Once Upon a Time is a 2025 release from luxury niche perfumer Francesca Bianchi, who treats perfumery as "an intellectual process," inspired by "the power of what it means to be human, by the wish to connect with people’s inner life, the desire to spark an emotion in them and make them feel at home in their own bodies, offer solace, or just a quick fix for a bad day." Once Upon a Time, a Floral Fruity fragrance, has a scent profile of green, woody, amber, iris, aromatic, tropical, balsamic, citrus, sweet, and fruity notes.
If the world was ending, which memories would you save?
Perhaps the memory of making a mess with flour in the kitchen with your grandmother – or someone who cared about you as a child; the scent of a freshly peeled tangerine in your small hands; the sweetness of cotton candy from the amusement park a loved one used to take you to.
This creation is built around personal memories with universal value, recollections of childhood joy that become a source of comfort in our adult lives. The result is a gourmand perfume for adults, boosted by emotion.
What emotions do you want to save? What memories from your life do you want to select? What brings you true comfort—emotions that have been lived and not imagined?
This new Emotion Generator Machine is surgically built around both personal and collective memories. These are memories linked to recollections of childhood joy, which become comforting emotions in our adult lives.
Your grandmother’s hand takes yours and accompanies you in the meadows, where you run carefree. The tangerine peel, peeled and thrown into the fireplace, crackles with the aroma of its essential oil. We play with flour in the kitchen as little ones, with a patient grandmother who helps us. The amusement park with the scent of cotton candy and caramelized hazelnuts. The almond “confetti” (sugared almonds), thrown at newlyweds in Italian weddings, are eaten by children.
What emerges is a gourmand perfume designed for adults, not for children."
Note: Samples are sold by the 1ml. You may purchase up to 2ml. Samples of 1ml or less will come in a glass vial with a dabber. Samples larger than 1ml will come in small glass spray bottles. All samples will be consolidated unless expressly requested otherwise.
