What actually makes a fragrance rare
Scarcity is manufactured more often than it is discovered. Here is how to tell the difference.
Rarity in perfumery comes from three places, and only one of them is about the liquid.
Material scarcity
Real oud, Mysore sandalwood, and Taif rose are constrained by agriculture and regulation. A fragrance built on them is expensive for reasons that have nothing to do with the house.
Production scarcity
A run of six hundred bottles is rare because someone decided it would be. This is legitimate when the materials run out and cynical when they do not.
Reformulation scarcity
The most interesting category. When IFRA restricts a material, the original formula becomes unbuyable at any price. The bottle you own is the last of its kind, and no marketing department planned it.
Our rarity tiers weight material and reformulation scarcity heavily, and production scarcity barely at all.