Beaufort London

Beaufort London was founded in 2013 by Leo Crabtree, a musician and writer who has drummed live for The Prodigy and who grew up around the sea, his first home a boat on the Thames. The house takes its name from the wind force scale devised by naval officer Sir Francis Beaufort, a fitting frame for a brand fascinated by the constant, changeable, sometimes destructive forces of nature. In 2015 it launched its first collection, Come Hell or High Water, three scents built around Britain's darker history and created with perfumers Julie Dunkley and Julie Marlowe.

What sets the house apart is its conceptual approach and its taste for unusual materials used in overdosed concentrations. The signature runs smoky and brooding: dark woods laced with smoke, raw aromatics, and leather, sharpened by black pepper, green notes, a peaty soil tincture, and juniper berries. Start with Fathom V, Vi et Armis, or Coeur De Noir to meet the house at its most atmospheric. Beaufort London makes perfume that feels like weather and folklore carried on the wind.