
Behind the world’s fragrances sits a shadowy oligopoly
Damp carpet and old coffee. That is how a perfumier might have described the “top notes”—industry speak for the initial olfactory experience—at SIMPPAR, the annual fragrance-ingredient expo held this month in Paris. It is where vendors from Sicilian dynasties to Japanese chemical firms gather to showcase their ingredients. Some are natural. The centifolia rose, a…