Planets Perfumery Turns Astrology Into Fragrance — Literally

Carrillo-Lopez brings a decolonial feminist lens. "I was drawn to astrology when I realized how much astrology overlaps with feminist theory," she says, citing Gloria Anzaldúa's lesser-known study of Hillman and esoteric thought. "I believe the world has been disenchanted by white supremacy and patriarchal norms, and astrology felt like a gateway, or a map, to the enchanted archetypal world."

Scott says the planets, more than the zodiac signs, carry the archetypal weight the brand wants. "With the planets, more so than the zodiac signs, you get these huge currents that are ancient and collective. When you work with those archetypes, you're able to empower people and liberate people by connecting them to these ancient powers."

For Carrillo-Lopez, the product's function is practical: it restores intentionality to a daily habit. "What do I want to feel today? Do I want to feel energized? Connected?"

Perfumery without the trend reports

Garcia rejects the market-driven development cycle that dominates fragrance. "Oh, we're going to do matcha, we're going to do gourmands, because those are popular" — that logic, he implies, plays no role here. He designs each scent as a "true embodiment" of its archetype, tracing the relationships between people and botanicals, which he considers spirits, back through millennia and into the natural biosphere.

He is also a certified aromatherapist in the French medical style, and the chemistry shows up in the formulas. Venus uses a large dose of Iso E Super Plus — a version of the molecule in Escentric Molecule's Molecule 01 — chosen because tests indicate women find it pleasurable on skin. "We used a big piece of it in Venus, because why not?" he says.

Sustainability shapes material choices. Garcia co-founded the Coalition of Sustainable Perfumery with Heather DeAngelo of Carta Fragrances, Sydney Buffman of Sid Botanica, and Molly Brennan of House of Sacred Scents. The brand uses no species designated as extinct in the wild, threatened, endangered or critically endangered. It may use reconstructions of such species, but not extractions. Production is small-batch; Jenna and Coco bottle everything themselves.

"We understand that if we do not caretake the communities that caretake the botanicals we use, those botanical species will cease to exist," Garcia says. Carrillo-Lopez calls the brand's blend of science and other epistemologies — citing classmate Caroline Dickey — "epistemic pluralism. Two things can be right at the same time."

The business runs on a nonhierarchical structure, by design. "I think that reflects in our work and in every facet of it," Scott says.

No corporate scale

Scott is explicit about the ceiling on growth. "I never want to overconsume or overproduce. I don't want to be mass. My goal is just to make this world a more enchanted place, and I hope I can provide something of worth and of beauty that reconnects people to that on a large scale, but never on a corporate scale."

Garcia is blunter: "As I like to say, mass-trash perfumery."

His ambition for the fragrances themselves is protective and functional. "It is my hope that Mars will still be protective, that Venus will be similarly so, that Mercury will open the path in positive ways — because those plants are still themselves. Those energies are still themselves." For a brand positioned against mass production, the measure of success will be whether wearers — believers or not — keep answering Carrillo-Lopez's question of what they want to feel each day.