maybe even a little retro.

Byredo Olfactory Kabuki

Ben Gorham, Byredo’s founder, was inspired not by powder applied by the everyday woman, but instead by the theatre. The tradition of Kabuki theatre is a classical Japanese dance-drama known for the elaborate makeup worn by the performers.

The perfume is applied via a soft talc powder, very fine, with a retractable Kabuki brush. Apply it alone on your neck or décolleté, or over another perfume for an added layer of scent.